100 books like My Life in Full

By Indra Nooyi,

Here are 100 books that My Life in Full fans have personally recommended if you like My Life in Full. Shepherd is a community of 10,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Book cover of Everything Is Figureoutable

Tissa Richards Author Of No Permission Needed: Unlock Your Leadership Potential and Eliminate Self-Doubt

From my list on leveling up your leadership.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a TedX and keynote speaker, leadership expert, and corporate facilitator. I’m also a repeat software founder and CEO. I work extensively with Fortune 1000 and hyperscale organizations to connect leadership and culture directly to organizational outcomes, as well as diversifying C-suites and corporate boardrooms. I’m passionate about guiding leaders to measurable outcomes and helping others learn from failure (yes, it happens to all of us!) Over the years, I’ve learned the key is understanding and embodying your own values so you can build resilience for yourself as an individual, your team, and your organization as a whole. I hope my list of recommended books helps you do just that!

Tissa's book list on leveling up your leadership

Tissa Richards Why did Tissa love this book?

For many entrepreneurs, Marie Forleo is practically a household name – for over a decade, she’s been coaching those souls brave enough to take the leap into business ownership.

As entrepreneurs will tell you, a huge part of success has to do with your mindset. In this book, Marie outlines a key strategy for training your brain to overcome uncertainty and actionable tips to overcome everyday challenges, both big and small.

By Marie Forleo,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Everything Is Figureoutable as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"This book will change lives."
--Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

From the host of the award-winning MarieTV and The Marie Forleo Podcast, an indispensable handbook for becoming the creative force of your own life.

While most self-help books offer quick fixes, Everything is Figureoutable will retrain your brain to think more creatively and positively in the face of setbacks. In the words of Cheryl Strayed, it's "a must-read for anyone who wants to face their fears, fulfill their dreams, and find a better way forward."

If you're having trouble solving a problem…


Book cover of You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

Jacqueline Kademian Author Of Soul Therapy: A 365 day journal for self exploration, healing and reflection

From my list on start on a path of self-discovery and build a new you.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Jacqueline Kademian, a licensed marriage & family therapist and author. With over 10 years of experience providing therapy, I am passionate about helping others. I am also passionate about making therapeutic concepts accessible and ready to utilize at home. I have taken my own teachings and created self-discovery journals for others to enjoy. Journaling is such an amazing skill and way to get to know yourself.

Jacqueline's book list on start on a path of self-discovery and build a new you

Jacqueline Kademian Why did Jacqueline love this book?

This book helped me view myself from a different lens. In this time and day, many people struggle with self confidence. If you want a boost in that department, I recommend reading this book. I enjoyed the author’s confidence in herself and myself. 

By Jen Sincero,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked You Are a Badass as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

YOU ARE A BADASS IS THE self-help BOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO DESPERATELY WANT TO IMPROVE THEIR LIVES BUT DON'T WANT TO GET BUSTED DOING IT. In this refreshingly entertaining how-to guide, bestselling author and world-traveling success coach, Jen Sincero, serves up 27 bitesized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word, helping you to: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviours that stop you from getting what you want, Create a life you totally love. And create it NOW, Make some damn money already. The kind you've never made before. By the…


Book cover of Tales of Potential: The Cinderella Story You Haven't Heard

Tissa Richards Author Of No Permission Needed: Unlock Your Leadership Potential and Eliminate Self-Doubt

From my list on leveling up your leadership.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a TedX and keynote speaker, leadership expert, and corporate facilitator. I’m also a repeat software founder and CEO. I work extensively with Fortune 1000 and hyperscale organizations to connect leadership and culture directly to organizational outcomes, as well as diversifying C-suites and corporate boardrooms. I’m passionate about guiding leaders to measurable outcomes and helping others learn from failure (yes, it happens to all of us!) Over the years, I’ve learned the key is understanding and embodying your own values so you can build resilience for yourself as an individual, your team, and your organization as a whole. I hope my list of recommended books helps you do just that!

Tissa's book list on leveling up your leadership

Tissa Richards Why did Tissa love this book?

I love a book you can actually take action on and Tales of Potential delivers!

Joanna Bloor makes the case that most decisions about your career happen in a room you’re not in – which means you have to rely on someone else to tell your story and be your advocate. This book outlines exactly how to distill your story down to the most important elements, so it’s easy for others to tell effectively.

