I was never a big reader when I was younger, but I find that turning to the knowledge of experienced professionals and research analysts who have evaluated dozens or hundreds of scenarios or metastudies has greatly benefited my professional growth as my career has progressed. Many books deliver little nuggets of wisdom, but some key books have given me philosophies, frameworks and vocabulary that has helped me organize my thoughts, understand my specific situation and make sense of how to best move forward. As a result, I have found recurring instances of recommending the same set of books to various people in various situations. I thought I'd compile this list here and share why these are such powerful game-changers and must-reads.
If you're in charge of a large or small part of an organization, or have influence over it, and are trying to effect a large cultural change, many of these books work great in office "book clubs" to get everyone speaking the same language and aligning to the vision of the future world. I've participated and organized these office "book clubs" multiple times, and have seen them effectively aide in the cohesion and crucial dialog the teams needed to have.
In addition, I cannot stress enough that if you struggle to find time to read, listening to audiobooks on your commute, while you're working out or walking the dog, or traveling are all great ways to consume the material without taking time away from your family or other personal and professional pursuits. Most of these books have audiobook versions, and some will have accompanying PDFs to provide the benefit of the visuals even when you purchase the audiobook.
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
This is a must-read for anyone in business, really, but especially for managers and wanna-be managers and leaders. There are some hard truths in this book that force self-reflection. Each concept is crisp and applicable to just about every organizational environment, and exemplified by the book's structure of military example and business application in each chapter. The war stories are heart-wrenching and exciting, and the takeaways are evident and challenging. Much of my professional philosphy aligns with and comes from this text. It is one of those books you can enjoy re-reading and get something new out of it with every read.
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown
I only recently picked this book up for the first time, but have gone back and read (or listened to) many of the chapters three or more times, and taken abundant notes which I've continually referred back to. This is a book with its own vocabulary, and it gave me the words to express and understand some of the techniques I was instinctively deploying and the behaviors I was seeing but not understanding. The intro felt a little too good to be true, but the content in the following chapters is really thorough and immediately useful. I've leveraged my learning from this book several times over in multiple contexts and have received immediate recognition and seen great success. Yes, it is that good. Whether you're looking to be a better manager, become a manager in the near future, or you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of working for a less-than-awesome manager, you can probably find multiple strategies and techniques to improve your work life and your effectiveness.
If you feel personally attacked by the title of this book, it might be worth a read to challenge your assumptions about your abilities. If the title resonates with you, it is also worth a read to make sure you're not unintentionally perpetuating the cycle. But don't let the title mislead you - this is far more than a case for diversity or a girl-power pick-me-up. This book has given me the framework I use to evaluate management potential and effectiveness. It does shed light on the multitudes of challenges women tend to face and why men generally don't have those same barriers, but it strikes more to the core of what good leadership really looks like, regardless of gender or any other demographic.
Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead
by Laszlo Bock
While I rarely get little more than an interesting read out of most books talking about the Big Tech or FAANG companies (and not everyone can work at facebook or google), this book cuts to the heart of onboarding, among other topics, and I think the power of a successful onboarding program is highly underrated. So for any hiring managers or people about to embark on a journey with a new company or radically new position, the advice here may be worth your while.
The Loudest Duck: Moving Beyond Diversity While Embracing Differences to Achieve Success at Work
by Laura A. Liswood
Diversity and inclusion are very dynamic topics, and the thinking has shifted so rapidly that there's just not a lot of good literature, in my opinion, that really deal with the right ideas and actions. This is an exception, the best work I've come across dealing with the issues in abstract terms and concrete examples. So many companies still relegate diversity to lipservice, but this is a really important topic to at least increase self-awareness for anyone in a leadership role.
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
by Caroline Criado PĂ©rez
You don't have to be a feminist or even a liberal to be completely outraged by findings discussed in this book. I'll warn you now: the premise is that males are seen as the default, and females are simply deviations, anomalies or complications. This may seem overly judgemental/reactionary/conspiracy-theory-oriented, until you read some of the findings, like how women are being killed by oversights in a smorgasbord of ways. This book should be required reading for anyone in the medical, legal, political or academic professions, as well as anyone in any kind of design field, or anyone in any kind of business, or anyone who wants kids, has kids or knows kids. In short, it is recommended for all of mankind, which is, of course, male-default language in and of itself.
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do and What It Says About Us
by Tom Vanderbilt
This is a bit more light reading, because let's face it, most of us are still (or back to) commuting to work and dealing with traffic congestion, accident-induced delays and just generally stupid drivers, right? There is a bit more to it, though; I've often compared good business planning to making smart decisions in traffic jams, and the human element is what makes both traffic and business so dynamic and complex. If you're a synthesizer (you draw inspiration or insights from seemingly unrelated contexts), you may really get a lot out of this book to help you in your management at work. And regardless, it gives you some interesting perspectives you can share when the topic of traffic comes up in conversation.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
by Robert B. Cialdini
A professor at my alma mater, Arizona State University, Dr. Cialdini is considered the world's leading expert on influence. Most managers and leaders have to inspire and influence to get work done and be effective, so this talent is absolutely critical to hone. While many are familiar with Dale Carnegie's school of thought, Cialdini seems to be far less well-known while delivering much more actionable and widely applicable concepts, in my opinion. I've referenced this book for creating strategies to improve cross-functional communication between warring teams, to creating profitable social media content and selling Girl Scout cookies. "Influence" is my Bible for how to get people on your side and supporting you, regardless of their relationship to you in the org structure. The examples in the book are a bit dated, but the principles haven't changed.