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 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he Power of Experiments, American Business History, Hardiness, The Innovation Stack, Leading Beyond the Ego, The Meritocracy Trap, The Unicorn Project, Edge, and The Motive. Plus, there’s Michael McKinney’s first look at business books coming out this month.

From Sean Covey: Thirty Years Later, My Dad’s Book Is Still Relevant

“Here’s a list of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People’—and why there is still so much room for improvement.”

From Theodore Kinni: Making experiments pay

“In The Power of Experiments, Harvard Business School professors Michael Luca and Max Bazerman provide an overview of the applications, promise, and perils of corporate experimentation.”

From Daniel Akst: The business of America, in a nutshell

“The historian Walter A. Friedman, who, as a lecturer at Harvard Business School, is surely familiar with Ford’s views in this department, apparently isn’t buying, as is evident from his pithy new book, American Business History, which has been published as part of Oxford’s ongoing series of Very Short Introductions.”

From Skip Prichard: How to Turn Your Stress into Power

“What if you could develop a trait that would help you master stressful situations so you could become more successful? In their new book, Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Life Goals, authors Steven J. Stein and Paul T. Bartone tackle these questions. I spoke to them about how to tap into hardiness for this very purpose.”

From C. J. Prince: Square’s Jim McKelvey: Innovation Is The Only True Hedge Against Crisis

“The Square co-founder and deputy chair of the St. Louis Fed on the pandemic fallout, restarting the economy and why ‘innovation stack’ companies fare best in volatile times. His book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time, just hit shelves—real and virtual.”

From Bob Morris: Leading Beyond the Ego

“Knights, Grant, and Young make skillful use of 14 mini-case studies that illustrate the application key ideas in real-world experiences with which most readers can readily identify. For example, international recruitment (Page 88), Chatham House Rules/Stakeholder priority (171), blended learning (254), leadership development goals (264), and collective leadership approach (266). One or more valuable business lessons can be learned from each.”

From the London School of Economics: The Meritocracy Trap

“Meritocracy is a reliable story. In The Meritocracy Trap, Daniel Markovits argues that this endlessly repeated cultural script is damaging partly because it is so consistent. The term ‘meritocracy’, where society is governed based on achievement, was coined by Michael Young in 1958 as a warning. Since then it has become the overwhelming organising principle of our education system and job market, leading to a proliferation of testing, a premium on college education and a fetishisation of credentials. Markovits’s The Meritocracy Trap is a radical critique of this logic and the institutions it has created. Meritocracy is seen by many as fair but, according to Markovits, it is more than counterproductive. Indeed, ‘meritocracy has become the single greatest obstacle to equal opportunities in America today.’”

From Forbes: In The Unicorn Project, Bestselling Author Gene Kim Defines Five Ideals For The Modern Enterprise

“Gene Kim is a researcher and an author who has been studying high performing IT organizations for over two decades. His latest book is The Unicorn Project: a novel about developers, digital disruption, and thriving in the age of data, and it is the much-anticipated follow-up to his widely read book, The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, which has sold nearly 500 thousand copies.”

From Dina Gerdeman: Hard Work Isn’t Enough: How to Find Your Edge

“Life isn’t fair, especially in the workplace. In Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage, Laura Huang offers a new strategy for uncovering and showcasing your unique value in the face of obstacles.”

From Michael McKinney: Are You Leading for the Right Reasons?

“Patrick Lencioni has penned another leadership fable that follows the discussion of two CEOs getting to the bottom of why they lead and the results they are getting from their two different mindsets. The Motive is classic Lencioni, with plenty of let’s-get to the-core-of-the-issue insights.”

Michael McKinney: First Look: Leadership Books for June 2020

“Here’s a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in June 2020. Don’t miss out on other great new and future releases.”