Top 4 Books for Effective Leadership
Effective leadership can improve your team’s productivity and morale, propel your business to success, and even create the next generation of leaders. These reads will teach you how to embrace effective leadership—and what tactics are designed to fail.
Angela Duckworth, GRIT: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Culminating from Angela’s extensive career in psychology, GRIT focuses on what Angela defines as the secret to outstanding achievement—not talent, but grit. Grit, defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, offers a unique and motivating way to reach your full potential, beyond what natural talents would predict. While not an explicit handbook for leaders, leaders can still recognize the power of grit and see how it is cultivated in the highest-performing sports teams, businesses, and schools.
Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
Imagine if your employees were inspired to go to work, felt valued and trusted, and went home feeling fulfilled. Simon has traveled the world to explore why some leaders create environments where teams naturally work together to achieve incredible results, and some are doomed to fail, regardless of incentives. His findings were summarized during a conversation with a Marine Corps general who stated, “Officers eat last.” That notion, an idea stemmed in biology rather than management theory, has held true across a variety of sectors, from military to manufacturing, investment banking to government. Simon has articulated his theory perfectly, showing us that leaders willing to eat last will be rewarded with incredibly loyal employees determined to reach their leader’s vision, whatever it takes.
Sydney Finkelstein, Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent
Would you rather hit your goals and lead your team, or build an army of leaders? Sydney draws from ten years of research and more than two hundred interviews to conclude that superbosses (while differing in their own personal leadership styles) all focus on just that: transforming entire industries through finding, nurturing, leading, and even letting go of great people. Superbosses, the term coined by Sydney, work on three main practises: creating master-apprentice relationships, relying on the Cohort effect, and saying goodbye to good teams. It’s an ideal guide on how to create an incredible flow of talent in your organization.
Rich Karlgaard and Michael S. Malone, Team Genius: The New Science of High-Performing Organizations
Our society is based on teams, both personally and professionally. So why are many teams created by luck or circumstance? Rich and Michael offer insights and scientific research to explain that planning, designing, and managing teams is no longer a black art—it’s one rooted in science. They answer the questions we’ve all been wondering: how can we reorganize subpar teams and turn them into top performers? How can we identify when top-performing teams are no longer working well together? Both Rich and Michael have been journalists, analysts, investors, and global entrepreneurs, and are well poised to share their knowledge in Team Genius.
A version of this appears in print in our Spring 2016 Women of Influence Magazine, Page 13.