Leaders are readers. Reading helps you discover ideas to try and expand your mental models. In this post I point you to reviews of recent business books.

You’ll find pointers to reviews of Humanocracy: Creating Organisations as Amazing as the People Inside Them, Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams and Reinvent Collaboration, 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything, Step Back: How to Bring the Art of Reflection into Your Busy Life, No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, and Time to Lead: Lessons for Today’s Leaders from Bold Decisions that Changed History. And there’s a pointer to Michael McKinney’s list of new leadership books.

From Gary Hamel and Stefan Stern: Wake up to the new workplace revolution

“In his much-anticipated new book Humanocracy: Creating Organisations as Amazing as the People Inside Them, co-authored with McKinsey & Company alumnus Michele Zanini, Hamel provides a radical yet practical alternative to the management model that has underpinned large organisations since the industrial age.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams and Reinvent Collaboration

“In his latest book, Leading Without Authority: How the New Power of Co-elevation Can Break Down Silos, Transform Teams and Reinvent Collaboration, Ferrazzi outlines the idea of co-elevation, based on the idea of ‘going higher together.’ For this to happen, he suggests that traditional structure and org charts matter less than getting great outcomes.”

From Wharton: What Will the World Look Like in 2030?

“Big demographic, economic and technological changes are coming — from an aging population in the U.S. and the rise of sub-Saharan Africa as a compelling middle-class market to automation causing ‘technological unemployment,; according to Wharton management professor Mauro Guillen.”

From Skip Prichard: How to Bring the Art of Reflection into Your Busy Life

“Joseph L. Badaracco is the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics at Harvard Business School has written a practical guide that I found compelling because he didn’t advocate for long periods of solitude. Instead, he makes the case for how to find a crevice and fill it with reflection to change your mindset. This resonated with me, so I asked him to share a little more of his work and his recent book Step Back: How to Bring the Art of Reflection into Your Busy Life.”

From Benjamin Kessler: How Netflix Finds Innovation on the Edge of Chaos

“In the new book No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention, INSEAD’s Erin Meyer and Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings describe the highly unusual corporate culture that contributed to this string of innovative accomplishments – and what organisations can learn from it.”

From Michael McKinney: Time to Lead: What We Can Learn from Great Leaders

“AS professor Jan-Benedict Steenkamp states in Time to Lead, ‘Everybody can improve their leadership qualities by reading about other leaders, how they resolved their dilemmas, and why they were successful.'”

From Michael McKinney: First Look: Leadership Books for October 2020

Reading recommendations are a regular feature of this blog. Want more recommendations about what to read? Monday is “Book Day.” Come back for book reviews. reading lists. and the podcast “Leadership and Management Book Talk” where Art Petty and I chat about books we like and some we don’t.