You’ll learn how to clearly communicate your potential and capabilities in a way that will have a lasting impact on your life.

Book cover of The Zigzag Principle: The Goal Setting Strategy that will Revolutionize Your Business and Your Life

Tissa Richards Author Of No Permission Needed: Unlock Your Leadership Potential and Eliminate Self-Doubt

From my list on leveling up your leadership.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a TedX and keynote speaker, leadership expert, and corporate facilitator. I’m also a repeat software founder and CEO. I work extensively with Fortune 1000 and hyperscale organizations to connect leadership and culture directly to organizational outcomes, as well as diversifying C-suites and corporate boardrooms. I’m passionate about guiding leaders to measurable outcomes and helping others learn from failure (yes, it happens to all of us!) Over the years, I’ve learned the key is understanding and embodying your own values so you can build resilience for yourself as an individual, your team, and your organization as a whole. I hope my list of recommended books helps you do just that!

Tissa's book list on leveling up your leadership

Tissa Richards Why did Tissa love this book?

We all need to have our conditioning challenged occasionally, and this book does exactly that.

It takes the idea that success is a straight line and turns it on its head. Rich Christiansen argues that the best goal setting isn’t linear. Instead, he encourages readers to literally zigzag to their goals. His book is important because it teaches leaders how to be nimble, flexible, and resilient.

The zigzag principle is simple, powerful, and offers a totally new way of approaching business (and life). 

By Rich Christiansen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Zigzag Principle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Zigzag Your Way to Success!

Have you ever set your sights on the top of a mountain and then started your ascent by heading straight through the trees and up the sheer cliffs? Or driven in your car to the other side of town-as the crow flies? Of course not! Because you instinctively know that, just as a river has to wend its way around obstacles, the best route is never actually a straight line!

In The Zigzag Principle, Rich Christiansen applies a foundational law of nature to business management, entrepreneurship, goal-setting, and life in general as he explores why…


Book cover of Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Marianne Broadbent Author Of The Agile Executive: Embracing Career Risks and Rewards

From my list on aspiring women leaders.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for leadership and aspiring women leaders comes from my own leadership experiences and working with women and men executives and aspiring executives, every day. I had to make some difficult work choices in my 20s and 30s (with four young children) and was wonderfully supported by some wise women. Many of my choices were different from my peers and we continue to have to make more difficult choices than our male colleagues. We need to help each other, every day. I lead a blended life co-leading an executive search and leadership advisory firm, while also being a mother, grandmother, wife, mentor, friend, and lover of good music, theatre, food, wine, and curious people. 

Marianne's book list on aspiring women leaders

Marianne Broadbent Why did Marianne love this book?

For me, Sandberg’s book remains a major and critical contribution to how women lead, how we are perceived, and how we can improve as leaders.

It is also one of the most misquoted and maligned books which I find disappointing. Those who are overly critical probably have not read the book or are biased because of Sandberg’s employer. When I read Lean In, I thought, ‘Great, I don’t need to do all that research as it has been done.'

It inspired me instead to share my own story and that of others who inspire me every day. Sandberg reminds us that so much that is in our hands, to not be dissuaded, but to ‘lean in’ and create our own agendas at work, home, and everywhere.  

By Sheryl Sandberg,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Lean In as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In is a massive cultural phenomenon and its title has become an instant catchphrase for empowering women. The book soared to the top of bestseller lists internationally, igniting global conversations about women and ambition. Sandberg packed theatres, dominated opinion pages, appeared on every major television show and on the cover of Time magazine, and sparked ferocious debate about women and leadership.

Ask most women whether they have the right to equality at work and the answer will be a resounding yes, but ask the same women whether they'd feel confident asking for a raise, a promotion, or…


Book cover of Ingenious Trade: Women and Work in Seventeenth-Century London

Bernard Capp Author Of When Gossips Meet: Women, Family, and Neighbourhood in Early Modern England

From my list on women in early modern England.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always been fascinated by the personal stories of ‘ordinary’ people in the past, especially in their family lives. I’ve written about married couples, siblings, parents and children, and grandparents. All these are subjects familiar to us in our own lives, and I love exploring where our ancestors held very different ideas and assumptions. Marriage, parenting, and gender relations have been controversial issues for centuries. Our ancestors certainly didn’t have all the answers, but their stories give us food for thought, and their familiar personal problems bring the past much closer to us.

