Book recommendations for business leaders: 10/31/19

Oct 31, 2019 | Reading Lists

Stephen King says that if you want to be a writer, there are two things you must do: read a lot and write a lot. This is about the “read a lot” part. I include reading lists and book reviews that will help you do business more effectively and write better for business.

In this post, I point you to reviews of The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age, The 10 Laws of Trust: Building the Bonds That Make a Business Great, Transaction Man: The Rise of the Deal and the Decline of the American Dream, The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness, and The Gift of Struggle: Life-Changing Lessons About Leading.

From Michael McKinney: The Optimist’s Telescope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age

“Since we can’t predict the future it makes it hard for us to think about the future. It should come as no surprise that our view of the the future is often misguided. In 1920, British economist Arthur Cecil Pigou described our often skewed view of the future as our ‘defective telescope.’ In The Optimist’s Telescope, author Bina Venkataraman suggests that we need to cultivate a ‘radical strain of optimism’ and a sense of collective agency that would motivate ‘more people to make choices today for the sake of the future, whether it’s how they vote, eat, use energy, or influence others.’ An ‘optimist’s telescope’ so to speak.”

From Bob Morris: The 10 Laws of Trust

“Although I would never characterize any guidelines, principles or core values of trust as ‘laws,’ I think this book — written by Joel Peterson with David A. Kaplan — makes a valuable contribution to knowledge leadership. More specifically, to our understanding of how leaders in any organization — whatever its size or nature may be — can earn and then retain others’ trust and, thereby, establish and then nourish a workplace culture within which mutual respect and mutual trust are most likely to thrive. Another and perhaps even more difficult challenge is to provide leadership that restores trust.”

From Mike Jakeman: Pressure points

“In his new book, Transaction Man, journalist Nicholas Lemann describes the evolution — and failure — of competing attempts to manage the power of corporations.”

From Wharton: Why Kindness Is the Key to Improved Well-being

“Can kindness, love and a strong sense of community actually make you healthier and happier? Research says that it does. A 1978 study looking at the link between high cholesterol and heart health in rabbits determined that kindness made the difference between a healthy heart and a heart attack. Kelli Harding, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, revisits that research and other ground-breaking discoveries in her new book, The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: the gift of struggle: Life Changing Lessons About Leading

“I dare you to read the first three pages of this book, and put it down, assuming you won’t want to read it or gain from it. Bobby Herrera is a successful business leader who has experienced struggle. He shares many of those struggles in this book that is part autobiography, part leadership textbook, and part a treatise on story telling. If you like reading in any of those areas, you need to read this book.”

Reading recommendations are a regular feature of this blog. Want more recommendations about what to read? Check out my Three Star Leadership blog, Michael McKinney’s LeadingBlog, and Skip Prichard’s Leadership Insights.