Book recommendations for business leaders: 9/13/21

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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 Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life, The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World, The Journey Beyond Fear: Leverage the Three Pillars of Positivity to Build Your Success, and Wellbeing at Work: How to Build Resilient and Thriving Teams. Plus there’s Michael McKinney’s look at leadership books due out in September.

From McKinsey: How anthropology can help shape the world of business

“In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey’s Raju Narisetti chats with award-winning financial journalist and anthropology PhD Gillian Tett. In her new book, Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life (Simon & Schuster, June 2021), Tett explores how anthropologists get inside the minds of people to help them understand other cultures and appraise their own environment—from studying big-box warehouses to shedding light on practical questions such as why corporate projects fail and how companies sell products like pet food.”

From Marcella Bremer: The fearless, learning culture

“For all leaders, consultants and team members wanting to make a difference at work: read Amy Edmonson’s book The Fearless Organization. It brings the research, the business case and the practices on how to develop more psychological safety.”

From Frank Rose: The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World

“Former contributing editor at Wired and contributing writer at Fortune, Frank Rose now teaches global business executives as faculty director of Columbia University’s Strategic Storytelling seminar, and heads the Digital Dozen awards program at Columbia’s pioneering Digital Storytelling Lab. He is also the author of The Art of Immersion, a landmark book on tech and narrative. Below, Frank shares 5 key insights from his new book, The Sea We Swim In: How Stories Work in a Data-Driven World”

From Skip Prichard: The Journey Beyond Fear: 3 Pillars of Positivity

“Based in Silicon Valley for over 40 years, John Hagel has been a strategist and futurist working with corporate and other leaders around the world to help them understand how the world is changing and the implications for how to harness the opportunities ahead. He has just published his eighth book, The Journey Beyond Fear, which urges all of us to pay more attention to the emotions that are shaping our choices and actions. Over the years, John has come to believe that psychology is even more important than strategy – our emotions will determine what we see when we look out at the world and how we act in that world.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Wellbeing at Work

“Wellbeing at Work is well timed for 2021. Gallup CEO, Jim Clifton, and Gallup Chief Workplace Scientist, Jim Harter, take a data-driven approach to understand the factors that contribute to wellbeing. They identify five key elements of wellbeing and explain each:”

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

“Here’s a look at some of the best leadership books to be released in September 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 to read? Monday is “Book Day.” Come back for book reviews, reading lists and other reading-related posts.

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