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 Conflicted: How Productive Disagreements Lead to Better Outcomes, Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success, You’re Invited: the Art and Science of Cultivating Influence, Getting to G.R.E.A.T.: A 5-Step Strategy For Work and Life; Based on Science and Stories, and Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection No Matter the Distance. There’s also a reading list based o recommendations of BCG consultants.

From Ian Leslie: Conflicted: How Productive Disagreements Lead to Better Outcomes

“Ian Leslie is a regular contributor to the New Statesman, the Economist/1843, the Guardian, and the Financial Times. He writes about science and human behavior, and has been writing books that analyze a fundamental human trait. His first book focused on lying, his next tackled curiosity, and now he takes a deep dive into disagreement. Below, Ian shares 5 key insights from his new book, Conflicted: How Productive Disagreements Lead to Better Outcomes”

From Skip Prichard: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success

“In Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success, Ron Friedman provides a blueprint for learning and adopting practices that will propel you to the next level of your success journey.”

From Nir Eyal: The Influencers Dinner: An Interview with Jon Levy

“What do Bill Nye, break dancer Crazy Legs, cyber illusionist Marco Tempest, and economist Nouriel Roubini have in common? They’ve all been guests at a little-known ‘Influencers dinner’ regularly hosted by behavioral scientist Jon Levy at his New York apartment. Jon is the author of You’re Invited: the Art and Science of Cultivating Influence, a New York Times bestseller about the value of creating meaningful connections and building trust with the people that can most influence your life. Jon’s dinner parties and his decade-old club of ‘Influencers’ have been featured in Forbes and Business Insider.”

From Bruce Rosenstein: 3 Questions for Madelaine Claire Weiss, Author of Getting to G.R.E.A.T.: A 5-Step Strategy For Work and Life; Based on Science and Stories

“The world has always belonged to those who fit best with their environments, and the acronym ‘G.R.E.A.T.’ outlines the 5-step strategy for creating that optimal fit.”

From Kevin Eikenberry: Digital Body Language

“As humans, we begin learning about the role physical body language plays in communication almost immediately. We learn the subtleties and nuances behind posture, facial expression, and vocal inflection – the things that enhance (or sometimes say more than) the words themselves. But as digital communications increased, more and more of these interpretation tools were lost, often resulting in troubling miscommunication. The pandemic and the shift to many people working from home didn’t create this problem – it only highlighted and exacerbated it. Now more than ever, we need to become conversant and proficient at digital body language. That is my introduction to, and my version of the thesis for the excellent and timely book by Erica Dhawan, Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection No Matter the Distance.”

From the Boston Consulting Group: Books Recommended by Business Leaders | 2021

“As we start to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, the world can begin to look to the future with increased optimism. Our 2021 reading list reflects that forward-thinking mentality while also offering reads that encourage reflection on the tumultuous past year. BCG’s experts have made book recommendations that cover topics from climate and sustainability to digital transformation to pandemic response, and more. Whether you are a CEO or a student, we hope you are captivated and inspired by these recommended books to read from BCGers from around the world:”

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.