In today’s digital age, we still love good ole’ fashioned books!
You can pick them up whenever you have some down time, learn, and improve yourself by gaining new perspectives that can lead to new or better skills.
Here are some of the books that our team collectively recommends. We’ve listed them out by category and developed links to merchant sites where you can learn more about them.
Interaction
“How to Win Friends and Influence People”: This is an oldie but goodie, but it’s hard NOT to have it on our recommendation list because it covers the art of human interaction in a way that’s simple to understand and the advice is easy to apply. It’s about connecting with others in ways that serve you, but also others… and this can be applied to help relations at work and on personal situations.
“What to Say When You Talk To Yourself” is a very easy read and, while it certainly falls into the category of self-help, it can help leaders position their own internal dialogue in a way that’s most productive to themselves and then in how they communicate with their team.
If you’re someone who is unforgiving of self (or, if you consciously think about it, you notice you have a lot of negative thoughts), OR you just want to make noticeable improvements in your own outward demeanor, it’s a must as an addition to any personal library.
Leadership Principles
“What It Takes – Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence” is by Stephen Schwartzman, founder and CEO of Blackstone and billionaire philanthropist. His book is, in part, about his own life’s journey to become something more, and in doing so, what he learned.
He talks about the importance of establishing a great culture, and how to hire great talent to help with that culture. He goes into what he learned about striking deals, about risk-taking, diplomacy and essentially about pursuing excellence in everything. While he’s introspective, this book is truly for those looking to make an impact in business.
The Positive Thinking Guide is written by Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, and world-renown motivational and leadership speaker. Mr. Canfield explains the power of positive thinking — how it can really be a game-changer. Here at Leadership Depot all agree that he can tell a story like few others — in a way that relates and is truly compelling.
In this PDF, Mr. Canfield gives simple times to remain calm under pressure and how to attract positiveness into your life. The principles he espouses can be adopted to impact personal and/or business goals.
Of COURSE, we definitely have to mention “Soar With Your Strengths”, since we’ve mentioned this book several times in various posts, as well. As we’ve outlined on the post “Building on the Strengths of Your Employees”, the premise is to develop individual strengths and minimize weaknesses. General Personal Improvement