Your Summer Reading 2020
While business books may not be everyone's antidote to the ongoing pandemic, I've prepared my annual summer reading list with our new work world in mind. These books are for those who find solace and inspiration in the well-crafted storytelling and lessons non-fiction that biz books can offer.
Uncertainty is omnipresent, so while one title helps us prepare for the future by understanding demographics in Canada, another helps business people think about the future of their company by learning from the biggest and arguably the most innovative company in the world. One book focuses on creating fearless and incredibly safe workplaces, and the other dials up inclusion and diversity. Another book helps us get things done stress-free in our disrupted work world, and the other is the most essential communication handbook ever written. There's even a title, soon to be released, that I'll plead to be ridiculously biased about in this year's summer list.
1. Unleashed, the Unapologetic Leaders Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss, June 2020. It drives home the point that leadership is not about you; it's about how influential people are in your absence. It provides excellent insight on creating LGBTQ+ welcoming workplaces.
2. Next, Where to Live, What to Buy, and Who Will Lead Canada's Future by Darrell Bricker, March 2020. The CEO of one of the world's premier research houses helps us all prepare for the future by understanding the story told by Canada's shifting demographics.
3. Bezonomics, How Amazon is Changing Our Lives by Brian Dumaine, May 2020. Fascinating lessons from the world's biggest and arguably most competent company and how one encounter with an author by founder Jeff Bezos shaped the company and its fortunes.
4. Range, Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein, 2019. Extraordinary evidence that the more "wicked" the problem you are trying to solve, the more generalists can help.
5. The Fearless Organization, Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth by Amy Edmondson, 2019. Brilliantly argues how genuinely effective teams function: they create psychologically safe workplaces where people can bring their best and speak their minds.
6. Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen, 2015. Allen's task capture approach to clearing the mind and enabling our best effort is powerful and can boost anyone's productivity. The tools are timeless, easy and they work.
7. Nonviolent Communication, A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg, 2015. The quintessential interpersonal communication handbook for humanity. It should be required reading for all humans.
8. Humanity at Work, Leading for Better Relationships and Results by Pierre Battah, 2020.