100 books like The Art of People

By Dave Kerpen,

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

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Book cover of Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Author Of Leading with Questions: How Leaders Discover Powerful Answers by Knowing How and What to Ask

From my list on asking questions that will change you and the world.

Why are we passionate about this?

Michael Marquardt is Professor Emeritus of Human and Organizational Learning at George Washington University, where he directed the Global Certificate and Executive Leadership Programs. He's a Co-founder and first President of the World Institute for Action Learning. Dr. Marquardt has authored 27 books and his publications has sold over a million copies. Bob Tiede is on the U.S. Leadership Development Team at Cru, an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. His blog, LeadingWithQuestions.com is in its 11th year and followed by Leaders in over 190 countries. Bob is the author of Great Leaders ASK Questions, Little Book of Big Leading With Questions Quotes, and 262 Questions Paul the Apostle of Christ Asked.

Michael's book list on asking questions that will change you and the world

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Why did Michael love this book?

 In story after story Mark shares that the key to connecting with people is to be “More Interested Than Interesting.” 

The author shares a multitude of thoughtful questions, that you will certainly want to begin to employ to communicate your interest in others. And of course, the reason I love Just Listen is that no one will ever become great at “Leading with Questions” without becoming a great listener!

When your family/staff/ friends feel heard, your relational effectiveness will skyrocket! 

By Mark Goulston,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Getting through to someone is a critical, fine art. Whether you are dealing with a harried colleague, a stressed-out client, or an insecure spouse, things will go from bad to worse if you can't break through emotional barricades and get your message thoroughly communicated and registered.

Drawing on his experience as a psychiatrist, business consultant, and coach, author Mark Goulston combines his background with the latest scientific research to help you turn the "impossible" and "unreachable" people in their lives into allies, devoted customers, loyal colleagues, and lifetime friends.

In Just Listen, Goulston provides simple yet powerful techniques you can…


Book cover of Power Questions: Build Relationships, Win New Business, and Influence Others

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Author Of Leading with Questions: How Leaders Discover Powerful Answers by Knowing How and What to Ask

From my list on asking questions that will change you and the world.

Why are we passionate about this?

Michael Marquardt is Professor Emeritus of Human and Organizational Learning at George Washington University, where he directed the Global Certificate and Executive Leadership Programs. He's a Co-founder and first President of the World Institute for Action Learning. Dr. Marquardt has authored 27 books and his publications has sold over a million copies. Bob Tiede is on the U.S. Leadership Development Team at Cru, an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. His blog, LeadingWithQuestions.com is in its 11th year and followed by Leaders in over 190 countries. Bob is the author of Great Leaders ASK Questions, Little Book of Big Leading With Questions Quotes, and 262 Questions Paul the Apostle of Christ Asked.

Michael's book list on asking questions that will change you and the world

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Why did Michael love this book?

Reading a list of great questions by themselves, most often, does not motivate me to ask any of them.

But reading stories, sharing how a great question was discovered or how asking it has changed the person asked or changed a relationship or resulted in a successful outcome, instantly motivates me to find someone I can ask! Power Questions shares 30-plus stories that will instantly have you wanting to find someone to ask that same question!

By Andrew Sobel, Jerold Panas,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

An arsenal of powerful questions that will transform every conversation

Skillfully redefine problems. Make an immediate connection with anyone. Rapidly determine if a client is ready to buy. Access the deepest dreams of others. Power Questions sets out a series of strategic questions that will help you win new business and dramatically deepen your professional and personal relationships. The book showcases thirty-five riveting, real conversations with CEOs, billionaires, clients, colleagues, and friends. Each story illustrates the extraordinary power and impact of a thought-provoking, incisive power question. To help readers navigate a variety of professional challenges, over 200 additional, thought-provoking questions…


Book cover of QBQ! The Question Behind The Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Author Of Leading with Questions: How Leaders Discover Powerful Answers by Knowing How and What to Ask

From my list on asking questions that will change you and the world.

Why are we passionate about this?

Michael Marquardt is Professor Emeritus of Human and Organizational Learning at George Washington University, where he directed the Global Certificate and Executive Leadership Programs. He's a Co-founder and first President of the World Institute for Action Learning. Dr. Marquardt has authored 27 books and his publications has sold over a million copies. Bob Tiede is on the U.S. Leadership Development Team at Cru, an interdenominational Christian parachurch organization. His blog, LeadingWithQuestions.com is in its 11th year and followed by Leaders in over 190 countries. Bob is the author of Great Leaders ASK Questions, Little Book of Big Leading With Questions Quotes, and 262 Questions Paul the Apostle of Christ Asked.

