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 Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others, Democratize Work: The Case for Reorganizing the Economy, Getting Along: How to Work With Anyone (Even Difficult People), The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of America — and How to Undo His Legacy, and Decisions Over Decimals: Striking the Balance between Intuition and Information. I also point you to Michal McKinney’s monthly preview of upcoming leadership books.

From Stephen M. R. Covey: Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others

“Stephen M. R. Covey is the New York Times best-selling author of Speed of Trust. He is formerly the CEO of Covey Leadership Center, which became the largest leadership development company in the world under his leadership. He is currently the Global Practice Leader of Global Speed and Trust Practice, a professional consultation firm. Below, Stephen shares 5 key insights from his new book, Trust & Inspire: How Truly Great Leaders Unleash Greatness in Others.”

From Avery Forman: Reimagining the Economy: What Would It Take to Put People First?

“In the new book Democratize Work: The Case for Reorganizing the Economy, Harvard Business School Professor Julie Battilana and a dozen other social scientists argue that, with the right governance structures and norms in place, businesses could help put people, including their workers, and the planet back at their core. Through a series of essays, the book exposes the fault lines between democracy and capitalism and, building on alternative models of organizing like the cooperative presented in the excerpt below, the authors outline what a greener and fairer economy would look like.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Getting Along: How to Work With Anyone

“Because I host a post (The Remarkable Leadership Podcast), I often get the chance to review books before they are released. The author or their representatives want to be on the show, and I need to vet them and their work to determine if a conversation would be appropriate or valuable for my audience. And, since I like to read and learn in the areas we focus on for the podcast, it is a lovely side benefit to this activity. Earlier this year, one of the books that arrived in my mail was Getting Along – How to Work With Anyone (Even Difficult People) by Amy Gallo. It didn’t take me long to know I would love to have her on the show.”

From Kevin Cool: Reporter Offers Scathing Reassessment of “Lionized” Business Titan

“Gelles’ new book, The Man Who Broke Capitalism: How Jack Welch Gutted the Heartland and Crushed the Soul of America — and How to Undo His Legacy, is unequivocal about who is to blame for decades of middle-class decline and growing income inequality.”

From Daniel Akst: In a data-led world, intuition still matters

“So how can managers use the torrent of data available to them to make the best decisions? That is the timely subject of Decisions Over Decimals, a concise guide to decision-making in the age of analytics written by Christopher Frank, Paul Magnone, and Oded Netzer, a trio of business veterans associated with Columbia University (as well as American Express, Google, and Amazon, respectively).”

From Michael McKinney: First Look: Leadership Books for December 2022

“HERE’S A LOOK at some of the best leadership books to be released in December 2022. Be sure to check out the other great titles being offered this month.”

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 other reading-related posts.