100 books like Corps Business

This is a great book for those interested in promoting change. I like how the book combines stories, examples, and engaging information to present practical strategies that have been used to accomplish change when it seemed difficult to achieve. 

Reading this book made me realize small actions can have significant long-term effects when taken consistently and repeatedly. It opened my eyes to the fact that sometimes complex problems require simple solutions. 

This book offers real-world examples of how peer feedback is critical to creative success. When I lose myself in the creative process, I rely on trusted collaborators to help dig me out of that hole.

Recognizing this is a universal problem for creatives, Ed Catmull introduces us to The Braintrust, a team at Pixar that provided feedback on movie scripts such as The Incredibles and Wall-E. I believe we all need our own personal Braintrust to be successful.

A Seat at the Table is a wonderful book about how the role of tech leaders in general and CIO specifically have changed dramatically over the last decades.

From a cost center where spending should be kept to an absolute minimum, with a strong focus on hardware to an enabling role that drives and innovate business. Mark Schwartz guides us through these changes in his normal entertaining way.

I've rarely (never) laughed out loud from a business book but this one did that for me.

After reading Captain David Marquet's book, I realized that Marquet had discovered a modern approach to leadership that differs substantially from traditional thinking.

What I love about the book is that it is a real-life story about how Marquet transformed the USS Santa Fe, a submarine with the worst performance record. Through empowering his crew and fostering leadership at every level, Marquet illustrates how giving up conventional thinking by relinquishing control unlocks the crew’s hidden potential. Doing so not only boosts morale but enables the crew to achieve remarkable results.

I believe that if you embrace Marquet's approach, you can transform your employees to be self-directed and high-performing. Read this book so that you, too, can lead others to take on any challenge and achieve extraordinary outcomes!

For me, the idea of leading by serving others, of helping them grow to be their best, expresses one of the core principles of leadership–releasing the potential in others. Service was the background track of my early corporate career in an organisation striving to do this globally.

The principles of servant leadership–empowering others and ethical and sustainable leadership–sit well with my spiritual values. This book has played a significant part in my journey to leading and living more consciously. 

What also stood out for me was Greenleaf’s introduction of the concept of stewardship–we are, after all, just stewards of our organisation, and our world, tending and nurturing them for the next generation. This stewardship mentality is increasingly important given the climate and other crises of today.

In my quest (you can also call it a professional career), I’m drawn to complexity since we create software for complex problems. There are books on Complexity Science; however, they are very academic. This particular book gives practical advice to cope with complexity. It acknowledges the balance between the emotional and rational sides and why we must bring our full-self to any aspect of our life. The “don’t be emotional, this is work” proves to be a threat to our mental well-being and kills innovation in a company. In the book, the authors explore how to listen to our bodies in the face of complexity in an accessible way.

As a Digital Strategist, after hundreds of meetings with clients, I noticed that the lack of digital marketing strategy is the real reason that some retail companies do not manage to grow and some grow successfully. I went on a search for a book that will be a step-by-step framework on how to plan, integrate and measure the effectiveness of each digital platform. I discovered this book that covers many subjects of digital marketing strategy that are absolutely crucial in successfully managing the strategy of digital marketing retail or eCommerce business.

I love basketball and was thrilled that John Wooden, ESPN's best 20th-century coach, wrote on leadership. What intrigued me even more is that the book contains few basketball stories. Its theme is universal: How a leader builds a value-and vision-based organizational culture, resulting in perennial success.

Everyone knows that Wooden’s UCLA team won 10 NCAA championships in a span of 12 years, but I was surprised to learn that it took Wooden 15 years to transform UCLA and win the first title.

I admire Wooden’s key to leadership: “Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best you are capable of becoming.” As a byproduct of this success, UCLA won 10 titles. Now, I understand why my team—the Knicks—is not getting there.

There are many of us who believe Frances Hesselbein was one of the greatest leaders of our time, including myself, Peter F. Drucker, Alan Mulally, Marshall Goldsmith, and millions more.

A leader whose focus was on humility, love, and service, Frances spent her entire 107 years serving humanity in the area of leadership. She showed us by example that who we are will have everything to do with our performance and results. For instance, if we have respect for all people, our goals will include everyone in the results.

This book is essential for anyone learning about this great leader because it is in her words, what she believed to be important to who we are and how we lead.

This is the most impertinent yet constructive book on leadership I’ve ever read (and I've read many with one of these qualities, but none with both).

It’s written by the former CEO of AVIS, who led a radical transformation of its organizational culture, resulting in unmatched performance. First published in 1970, it quickly became the NY Times N°1 bestseller. Its commemorative 2007 edition is adorned with even more gems, including a nine-page segment that earns you a PhD in Leadership.

It starts with, “To hell with centralized strategic planning. If you don’t have a good leader, it’s all nothing; just a bunch of papers flying around.” Enjoy!