The Harvard Business Review noted some years ago that some of the world’s great business minds had something in common: They enjoyed reading.
Steve Jobs had an “inexhaustible interest” in William Blake. Phil Knight, Nike founder, had such a reverence for books that he demands visitors take off their shoes and bow. (That might be a tad eccentric.) David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, reads dozens of books each week. Winston Churchill won a Nobel prize not in the process of peace, but rather literature.
“History is littered not only with great leaders who were avid readers and writers, but with business leaders who believed that deep, broad reading cultivated in them the knowledge, habits, and talents to improve their organizations.”
Reading, the essay went on, can make you more effective in leading others, particularly as it concerns advancing verbal intelligence, making a leader more adept as a communicator; improving empathy and understanding social cues, both linked to increased organizational effectiveness through heightened emotional intelligence.
There are also good reads on leadership. The folks at Randstad put together a list of quality books on business leadership for your summer personal time off.
Here goes:
1. “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know” by Adam Grant
The importance of rethinking solutions and challenging assumptions is by now axiomatic among business leaders. But if that’s the case, doesn’t it follow that this wisdom, too, should be called into question?
Paradoxes of this kind would surely amuse Adam Grant, a psychologist, self-described “entrepreneur of data and ideas” and the author of “Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know.”
Business leaders, in particular, will find Grant’s insights intriguing. Early on, reflecting on the extensive evidence showing students more often revise test answers from wrong to right than right to wrong, he essentially captures his thesis:
It’s possible that second answers aren’t inherently better; they’re only better because students are generally so reluctant to switch that they only make changes when they’re fairly confident. But recent studies point to a different explanation: It’s not so much changing your answer that improves your score as considering whether you should change it.
Elaborating on that possibility is the crux of “Think Again,” and Grant, an omnivorous reader on the evidence, nimbly assembles wide-ranging source material to that end.
For example:
Why do you think BlackBerry’s share of the overall U.S. smartphone market shrank from nearly half to less than one percent in a five-year span?
When smoke jumpers fight forest fires, do their decision-making protocols keep them safe or potentially put them in danger?
And what about that old saying about the complacent frog and the boiling pot of water — is it even true? (Spoiler alert: It isn’t.)
Grant’s selection of evidence is generally persuasive and makes for thoroughly enjoyable reading.
“Think Again” is also a very timely book. Grant’s insights extend to everything from contemporary concerns about digital literacy and misinformation online to ongoing conversations around upskilling and reskilling the workforce. Ultimately, the author calls into question the very meaning of “learning” itself, arguing that it may have as much to do with unlearning and relearning as anything else.
Thought-provoking, engaging — and, at 319 pages, likely capable of going the distance on summer PTO — this title is highly recommended by Karen Pace, director of Social and Content Marketing at Randstad USA.
2. “Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.” by Brené Brown
Leading with empathy. Leaning into difficult conversations. Holding people accountable without compromising trust. Exploring these topics has been the project of an entire career for Brené Brown, who is renowned for her research into shame and vulnerability in the context of organizational leadership.
With “Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.”, Brown is on familiar territory. This time, however, she’s investigating shame, vulnerability, courage and empathy — and not just the connections between them, but the ways in which they can connect us to each other, too. “The courage to be vulnerable is not about winning or losing, It’s about the courage to show up when you can’t control or predict the outcome,” she writes.
And while it would be foolish to try to distill all of Brown’s far-reaching findings here (read the book!), a few bite-sized nuggets will do:
Organizations spend an unreasonable amount of time managing problematic behaviors when they could spend a reasonable amount of time proactively acknowledging and dealing with the underlying causes.
People tend to inherently shy away from having tough conversations, even when that simply means giving honest and productive feedback.
Similarly, most people prefer to avoid important conversations about diversity and inclusion because they fear looking wrong, saying something wrong or being wrong.
Lack of connection and empathy is a root cause of most trust-related challenges at organizations today.
Brown’s is a well-researched book as well: The introduction cites “400,000” unique data points, and, by the end, that number sounds about right. For business leaders, too, Brown’s interviews and conversations with 150 C-level executives at companies around the world may be of special interest.
You’re bound to come back to work feeling revitalized — and ready for difficult conversations — with this recommendation from Kristin Noble, digital talent acquisition specialist at Randstad USA.
3. “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” by Simon Sinek
“There are only two ways to influence human behavior: you can manipulate it or you can inspire it,” Simon Sinek writes in “Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” — a sentence that gives you a sense of the tone, as well as the general level of confidence and conviction, animating the pages between the front and back covers.
For the most part, Sinek’s technique is to dial in on specific stories, extrapolating from there: Detroit’s capitulation to automakers from Japan, or the surprising success of RAZR scooters, for example.
He’s also content to tell the stories of leaders whose stories are, it must be said, already well known: The Wright Brothers. Wozniak and Jobs. Even Dr. Martin Luther King.
But this may be intentional, too — the above isn’t intended as a criticism. That is, by amplifying certain elements of these once-familiar stories, by providing surprising context or additional information, Sinek advances one of his central ideas: “Our behavior is affected by our assumptions or our perceived truths. We make decisions based on what we think we know.”
Hence why starting with the “why” is all-important.
So if you’re looking for clear-headed guidance, you could do worse than “Start With Why” in your beach bag. It’s exceptionally easy to read, even at 240 pages, and just might clarify your leadership vision.
4. "Clarity & Connection" by Yung Pueblo
Sure, this might be the least business-y of our four recommended titles, but organizational leaders may be surprised to recognize themselves in the mirror that is Yung Pueblo’s "Clarity & Connection.”
In part, that’s because of how effectively Pueblo’s sparse and unassuming prose serves to simultaneously mask and reinforce the power of his observations. Take the poem that opens the book, for example (and which, like the rest of the work, does away with capitalization):
all human beings
are united by
birth,
life,
death, and
every emotion
in between
Hard to argue with, right? And, as even the most cynical reader will have to admit, it does a disarmingly good job of immediately dialing in on what we all share, which is to say, our common ground.
Beginning with this level of recognition — that there are significant universals to the human condition — Pueblo proposes that there may likewise be universals in how we process, act and react to our experiences. “Everyone can benefit from self healing,” the author observes. “Even those who have not experienced serious trauma have at one point or another felt the sting of heavy emotion.”
Plus, for all his poetic leanings, Pueblo can be cheerfully prescriptive at times, too: “Throw away the idea that healing is forgetting.” “Do what is right for you.” “Do not let doubt stop you.”
A sincerely felt discussion of self-awareness and being as well as the processes of healing and growth, “Clarity & Connection” has all the smoothness and positive aftereffects of an acai berry cleanse.