This will be my new reading recommendation series which I will add to every time I finish a new and exciting book that I just have to share with you all! Ladies and gentleman, my new SKJ Home Book Series

As someone whose work revolves around helping today’s managers become the most effective leaders – I know it is essential to have some good books as tools in your arsenal.

Here I have gathered my top recommended books for the people who know we can never stop learning and that learning is how you grow and develop. These books have helped me in many different ways in several aspects of my life with practical yet riveting, evidence-based literature that I never want to put down!

Leading with Gratitude

Leading With Gratitude by Chester Elton IG: @Chester.Elton & Adrian Gostick IG: @Adrian_Gostick TW: @AdrianGostick

Elton and Gostick provide managers with easy ways to incorporate more gratitude into the everyday work environment to show employees that they are valued. The authors complement their insights and advice with stories of success from known leaders in today’s world and how they effectively incorporated gratitude into their leadership styles. In turn by managers expressing appreciation, this paves the way for increases in job satisfaction, engagement, and retention amongst employees.

Elevate

Elevate by Robert Glazer IG: @RobertGlazer_ TW: @Robert_Glazer

Glazer’s idea of building capacity paves the way to achieve self-improvement and great achievement. Capacity building is essentially about constantly learning and improving new skills that enable you to promote as well as develop yourself. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking on more things, but also being selective and doing the right things for yourself. Capacity can be explained in 4 different ways – spiritual, intellectual, physical, and emotional. All 4 must be balanced which means they must be developed at the same time with the same care and priority. 

Parents Who Lead

Parents Who Lead by Alyssa Westring IG: @AlyssaWestring TW: @AlyssaWestring & Stewart D. Friedman 

Parents Who Lead lays down a foundation for helping parents achieve better work + life harmony. It’s a book that teaches parents how to use leadership skills to be more effective in their careers as well as their personal lives. My favorite topic in the book is where Friedman’s Four-Way Wins principles are applied to family experiences (like dealing with and explaining coronavirus) The book helps parents prioritize which endeavors provide the most value for you and your family in all parts of your lives (work, home, community, and self {mind, body, spirit}. As parents its important to remember we never stop learning as well! I know I’m always looking for ways to continue to grow in this aspect of my life and this book helps me do just that.

Shtick to Business

Shtick to Business by Peter McGraw IG: @PeterMcgraw TW: @PeterMcGraw

Peter McGraw shows you how the masters of comedy can inspire you to be creative and improve your career! McGraw shows how unique business and self-branding strategies are essential in driving the success of many comedian’s careers. He shows how misdirection and the reversal technique in life can be powerful tools for leaders everywhere. He shows the collaborative genius that goes into improv, sketches, and stand-up and translates that into innovation between teams. Lastly, he expands on the notion that comedians stay true to themselves by suggesting leaders must be genuine and not afraid to be vulnerable.

Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships

Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships by Morag Barrett IG: @MoragJBarrett 

In Cultivate, you’ll learn a practical framework to identify different challenges as wells as insights on the importance of forming good relationships with your office-mates to drive business results. Moraj Barrett shares exceptional knowledge on why a business plan and the newest product mean nothing if you don’t have people aligned to execute the plan. Leaders rarely fail because of a lack of technical ability, but do so because they don’t cultivate effective working relationships.

Data Story

Data Story by Nancy Duarte IG: @NancyChildsDuarte TW: @NancyDuarte

Nancy Duarte was named #1 on the World’s Top 30 Communication Professionals in 2017. She owns the largest communications film in Silicone Valley, Duarte Inc. is a well-known speaker with a Ted Talk with over 2 million views. Data Story combines the logic of data with the emotion of a story to motivate people to take the right action. Applicable to all industries, learn how to create a compelling data story in order to motivate the right people to take the appropriate actions. 

Drop The Ball

Drop The Ball by Tiffany Dufu IG: @TDufu TW: @TDufu 

Tiffany highlights why dropping the ball on purpose is essential for you to know what matters most to you! Ironically, the less you do the more you can achieve! ⁣Did you know that you can have a great career, a healthy relationship, even help out the community/organization of your choice, all at the same time?⁣ Read Drop The Ball and you will have the blueprint! ⁣

Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits by James Clear IG: @JamesClear TW: @JamesClear

How would you like to learn a new skill that will help you accomplish anything you ever wanted? In Atomic Habits, James, like his last name, writes in an uncomplicated way about how tiny changes can lead to remarkable results.⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ Here are just a few things you will learn: how to build a system for getting 1% better every day, how to get back on track when you get off course, overcome a lack of motivation and willpower, break your bad habits and stick to good ones. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Essentialism by Greg McKeown IG: @GregoryMckeown TW: @GregoryMckeown 

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less was just renowned as the #1 Time Management book on Amazon. Why? Because it challenges core assumptions about achievement to get to the essence of what really drives success. Essentialism is more than a time management strategy or productivity technique –  it is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential and eliminating everything else, so we can make the highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter. This book details exactly how to get on the path to new levels of success where we also enjoy the journey, not just the destination. 

Feminist Fight Club

Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett IG: @JessicaBennett TW: @JessicaBennett 

Feminist Fight Club, helps (1) guide you through commonplace examples of sexist behavior and (2) provide you with actionable advice to ensure that you’re better informed and capable of dealing with it when it arises. Are men the only reason for women not receiving a fair chance at work? Not necessarily… Jessica Bennett provides practical tools for women to overcome these barriers and improve their career by being vocal about injustices, working on their negotiation skills, and supporting other women of course! 

