The past few years have been riddled with unexpected twists and turns for organizations of every stripe. Leaders in every industry are processing past changes and bracing for future disruptions. As they navigate uncharted and unpredictable waters, it’s important that leaders take advantage of every resource they have available.
If you’re guiding your organization, you need to keep up with what modern leadership looks like and where it’s going. From inclusivity to kindness, psychological safety, and bringing out the best in people, here are a few books to support and develop your leadership skills as you blaze the trail into the new normal.
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1. Michael Bungay Stanier — How to Work With (Almost) Anyone
Our working relationships have a huge influence on our success and our happiness. But mostly we cross our fingers and hope for the best. Leadership means actively choosing to build the best possible relationship with key people.
In How to Work With (Almost) Anyone, internationally bestselling author Michael Bungay Stanier (also known as MBS) tackles the task of setting up working relationships for success. From establishing social contracts to communicating what brings out the best in you, Bungay Stanier shares tested tools and techniques that can enable you to amplify the good and get the most out of every professional relationship you engage in. How to Work With (Almost) Anyone walks you through the “Keystone Conversation” from start to finish and five questions you should ask (and answer) to build the best possible relationships.
Even the most charismatic leaders have those relationships that feel like you just can’t get them off the ground. This book (which releases on June 27th, 2023) is the answer to relational efficiency in the workplace — and it’s one that every leader needs to read.
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2. Amy Edmondson — The Fearless Organization
We live in a data-driven world, where informed consumers require increasingly sophisticated answers to their problems. While technology is making it possible to meet this demand on a practical level, often, the hold-up comes from a lack of creativity.
Amy Edmondson’s The Fearless Organization is a practical primer on sparking innovation in the workplace. It bucks the traditional culture of fitting in and going along with the crowd. Instead, Edmondson offers applicable advice to help leaders establish psychological safety within their teams. Setting expectations about failure and being willing to say “I don’t know” are among the tactics Edmondson offers to enable your team to unleash fearless creativity.
Sustained success doesn’t require a good idea anymore. It needs a perpetual stream of them. Edmondson’s book equips leaders with the tools they need to keep those creative juices flowing.
3. Clair Hughes Johnson — Scaling People
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Startups are a dime a dozen. The process of taking a good idea from inception through to a full-fledged business, though? Well, that takes chops.
Claire Hughes Johnson’s Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building is brimming with business growth advice from an author who was present for the rise of major enterprises, including Google and Stripe. In Scaling People, Johnson doesn’t focus on funding or customer acquisition, though. She hones in on building the human infrastructure of a successful, scalable company.
From empathetic advice to practical worksheets, templates, and exercises, Johnson’s book is the perfect starting point for any growing company. It’s the blueprint leaders must read if they want to scale their enterprises without breaking their teams in the process.
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Setting the Stage for Good Leadership
There are a lot of factors that go into leadership. For a leader to be genuinely “good,” though, they must start by mastering their ability to lead others.
Psychological safety. Productive interactions. Effective growth. These are concepts that every leader must master if they’re going to have a sustainable track record of success — and the trio of books above is the beginning of that process.
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