Bernard's book list on women in early modern England

Bernard Capp Why did Bernard love this book?

I found this book fascinating. The guilds of early modern London were a male-only ‘closed shop’. But Laura Gowing’s pioneering study shows how resourceful women found ways to exploit loopholes and carve out a role in the world of skilled trades and crafts.

A guild member’s widow was permitted to continue her husband’s trade (provided she didn’t remarry), and she might take on a female apprentice and use the signing-on ‘premium’ to grow her business. Once the apprenticeship was completed, the young woman would now have the skills to set up on her own in the suburbs or provinces where guilds had no control.

I liked the case-studies where Gowing has been able to reconstruct individual lives to bring this new world vividly to life.   

By Laura Gowing,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ingenious Trade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ingenious Trade recovers the intricate stories of the young women who came to London in the late seventeenth century to earn their own living, most often with the needle, and the mistresses who set up shops and supervised their apprenticeships. Tracking women through city archives, it reveals the extent and complexity of their contracts, training and skills, from adolescence to old age. In contrast to the informal, unstructured and marginalised aspects of women's work, this book uses legal records and guild archives to reconstruct women's negotiations with city regulations and bureaucracy. It shows single women, wives and widows establishing themselves…


Book cover of An Intimate Economy: Enslaved Women, Work, and America's Domestic Slave Trade

Joshua D. Rothman Author Of The Ledger and the Chain: How Domestic Slave Traders Shaped America

From my list on the domestic slave trade.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have taught history at the University of Alabama since the year 2000, and I have been working and writing as a historian of American slavery for more than twenty-five years. It is not an easy subject to spend time with, but it is also not a subject we can afford to turn away from because it makes us uncomfortable. Slavery may not be the only thing you need to understand about American history, but you cannot effectively understand American history without it. 

Joshua's book list on the domestic slave trade

Joshua D. Rothman Why did Joshua love this book?

The domestic slave trade business was operated predominantly by white men, but the labor of Black women was critical to making it profitable. Here, Alexandra Finley recovers the stories of Black women who fed and clothed the enslaved in pens and jail, who kept the houses of slave traders, who were commodified for purposes of sexual slavery in the so-called fancy trade, and who sometimes even lived as the concubines and “wives” of traders. Putting enslaved women and their work at the center of the story yields an entirely new angle of vision on the trade.

By Alexandra J. Finley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked An Intimate Economy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Alexandra Finley adds crucial new dimensions to the boisterous debate over the relationship between slavery and capitalism by placing women's labor at the center of the antebellum slave trade, focusing particularly on slave traders' ability to profit from enslaved women's domestic, reproductive, and sexual labor. The slave market infiltrated every aspect of southern society, including the most personal spaces of the household, the body, and the self, Finley shows how women's work was necessary to the functioning of the slave trade, and thus to the spread of slavery to the Lower South, the expansion of cotton production, and the profits…


Book cover of Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work

Keisha Blair Author Of Holistic Wealth Expanded and Updated: 36 Life Lessons to Help You Recover from Disruption, Find Your Life Purpose, and Achieve Financial Freedom

From my list on building a wealth mindset.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a trained Economist and Harvard Trained Policy Expert. I was part of the Prime Minister's supporting delegation to the World Economic Forum, ASEAN and APEC Summits in Singapore. I'm the Founder of the Institute on Holistic Wealth and I am the host of the Holistic Wealth podcast. I wrote a viral article entitled "My Husband Died At Age 34. Here Are 40 Life Lessons I Learned From It". The article was viewed by more than 50 million people globally and led to the publication of my first book on Holistic Wealth, where I coined the term "Holistic Wealth". I have now written three books on Holistic Wealth that have been published globally.

Keisha's book list on building a wealth mindset

Keisha Blair Why did Keisha love this book?

I also interviewed Reshma Saujani on the Holistic Wealth podcast – also one of our most popular episodes.

She’s the founder of Girls Who Code, Marshall Plan for Moms and is working to close the gender gap in the tech sector and more recently advocating for moms during the global pandemic. I’m a big fan of immigrant stories and her parents’ story of how they came to the United States as refugees in 1973 from India is inspiring.

