Awaken the Giant Within
Author: Tony Robbins
One-Sentence Description: World-renowned motivational speaker and coach Tony Robbins helps readers replace their bad habits, retrain their mindset, and increase their happiness so they can step into their greatness.
Favorite Quote: “Enjoy making decisions. You must know that in any moment a decision you make can change the course of your life forever . . . If you really want your life to be passionate, you need to live with this attitude of expectancy.”
Why You Should Read It: Published in 1991, Awaken the Giant Within is full of the passion and charged words people would expect from a young Tony Robbins. As a coach focused on elevating people to their full potential, this is a great read for leaders dissatisfied by mediocracy. Although this book is more targeted toward young entrepreneurs and new business owners, it is a powerful read for those who want to live extraordinary lives as leaders.
The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team
Author: Patrick Lencioni
One-Sentence Description: Lencioni uses his knack for storytelling to resolve five common dysfunctional behaviors that inhibit even the best teams.
Favorite Quote: “Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare.”
Why You Should Read It: Leaders must know how to both guide their teams and be a team player. This book stresses the importance of having a cohesive team dynamic. While the book is a fictional fable, it is a story many business owners and executives struggle with. Companies cannot succeed unless their teams work together. For this reason, the book points out dysfunctional behaviors that harm team culture. As a result, leaders can repair and avoid toxicity within their organizations using this insight.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Author: Dale Carnegie
One-Sentence Description: Carnegie’s book provides insight on how likability leads to strong relationships, new friends and influence.
Favorite Quote: “You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.”
Why You Should Read It: First published in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People provides timeless lessons on how to win people over without using manipulation and morally unethical tactics. In essence, this book is a great read that proves likability goes a long way in life. The knowledge provided in Carnegie’s work is invaluable to leaders and customer-facing team members, such as sales teams. Additionally, the book teaches you how to advance your interpersonal skills.
Team of Rivals
Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
One-Sentence Description: In this Lincoln biography, Kearns shows how the president united his former political competitors to abolish slavery and win the Civil War.
Favorite Quote: “In order to ‘win a man to your cause,’ Lincoln explained, you must first reach his heart, ‘the great high road to his reason.‘”
Why You Should Read It: This leadership book is a masterclass on leadership and an interesting read for anyone who loves history. It shows how important it is to toss your ego aside when working with others. Rather than punishing his rivals, Lincoln welcomed several of these people into his cabinet and created a unified front that was capable of holding the country together. While the book has a rather political motif, it teaches executive leaders the value of bringing teams together toward a collective cause. Personal beliefs of individual group members may vary but there can be healthy competition among them, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of a larger, common objective.
The 15 Invaluable Laws Of Growth
Author: Dale Carnegie
One-Sentence Description: Carnegie’s book provides insight on how likability leads to strong relationships, new friends and influence.
Favorite Quote: “You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it.”
Why You Should Read It: First published in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People provides timeless lessons on how to win people over without using manipulation and morally unethical tactics. In essence, this book is a great read that proves likability goes a long way in life. The knowledge provided in Carnegie’s work is invaluable to leaders and customer-facing team members, such as sales teams. Additionally, the book teaches you how to advance your interpersonal skills.