The best books about leading lightly in organizations and in life

The first muscles I build in my executive coaching clients are awareness and mindfulness.

Why? First, because transformative change doesn’t happen without a high level of those two skillsets. Second, while 95% of individuals believe they are insightful and self-aware, only 10-15% are, according to Tasha Eurichin in her book Insight.

Being able to catch yourself within 5 milliseconds of the behavior happening that you want to stop/replace is essential to make meaningful change happen. This book helps you build that skillset.

Your capacity to take ownership of your thoughts will allow you to move forward along the path to success and fulfillment. As a leader, it also enhances your ability to take stock of the bigger picture.

As Eckhart Tolle explains in his profound book The Power of Now, understanding that perspective is a choice that ultimately leads to accountability – and meaning. He emphasizes the importance of taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions throughout the book, which highlights the benefits of fully embracing the present moment.

This is an undercelebrated leadership book.

Rarely do we go “under the hood” to understand the drivers that account for 90% of our day-to-day behavior. Understanding the core impetus behind a leader’s behavior and decisions is clearly one of my passions, and this book is an interesting read in that regard. 

In this book, Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries deftly deconstructs the way we believe we make decisions to reveal that, regardless of the veneer of rationality we maintain, our emotional responses to formative events early in life remain our inner compass.

His comparison of disparate paths to self-development exposes unexpected parallels which lend strength to his argument that feelings play an important role in leadership.

Few people feel comfortable having a difficult conversation.

Even the most seasoned executives would prefer to avoid, rather than confront, the problem. Unfortunately, as we often remind our executive coaching clients, ignoring it doesn’t work and, in fact, can come at great cost to individual employees, the team, the organization – and the leader themselves. 

Those impending conversations also create “weight” for the person as they carry the dread for days, weeks, even months at times. If that’s you – you are not alone. I want to help you lighten that load. I want you to become more comfortable and competent having them and Crucial Conversations is the book I recommend to help you get there.

It’s a great resource. It will help you gain comfort and confidence in having those difficult conversations with greater finesse and impact. I suggest you buy it, read it, dog-ear it, and highlight the passages you think will help you most, so you can find what you need quickly – when you need it. 

This classic has stood the test of time because it artfully intertwines psychology and business in a way few books do.

Dr. Abraham Maslow is known for his work on the hierarchy of human needs and self-actualization. I also like the fact that he had the experience – the street cred, if you will – as a factory worker, where he gained a very practical basis for his psychological theory and research.

This book offers great insight into what drives people at their core. It will make you a better observer of people and will give you greater capacity to understand yourself and others better. 

I love this book because I routinely see blind spots get in the way of leaders’ performance and effectiveness.

These leaders are blind to how they are perceived or to their ineffective behaviors. The reason is simple – most of us don’t investigate and uncover the hidden perspectives we embody; the deeply reactive, repetitive response we have day-in and day-out, or understand the brilliant defense mechanisms we’ve built. 

The reason I love this book is because it’s easy to read and the concept is simple, but profound. The authors explain clearly why forcing ourselves to look at our blind spots is the first step in correcting them, and paves the way for enhanced communication, increased productivity, and long-term success.

Cultivating the ability to see things from another person’s perspective is among other ways this book helps break the cycle of “self-deception,” that prevents leaders from reaching their full potential. It’s a treasure of a book and one that I refer my clients to often.