Tag Archives: books

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12 Books that Shaped My Leadership

For years I’ve been asked for book recommendations. I always take them seriously because I wouldn’t be the leader I am without my library. It’s been a huge part of my leadership education. As a senior in college, I started reading business bestsellers to see how they compared with my textbooks. When I joined the workforce, I quickly started noticing positive and negative organizational dynamics I had “seen” before in the books – and I knew what needed to change. Several years later I finally landed my first job in leadership development. I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity without having my mind stretched by the books I’d read.

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is everyone has leadership development opportunities. You don’t need to be the boss or work in HR. And the right book at the right time can make an incredible difference.

If you’re looking for a leadership read, here’s a great place to start.

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5 Book Recommendations for the Holidays

My favorite time to catch up on my reading is during long road trips with audiobooks. The second is holidays and vacations. The time away from work helps me sharpen the saw by considering new ideas I might not encounter during my regular routine.

As the Christmas holiday season arrives, I’d like to share a few book recommendations in case you find some down time and want to expand your leadership thinking.

Reading Holidays

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What I Learned at the Re:Write 2012 Writers Conference

Last week I had the privilege to fly cross country from Washington, DC to San Diego to attend a two and a half day writers conference called Re:Write sponsored by The Fedd Agency. It featured many high-profile and incredibly well-written (and well-sold) authors, such as Ken Blanchard, Paul Young, George Barna, Mark Batterson, Peter Strople, John Kilcullen, Mary DeMuth, and others. Most of the attendees had either written books, were in the process of writing their first book, maintained blogs, or just wanted to learn more about how to focus their writing inspirations. There were also publishers and agents in attendance.

Ken Blanchard photo

I met Ken Blanchard at Re:Write 2012

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How to Choose Which Leadership Book to Read Next

Huge Stack of BooksIn my previous posts, I explained why reading is crucial to growth and development and listed my favorite leadership books – the ones that inspire me or provided the most insight.  But choosing the right book to read next can be tricky sometimes, especially given there are literally hundreds of thousands just a click away.  With so many choices and so little time to read, how can you be sure you are picking the “right” one?

Here are a few strategies I’ve had a lot of success with:

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Favorite Books on Leadership

It’s pretty common that my friends or folks in my network will ask me what book they should read.  I love the question, but it always puzzles me just a bit.  Without any context, it feels kind of like they are asking me what outfit they should wear that day!  But after a couple interchanges, it turns out they are usually referring to some kind of leadership book that will help them get to the next level.

Girl Reading

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Principles of Reading

Stack of BooksI came across an alarming statistic awhile back from Dan Miller that college graduates on average will spend more money on soft drinks than on post-graduate education.  Right then and there, I resolved that this would never be true of me.  I heard Dave Ramsey say that the average millionaire reads one non-fiction book a month.  So I committed to read two a month.  And I heard Charlie “Tremendous” Jones used to say that you’ll be the same person in five years that you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.  So I decided I would never stop reading.