Recommended Reading List: Volume One
Dear Reader,
As a kid, I had a night-time routine that occurred anytime I was reading something really good.
My mom would put me to bed. I’d wait, listening for the tell-tale creak outside my parents’ room. Then I’d tip-toe over to the corner of my bedroom with my book in tow. I’d lay down on my belly beneath the glow of the wall outlet nightlight, prop open my book and get to work on figuring out what happened next.
I’d read late into the night, usually finishing the book and facing the consequence of bleary eyes and tiredness the next day.
On lazy weekend afternoons it wasn’t unusual for my parents, my older brother and I to sit around reading together, each of us lost in the worlds we were creating in our heads. (Quiet, anyone?)
Then there was a period after college where I slowed my roll around my book worm nature.
“I don’t want to live in my imagination anymore,” I thought. “I want to live in the real world.”
So I dropped my books and started learning through taking action.
The benefit of this approach was that I always learned a lesson that was exactly tailored to me and my personal errors or ignorance.
The downside was that it was a slow way to learn.
I came back to books when I realized somebody somewhere in the world had figured out a whole lot of things already. And they’d thoughtfully taken the time to write those things down! What a gift.
Nowadays I’m usually in the middle of a handful of books. The ones I love most have ideas that pop my brain open or stories that remind me of the beauty and frailty of the human condition.
The following reading list was curated from recommendations from exceptional leaders, like yourself.
I hope it helps you find your next great read.
Warmly,
Alison
Elite Coach to Visionary Leaders & Avid Reader
PS. Let me know if you read any of these or find another great book. I’ll compile additional recs into a new list.
PPS. Watch out for picking up a really good book right before bed. Take it from me, we all need our sleep. 😉
Click here for a pdf of the book list or find it below.
BUSINESS STRATEGY
Art of Action by Stephen Bungay
Blue Ocean Strategy by Renée Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim
Built to Sell by John Warrillow
Contagious by Jonah Berger
Deep Work by Cal Newport
Discipline of Market Leaders by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema
Ego vs. EQ by Jen Shirkani
Greening Your Business by Daniel Sitarz
Hacking Marketing by Scott Brinker
How to Make Incredible Money in Technology Sales by Mike Slattery
Loonshots by Safi Bahcall
Management Consulting: A Guide to the Profession by Milan Kubr
Management Consulting: Delivering an Effective Project by Philip A. Wickham
Play Bigger by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, and Kevin Maney
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
Sales Management. Simplified. by Mike Weinberg
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Story 10x by Michael Margolis
Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks
Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick by Chris Bradley, Martin Hirt, and Sven Smit
The Advantage by Patrick M. Lencioni
The Employee Experience Advantage by Jacob Morgan
The Power of Moments by Dan Heath
The Servant by James C. Hunter
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Why Simple Wins by Lisa Bodell
FICTION AND FANTASY
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell by Neal Stephenson
His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
The Reckoning by John Grisham
The Silent Corner by Dean Kuntz
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
HISTORY AND MEMOIRS
Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years by Carl Sandburg
A Higher Loyalty by James Comey
American Icon by Bryce G. Hoffman
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou
Bitcoing Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins
Cities: The First 6000 Years by Monica L. Smith
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Five Presidents by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
Help Me! by Marianne Power
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Leaders: Myths and Reality by Stanley McChrystal
One Giant Leap by Charles Fishman
Shoe Dogs by Phil Knight
Tell to Win by Peter Guber
The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson
The End of the End of the Earth by Jonathan Franzen
The Girl Puzzle by Kate Braithwaite
The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
The Impossible Climb by Mark Synnott
The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis
The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro
Third Wave by Steve Case
Trillion Dollar Coach by Alan Eagle, Eric Schmidt, and Jonathan Rosenberg
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
LEADERSHIP AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Barking up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself by Joe Dispenza
Clash of the Generations by Valerie M. Grubb
Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
Good to Great by James C. Collins
Great Leaders Have No Rules by Kevin Kruse
Grit by Angela Duckworth
Leadershift by John Maxwell
Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Liz Wiseman
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer
On Managing Yourself by HBR’s Top Reads
Presence by Amy Cuddy
Principles by Ray Dalio
Quiet by Susan Cain
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
Red Shoes Living by Lonnie Mayne
The Bee Book by Paul Rigby
The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink
The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
The Speed of Trust by Steven Covey
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
Your First 100 Days in a New Executive Job by Robert Hargrove
MISCELLANEOUS
Prosperity Paradox by Clayton Christensen, Efosa Ojomo, and Karen Dillon
Slaying the Giants in Your Life by David Jeremiah
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Your Digital Undertaker by Sharon Hartung
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
Accelerate by Gene Kim, Jez Humble, and Nicole Forsgren
Army of None by Paul Scharre
Collapse by Jared Diamond
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
Digital Transformation by Tom Sieble
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, George Spafford, and Kevin Behr