In her book Pay Up, she outlines how society has sold women an unsustainable narrative - that to break glass ceiling and succeed in their careers, all they needed to do is “dream big, raise their hands, and lean in”. However, fifty-one percent of women say that their mental health has declined, while anxiety and depression rates have skyrocketed.

In the book, Reshma dismantles the myth of “having it all” and lifts…

By Reshma Saujani,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Pay Up as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

The founder of Girls Who Code and bestselling author of Brave, Not Perfect confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism and presents a bold plan to address the burnout and inequity harming America’s working women today.

We told women that to break glass ceilings and succeed in their careers, all they needed to do is dream big, raise their hands, and lean in. But data tells a different story. Historic numbers of women left their jobs in 2021, resulting in their lowest workforce participation since 1988. Women’s unemployment rose to nearly fifteen percent, and globally women lost…


Book cover of Enchanted, Inc.

Mary Sisson Author Of The Weirld

From my list on to help you stop doomscrolling.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m Mary Sisson, award-winning writer blah-blah-blah, and when I need to pry myself off the feeds before my head explodes, I reach for a particular sort of book: story-driven with a lot of adventure, a dash of humor, another of romance, and set in a well-developed, immersive fictional world. While all of these titles can be read alone (I hate books that were clearly written to sell a sequel—600 pages of filler ending with a cliffhanger? No thank you!) they all also form parts of series, because when my head is about to shoot right off my neck, it helps me to know that I have the remedy at hand. Enjoy!

Mary's book list on to help you stop doomscrolling

Mary Sisson Why did Mary love this book?

Katie Chandler has moved to New York City hoping for a life of glamour and excitement, only to find herself lonely, frustrated, and deeply baffled that those jaded New Yorkers keep ignoring all the weird things that keep happening. Then she discovers that the average New Yorker can’t see what she sees—she is the rare true mundane, completely unaffected by all magic, including magical camouflage. Her special abilities lead her to a new job for a magical company, and the book leads the reader into a delightful series of adventures that hilariously combine wizardry and enchantment with corporate intrigue and the tropes of Chick Lit.

By Shanna Swendson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Enchanted, Inc. as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“A totally captivating, hilarious, and clever look on the magical kingdom of Manhattan, where kissing frogs has never been this fun.”—Melissa de la Cruz, author of The Au Pairs

Katie Chandler had always heard that New York is a weird and wonderful place, but this small-town Texas gal had no idea how weird until she moved there. Everywhere she goes, she sees something worth gawking at and Katie is afraid she’s a little too normal to make a splash in the big city. Working for an ogre of a boss doesn’t help.

Then, seemingly out of the blue, Katie gets…


Book cover of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table

Shaynuh Sloane Author Of Jaded Choyce

From my list on women managing challenging professional experiences.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about the everyday challenges that women face within the workplace, I aim to express the events that occur before, during, and after the experience. Unpopular belief, life doesn’t go back to normal for most of us, as getting back to normal from any traumatic experience will leave you shielded. I found my voice through writing about my passion for enabling female empowerment. My path as a woman in leadership came from understanding the lack of consistent supportive resources, encouragement, and validation, amongst women in the workplace. Through my writing, I aim to creatively empower and encourage my readers to find their voice. 

Shaynuh's book list on women managing challenging professional experiences

Shaynuh Sloane Why did Shaynuh love this book?

This book empowered me during one of the most defining phases of my career in technology. Minda Harts' strategic blueprint on maneuvering the workplace as a woman of color provides guided insight that enables and prepares cognizance of professional politics. The Memo is by far the greatest playbook guiding women on the foundation within their professional atmosphere while navigating through their careers. 

By Minda Harts,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Memo as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The Memo is the much-needed career advice guide for women of colour specifically, finally ending the one-size-fits-all approach of business books that lump together women across races and overlook the unique barriers to success for women of colour.

In a charismatic and relatable voice, Minda Harts brings her entrepreneurial experience as CEO of The Memo to the page, as well as her past career life as a fundraising consultant to top colleges across the country. With wit and candour, Harts begins by acknowledging the "ugly truths" that keep women of colour from getting the proverbial seat at the table in…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in women, India, and education?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about women, India, and education.

Women Explore 588 books about women
India Explore 441 books about India
Education Explore 98 books about education