Best Leadership Reads for 2017 – Level Up Leadership Tips
I am a learner and one of the best ways I learn is to read. I’m not a Kindle lover. My goal is not just to learn the information but also make it retrievable. So, I mark up my books and have someone type notes into a Word file which I store in Evernote. It’s a process that has worked well for me over the years.
Looking back at 2017, I read a lot of books revolving around neuroscience. The more I learn about how my brain works, the more I understand why I – and others – behave the way I do. It has made me a better Coach and leader.
I enjoy sports and readily see applications to leadership. Whether a business leader or a sports coach, you must first lead yourself before you can lead others. Peak performing athletes have a lot to teach all of us.
Here are the best books I read in 2017 that helped me grow my understanding of leadership – not necessarily in order of best to least. I offer them without a lot of commentary or any attempt at a summary.
(1) The Leading Brain – Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance – Fabritius & Hagemann
“But effective leadership isn’t an art. It’s a science. It’s shouldn’t be dependent on buzzwords or slogans. It should be based on a bedrock foundation of our understanding of the brain. The ways we act, react, and interact are all products of distinct cognitive processes. What motivates us, what bores us, how we respond to threats and rewards, both as individual sand groups, are dependent on the elaborate and seemingly miraculous neuronal networks that operate just behind our foreheads and above our ears.” (ix)
(2) Grit: The Power of Passion & Perseverance – Angela Duckworth
Basically, grit helps us understand how we over-rate talent when seeking to understand success in business, sports and life.
(3) Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise – Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool
“But since the 1990’s brain researchers have come to realize that the brain – even the adult brain – is far more adaptable than anyone ever imagined, and this gives us a tremendous amount of control over what our brains are able to do. In particular, the brain responds to the right sorts of triggers by rewiring itself in various ways. New connections are made between neurons, while existing connections can be strengthened or weakened, and in some parts of the brain it is even possible for new neurons to grow.” (xvi-xvii)
(4) Boundaries for Leaders – Henry Cloud
I am a huge fan of Henry Cloud. He’s insightful, practical and right!
“As a leader, you always get what you create and what you allow.” (xvi)
(5) Crunch Time: How to be your BEST when it matters MOST – Rick Peterson
I enjoy baseball, so this was a fun read with fascinating insights from an MLB pitching coach. For leadership and coaching, I learned how to work with people remembering to start where they are, not where I want them to be.
(6) The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery – Sarah Lewis
I was drawn by the title and ended up really enjoying this unusual read. I liked learning the difference between perfection and mastery, realizing perfection really doesn’t ever exist.
“Mastery requires endurance. Mastery, a word we don’t use often, is not the equivalent of what we might consider its cognate – perfectionism – an inhuman aim motivated by a concern with how others view us. Mastery is also not the same as success – an event-based victory based on a peak point, a punctuated moment in time. Mastery is not merely a commitment to a goal, but to a curved-line, constant pursuit.” (7-8)
(7) The Admirals: The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea – Walter R. Bornean
History has always had a draw for me and with a father-in-law who was in the Navy, this book had some real interest. Fascinating insights.
(8) D-Day: June 6, 1944 – Stephen Ambrose – WWII
Another history draw for me
What did you read? What will you be reading? Leaders are learners. Leaders read.
On my reading table for next year:
Conflict without Casualties – Nate Regier, Ph.D.
Game Changer: The Art of Sports Science – Dr. Fergus Connolly
Verbal Judo: Redirecting Behavior with Words – George J. Thompson
The Agony of Winning: Seven Strategies for Winning Bigger with Greater Freedom, Spirit and Integrity – Kevin M. Touhey
Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
Will It Make the Boat Go Faster – Ben Hunt-Davis (leadership lessons from Great Britain’s 2000 gold medal rowing team)
Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence – Gary Mack, David Casstevens
Coaching for Emotional Intelligence: The Secret to Developing the Star Potential in Your Employees – Bob Wall
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