Book recommendations for business leaders: 4/5/21

  |   Books Print Friendly and PDF

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 Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues, An Effort To Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half, The CEO Test: Master the Challenges That Make or Break All Leaders, Fluid and Fast: Harness the Talent Mobility Revolution, and Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience, There’s also Michael McKinney’s look at new releases for April 2021.

From Stanford GSB: How to Build Better Relationships

“They’ve taught the keys to forming deep connections in the MBA classroom — now they’ve turned those lessons into a book.”

From David Murray: What communicators know, and what they must teach

“I have a new book out today, called ‘An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half.’ When it became available for pre-order a year and a half ago, the topic was topical and relevant: communication lessons for tense times. By now, people are talking about the book as if it’s an emergency manual, an American Hail Mary, an instant antivenom cure. As you know and I know, communication can be no such thing. But as we also know, communication is the only way to begin.”

From Michael McKinney: The Seven Tests of A CEO

“In The CEO Test by the always insightful Adam Bryant and by the former Amgen president and CEO Kevin Sharer, they present seven tests that really all leaders face in one form or another. They call it the CEO test because the intensity and consequences of these challenges grow as you move into higher levels of leadership. As a result, these challenges are brought into their sharpest relief and thereby provide the richest lesson for anyone aspiring to lead better.”

From Skip Prichard: Harness Talent Mobility

“To seize opportunities and beat the competition, you will want to read Flat, Fluid and Fast: Harness the Talent Mobility Revolution by Brynne Kennedy. She’s the Founder of award-winning talent mobility software company Topia. I recently spoke with her about her research in workplace trends.”

From Wharton: Why Teams Are the Key to Beating Burnout

“In Beating Burnout at Work: Why Teams Hold the Secret to Well-Being and Resilience, Paula Davis, founder of the Stress & Resilience Institute, explores a new solution to the burnout problem at work: a comprehensive approach focused on building the resilience of teams of all sizes. Davis argues that teams, and their leaders, are uniquely positioned to create the type of cultures that are needed to prevent burnout.”

From Michael McKinney: First Look: Leadership Books for April 2021

“Here’s a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in April 2021. Don’t miss out on other great new and future releases not listed here.”

Reading recommendations are a regular feature of this blog. Want more recommendations about what tao read? Monday is “Book Day.” Come back for book reviews, reading lists and other reading-related posts.

Join The Conversation

What People Are Saying