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger IG: @J1Berger TW: @J1Berger

Contagious in this context refers to content or information spread from person to another. ⁣ But what makes something popular? ⁣⁣ We always think that something going viral is due to luck or chance, however, this book reveals that is not the case!  Jonah provides research-based evidence and examples that show the same factors come up on a series of popular products, ideas, services, and behaviors. Jonah provides specific and easy techniques that helps information spread by designing messages that people will share!⁣

The Person You Mean To Be

The Person You Mean To Be by Dolly Chugh IG: @Dolly.Chugh TW: @DollyChugh

Unconscious bias is a difficult conversation in itself because we typically feel that if we have any bias, we aren’t good people.⁣ Well, Dolly Chugh redefines being a good person as someone who acknowledges and learns from their biases as well as actively works to be better. ⁣By seeing ourselves this way, we are employing a growth mindset aligned with the attitude that we are a “work in progress” – which is critical to our growth and development! ⁣

Be Fearless

Be Fearless by Jean Case IG: @JeanCaseCF TW: @JeanCase

Courageous goals help us overcome fear – do what you are afraid to do. ⁣⁣Jean calls for a revolutionary approach in making the world a better place for future generations, something we should all be concerned about.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣Her 5 principles for being fearless are:⁣⁣ ⁣⁣Make Big Bets⁣⁣, ⁣⁣Be a bold risk-taker, ⁣⁣Make failures matter⁣⁣, ⁣⁣Reach beyond your bubble⁣⁣, ⁣⁣Let urgency conquer fear⁣⁣. It takes fearlessness for transformative things to happen. ⁣Every groundbreaking idea requires the willingness to take risks, learn from failures, and to step out of comfort zones.

Girls Who Run The World

Girls Who Run The World by Diana Kapp IG: @DianaKapp TW: @DianaKapp

Diana shares stories about women who defied the odds to run their own companies in a variety of different fields such as tech, business, science etc. These are truly remarkable and reinforce the notion that hard work and determination can help achieve your dreams! 

INdivisible

INdivisible by Alison Maitland TW: @AlisonMaitland and Rebekah Steele TW: @RebekahJSteele 

In their work with business executives and diversity and inclusion leaders around the world, they saw leaders who knew inclusion was important but were not sure how to effectively put it in place. Alison and Rebekah state that inclusion is necessary for the 3 P’s:⁣ ⁣Performance – where an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows that inclusion is a driver for innovation, better decision making, boosting revenue, etc.⁣ ⁣Preparedness – how it is linked to the new world of work, the current challenges our society is facing now and will face in the future.⁣ ⁣Purpose – an increased focus on what an organization’s purpose is beyond profit.⁣ ⁣To emphasize their point, leaders and companies must address the entirety of inclusion – internally and externally. ⁣Just as they would any other critical business driver such as marketing or safety – in order to be sustainable.

Growth IQ

Growth IQ by Tiffani Bova IG: @TiffaniBova TW: @Tiffani_Bova

This is no quick-fix book: the ideas here call for a long-term approach that all work together to ensure success. ⁣⁣She outlines the 10 essential paths to growth for any company:⁣ ⁣Customer Experience⁣, Customer Base Penetration⁣, ⁣Market Acceleration⁣, ⁣Product Expansion⁣, ⁣Customer and Product Diversification⁣, ⁣Optimize Sales⁣, ⁣Churn, ⁣Partnerships⁣, ⁣Co-opetition⁣, ⁣Unconventional Strategies, which was my favorite: doing well by doing good. ⁣This is where a company can make a profit and make the world a better place at the same time like giving employees paid volunteer time.

Leadership In Turbulent Times

Leadership In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin IG: @DorisKGoodwin TW: @DorisKGoodwin 

Doris organizes her book around 4 presidents and their leadership during 4 crises:⁣ ⁣Abraham Lincoln’s transformation leadership during the Emancipation Proclamation⁣, ⁣Theodore Roosevelt’s crisis management during the coal strike⁣, ⁣Franklin Roosevelt’s turnaround leadership during his first 100 days during the Great Depression⁣, ⁣Lyndon Johnson’s visionary leadership during the Civil Rights Act, ⁣Her powerful message is not only inspirational but also applicable to everyone about how to lead in a time of adversity with resilience and strength.⁣ Effective leadership is key to a company any country’s ability to survive and thrive.⁣

Negotiating The Nonnegotiable

Negotiating The Nonnegotiable by Daniel Shapiro TW: @DanLShapiro

Conflict is tough and I know for me in certain situations it’s seemed impossible to reach any kind of agreement… so what do you do here? ⁣Thankfully Daniel has worked with everyone ranging from hostage negotiators to world leaders to give us solutions that work! ⁣ He writes that when our identity is threatened, conflicts become emotionally charged – so we must look inward to solve them.⁣ In the workplace context, poor decision-making can arise, decreased productivity, morale, and retention. It’s important to have some tools to best handle any conflict particularly in diverse teams where dissenting opinions are more likely and that’s what this book provides.

Winter In America

Winter In America by Dr. Shelton Goode TW: @SJGoode

Dr. Goode explains the implications the 2016 election had on our communities, companies, and country. He acknowledges that U.S cities are rapidly getting more diverse but that doesn’t mean they are more inclusive and concedes that diversity in and of itself has no value unless inclusion goes hand in hand. A few takeaways to help strengthen the bridge of inclusion in our companies, communities, and country are: Reach out and speak your truth while being respectful, Your way is no more right or wrong than someone else’s, Don’t confuse understanding with agreement, Choose love in the form of patience, empathy, and courage. Do not succumb to hate.

There you have it – my list of the very best books of the year to help guide you on the path of success. Don’t forget I will continuously be updating this list with new books every month. 

Which book was your favorite and why? Please let me know by leaving a comment below!

Original Date: 3/5/2020 Last Updated: 8/18/2020

Short URL: https://bit.ly/SJKBook