6 Must-Read Books Recommended by Top Leaders
To do what
those who have come before you have done, read what they read.
Reading is the process wherein someone else's experiences, lessons
learned, and ideas transfer themselves into your mind.
The benefits
of reading--even just six minutes of it--have been statistically proven
repeatedly over the last century alone. Reading increases the likelihood
of a
stronger brain as you age, helps build
empathy, improves social relationships in work and personal life, leads to overall health benefits for both body and mind, and much
more.
Whatever
problems, struggles, or circumstances you find yourself in, odds are somebody,
somewhere, has written about it--or something close to it. So whether
you're struggling to motivate yourself or your team, trying to find ways to turn your passions into a
profession, or wondering what it takes to make your ideas a reality, picking up the right book could be just what you need.
To do what those who have come before you
have done--to accomplish what Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or Meg Whitman have
done--read what they read.
How Not to Be Wrong, by Jordan
Ellenberg
Bill Gates has recommended a lot of books over the years as part of his
blog--including his self-proclaimed favorite book, The
Catcher in the Rye. Yet one book that stands out
among his collections is Ellenberg's How
Not to Be Wrong. In the book, Eilenberg delves into the
world around us from behind the lens of mathematics. If that sounds daunting,
consider the book's description on Amazon:
The math we learn in school can seem like a
dull set of rules, laid down by the ancients and not to be questioned. In How
Not to Be Wrong, Jordan Ellenberg shows us how terribly limiting this view
is: Math isn't confined to abstract incidents that never occur in real life,
but rather touches everything we do--the whole world is shot through with it.
Twelve Against the Gods, by William
Bolitho
Elon Musk famously caused
a mass rush to find this 1929 book when he
told reporters it was his current reading focus. If you can find a copy of the
now out-of-print book (Amazon currently lists it at nearly $600), Twelve
Against the Gods covers the lives of 12 individuals from
history who developed a remarkable amount of success in their lifetimes: from
Napoleon, Casanova, and Woodrow Wilson to Charles XII and Isadora Duncan.
"It's really quite good," Musk declared.
The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton
M. Christensen
Steve Jobs was a voracious reader, and one book he kept on his shelf
was The
Innovator's Dilemma, which helped Jobs understand the importance
of innovation within an organization. Too many companies--and individuals--rely
on whatever first brings them success. Thanks to Christensen's book, Jobs knew
that the success of the iPod would have to be leapfrogged if Apple was to truly
succeed; Jobs knew it was merely a stepping stone. Which, as we now know, led
to the success of the iPhone and iPad.
Playing to Win, by A.G.
Lafley
When HP
CEO Meg Whitman encouraged all 300,000 or so employees of
the company to read Lafley's Playing
to Win, she did so for good reason. The book covers
what tradeoffs must be considered in order to "play to win" in a
connected and highly competitive world. In an earnings call, Whitman explained
why the book was so valuable to her and her teams:
There are many ways to deploy strategy in
companies. This is one I found to be particularly helpful because organizations
have a lot of trouble making decisions, particularly at our scale.... This
notion of where to play, what countries, what market segments, what products,
and where not to play because we can't do it profitably, has been a very good
discipline.
The Beginning of Infinity, by David
Deutsch
In 2015,
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made
a goal to read a new book every other week. For the last book in his
experiment, Zuckerberg chose Deutsch's The
Beginning of Infinity, a book which, according to
Amazon's description, "argues that explanations have a fundamental place
in the universe--and that improving them is the basic regulating principle of
all successful human endeavor."
Lean In, by Sheryl Sandberg
Cisco executive
chairman and former CEO John Chambers was so inspired by Sheryl
Sandberg's Lean
In that he gave a copy of the book to each
member of his senior leadership team. In a company email, Chambers explained:
After reading Lean In and
listening to Sheryl, I realize that, while I believe I am relatively
enlightened, I have not consistently walked the talk. I think each of you, on
reflection, will identify opportunities to operate at a new level with your
women employees, leaders, customers, partners, and peers.
BY TANNER CHRISTENSEN
http://www.inc.com/tanner-christensen/six-of-the-top-books-recommended-by-modern-leaders.html?cid=em01020week33a
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