Fans pick 88 books like Hit Refresh

As a budding professional I was told not to be so kind to others, so I wasn’t taken advantage of.

Changing who I was and wanted to be didn’t seem like the right recipe for my success. Grant’s debut book has likely had the most impact on how I show up in my career and in life – that being a giver can be the key to our success and fulfillment. A must read for anyone who wants to do well while doing good.

A few years ago at my son’s annual townhall in school, the principal outlined the school’s strategic game plan on a powerpoint presentation.

One of the slides that stayed with me projected a visual from the book The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness.

I went back and read the book, only to realize that it resonated deeply with how we in the corporate world today (not just in schools at the elementary, middle, or senior levels) are quick to pronounce verdicts: below average, average, exceeds expectations.

The book poses some pertinent questions, and rightly so: Who came up with this principle of average? Why are we following it everywhere?

How often have we as managers just given up on people that we perceive are not ‘leadership’ material. Often these same average or poor performers can be great performers in different contexts.

Todd Rose… show more.

Trillion Dollar Coach is an absolutely brilliant read about a legendary coach and business executive who coached some of the best and brightest leaders in Silicon Valley.

Campbell coached, among others, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, and Sundar Pichai at Google, Steve Jobs at Apple, Jeff Bezos at Amazon, and Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook.

Much like my own rather strong beliefs on this topic, Bill preached that to be a great manager, you have to be a great coach.

Success as a leader was about taking others along on the journey. The higher you climb in the corporate world, the more your success will depend on making other people successful. That is the hallmark of a good leadership coach.

The book is full of examples, life lessons, anecdotes, and practical tips on how leaders can become better coaches.

Prof Useem, who teaches leadership at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, sent me a signed copy of this book through my spouse (a Wharton alum) and I cannot recommend it enough.

He eloquently equates a leader’s job to standing on the cliff edge, getting a grip on unfamiliar landscapes, and acquiring the skills to lead organizations in this constantly evolving, ever-changing business landscape.

I think this book is more relevant than ever given our turbulent times – Prof Useem draws on the experiences of ten bold CEOS to show us how, in a world characterized by unprecedented challenges of global pandemic and economic disruption, leaders need to find the edge for leaping across and breaking new ground on the other side.

An engaging and practical guide to being the ambidextrous leader who constantly propels the organization forward, without letting go of its core.

If you want to understand the man who runs the Gates Foundation, you must understand the man who ran Microsoft. For this, there is no better text than Hard Drive, the highly readable, magisterial biography of Gates published in 1993.

Reading the book today, the throughlines between Gates’s two careers, as a businessman and philanthropist, are unmistakable: the desire to win at any cost, the questions surrounding his treatment of women, the explosive temper tantrums, and the incredible hubris that drives Gates—that makes him believe he is right and righteous in everything he does, whether he is trying to dominate software markets or malaria research.

It is easier to say what the ‘new, new thing’ is not than to say what it is. It is not necessarily a new invention. It is not necessarily a new idea – most everything has been considered by someone, at some point. The author explains that the new, new thing is a notion, poised to be taken seriously in the marketplace. It is an item that is a tiny push away from general acceptance and when it gets that push, will change the world.

In 1921, Thorsted Veblen predicted that engineers would one day rule the U.S. economy. He argued that the economy was premised on technology and that engineers (in today’s terms, ‘computer science majors’) were the only ones who understood how technology worked. So, inevitably they would use their superior knowledge to seize power from the financiers, captains of industry, and other business elites.

New growth theory… show more.

Dan Lyons’ book is the “fish out of water” trope applied to high-tech. Working in high-tech usually means buying into the grandiose vision of transformation that the company’s technology will produce. In industry parlance: you will be drinking a certain amount of Kool-Aid. Dan doesn’t do this. Instead, he applies a certain skepticism to the work his bosses have asked him to do.

It takes a bit of time to develop cynicism and skepticism in high-tech. By its nature, tech companies are optimistic. When you’re fresh out of school, a high-tech company’s vision and working style seem completely natural. But this isn’t Dan’s first job, and he maintains a near-constant level of incredulity at all the high-tech traditions that he sees around him. This is an intense delight to read.

Obvious Adams is a gem of a “book.” It is 58 pages long, and was originally published as a short story in the Saturday Evening Post magazine in 1916. Adams becomes an advertising superstar because he does one hard thing: he thinks. By thinking, he discovers obvious solutions to knotty problems. Did you ever here someone say, “I wish I thought of that?” The answer is simple: you didn’t study, analyze, think, hard enough. When my mother read my first book, “How to Become CEO,” she said, “Jeffrey, much of this is obvious.” “Correct Mom, but nobody does it.”

This beautifully designed compilation of for-profit business entrepreneurs is engaging and engrossing from start to finish. I loved how each profile was eased into with several, fun, first-person trivia bits (like, “A Weird Thing You’ll Find on (or In) My Desk” and “On My Bucket List”) and continues on with the highs and lows of starting and running a business. Girls Who Run the World is as informative as it is inspiring. And that’s all before you reach the copious back matter that includes a financial case study for starting a business – a great real-world example of one start-up's costs and accounting. I found this to be a fabulous peek into some highly successful companies and the founders/CEOs who run them...all who happen to be women.

Essential Skill #1 for Creatives: the breadwinner mindset

Creative professionals tend to be number-phobes and therefore believe they are doomed to be “starving artists.” That’s why, when I heard the title of Jennifer Barrett’s book, I knew I had to invite her to be a guest on my podcast. She writes clearly and simply about the “breadwinner” mindset. Plus, we share the belief that there is nothing more empowering than having in place the mindset, the money, and the marketing so you are free to walk away from any situation or client that isn’t a good fit. That’s the only way to bring your dream business to life.