Anyone who knows me knows that I am a voracious reader. I devour any book that I feel could be useful for my executive coaching clients, whether they are just starting out on their leadership journey or have been in the C-suite for decades. My clients know to use me as a reading resource, but when they ask me about my top recommended books for leaders, I always find myself turning to the same handful of books.
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when the Stakes are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler
My most recommended book is Crucial Conversations that was first published in 2002. There are many other editions now that focus on distinct types of conversations, but I always recommend the original. I have found that a lot of leaders have trouble with crucial conversations. They are uncomfortable when they must give unwelcome news, discuss someone’s performance, say something that will be difficult for others to hear, or even worse, let someone go.
None of these are fun conversations to have but when you avoid them, bigger issues arise. One scenario I see often is that the leader believes they were direct in their conversation, but the other person walks out of the meeting and does not understand the leader’s intention. Leaders can talk around the issue instead of being direct and this can lead to miscommunication and ineffective conversations. In fact, I have seen leaders make it all the way to the C-suite and still be challenged with having effective crucial conversations.
This skill is essential for leaders to master, and there is no better guide than this book. I instruct my clients to master this book. Do not just read the book like you would read a novel. Get a highlighter, pen, and post it notes and mark it up… whatever you need to do so that you can quickly come back to this book and look up what you need before you go into a crucial conversation.
The authors of this book provide frameworks and context beautifully so you can use it as a study guide. But do not pick it up the night before your meeting about layoffs at your company. Read it and study it in advance. I suggest writing out your script as if it will be displayed on a teleprompter and practice saying your thoughts aloud. You may even want to practice with another person to provide feedback!
I want all leaders to learn the skills to manage these conversations well, and this book is a tool to get you there.
Related: A Serious Summer Reading List
The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking by Barbara Minto
You have likely never heard of Barbara Minto, but many years ago, she was a partner at McKinsey, the global management consultancy company. Barbara trained people to produce clear everyday business documents from memos to reports to proposals to presentations. She established a technique for working out your thinking on any subject so that you can present it clearly to someone else. She does this extraordinarily well in her excellently written book.
Barbara was also one of the first women to go to Harvard Business School. She became renowned for this pyramid structure that you can apply to any document in which your purpose is to present your thinking clearly. I have found many leaders were never taught this type of thinking structure. They often do not bring their thinking together in a way that is highly effective for the results they want.
The caveat to this recommendation is that this book which was published in 1987 is now out of print. You can often find used copies online, but they could run you over $100 for a copy. I tell my clients – I do not care what the price is, this book is worth it. If you want to get better at writing, influencing, critical thinking, logic, and structure – this is your book. There is no course out there that I have found that can match teaching you how to apply all those components to problem solving, an essential skill for all leaders but one that I find a lot of individuals are lacking as they move up the corporate ladder.
Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute
Forcing us to look at our blind spots is the first step in correcting them, paving the way for enhanced communication, increased productivity, and long-term success. Cultivating the ability to see things from another person’s perspective is among the ways this book helps break the cycle of “self-deception,” which, as its authors explain, prevents leaders from reaching their full potential.
This is a powerful book on transformation, and I describe it as an “inside out” book, meaning that it does not address your external behavior but rather looks at what is happening internally that is creating your behavior. You will go deep inside yourself with this book in a way that is simple, profound, and applicable.
Leading Lightly by Jody Michael
What can I say? I must include the book I poured my heart and soul into for three years! Leading Lightly allows me to reach a broader audience than I have the capacity to coach, to get others on the path to self-awareness, and to help people out of the pain they do not even realize they are in. If I can be a catalyst for someone to have an “a-ha” moment where they understand they can level themselves up in leadership and life in a way that will have a profound impact in their future, what could be more powerful than that?