Michael's book list on asking questions that will change you and the world

Michael J. Marquardt and Bob Tiede Why did Michael love this book?

Too often, too many of us, ask “Victim Questions” like “When are they going to train me?” or “When are they going to tell us what’s going on?”

Instead of asking “Victim Questions” John teaches us to ask  “QBQs” (The Question Behind the Question).  For example, “What could I do to get trained?” or “How could I find out what is going on?  Asking QBQ’s has consistently moved me from being stuck to having a way forward! 

By John G. Miller,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

No one can successfully achieve goals and new objectives, provide outstanding service, engage in exceptional teamwork, make change in their community or lead other people without personal accountability.

After decades of working with organisations and individuals, John G. Miller knows that the troubles that plague them cannot be solved by pointing fingers and blaming others. Rather, the real solutions are found when each of us recognizes the value of our own accountability. In this book, Miller explains how negative, ill-focused questions like "Who dropped the ball?" harm rather than help. Conversely, when we begin to ask better questions - QBQs,…


Book cover of Change Your Questions, Change Your Life: 12 Powerful Tools for Leadership, Coaching, and Results

Jude Sclater Author Of Think Like a Coach: Empower your team through everyday conversations

From my list on managers who want to empower their teams.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a practical, straight-talking New Zealander who has lived in the UK since 2007. I’ve coached managers for over a decade, and one thing they all have in common is that they want to develop and empower their teams. What I love the most about my work is seeing the ‘aha’ moments unfold when they work out a path that is right for them. I’ve chosen these books for the ‘aha’ moments they sparked in me, and I hope they do the same for you.

Jude's book list on managers who want to empower their teams

Jude Sclater Why did Jude love this book?

I love the big message in this book, which is to focus more on finding the right question instead of the right answer.

I read the intro before going into a coaching session and used the idea of question-thinking with the person I was coaching. We looked at the questions she was asking herself as she went into a meeting with her maternity cover and together we turned those into positive and curious ones. She later came back and told me it worked, and the meeting went much better than she thought it would. Personally, I’ve gotten a lot of benefits from noticing when I’m asking myself judger questions and turning those into learner ones instead. Read the book to find out what I mean.

By Marilee Adams,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Change Your Questions, Change Your Life as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Discover how the questions we ask ourselves and others can either expand our mindsets and open us up to exciting new possibilities or constrict our mindsets and limit our choices for successful change.

Change Your Questions, Change Your Life is an international bestseller that has sold over 400,000 copies in twenty-two languages. People have discovered that, when we’re looking for answers, we often forget to take the time to ask the right questions. But, as Dr. Marilee Adams shows, intentionally using questions helps us make wiser choices, find solutions, and transform our personal and professional lives.

Dr. Adams uses a…


Book cover of Quick Confidence: Be Authentic, Boost Connections, and Make Bold Bets on Yourself

Todd Dewett Author Of Dancing with Monsters: A Tale About Leadership, Success, and Overcoming Fears

From my list on how people skills support great leadership.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m fascinated by the relationships component of leadership. I’ve worked for major service firms, taught MBAs for years, advised many teams and organizations, and educated millions via my courses on LinkedIn Learning. When I look at performance, I see the same issues popping up over and over: people issues! You can know a lot about how to run a team operationally or how to roll out a change step by step – but it’s all for nothing if you don’t know how to positively relate to and lead others. Communication, motivation, empathy, etc. – these are the essential people skills required to allow you to actually add value with your business knowledge.  

Todd's book list on how people skills support great leadership

Todd Dewett Why did Todd love this book?

I am a big fan of this book! Selena uses a voice that is warm, positive, and personal to share her ideas. 

From building confidence, to interacting with others, and dealing with challenges and setbacks, this is a career “must read.” It’s ostensibly about confidence, but really, it’s way more. I was an organizational behavior for years teaching MBA students, and this has all of the topical coverage you’d want to convey in any course related to leadership and career success. 

But instead of being boring like a textbook, it stays focused on crisp actionable advice for improving how you think, interact, and achieve. Not to mention, her use of short examples and anecdotes makes it a fast fun read too. Highly recommended.

By Selena Rezvani,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Hands-on, bite-sized strategies for improving your confidence

In Quick Confidence: Be Authentic, Create Connections and Make Bold Bets On Yourself, best-selling author and renowned leadership speaker Selena Rezvani delivers an effective and eye-opening new approach to building confidence and presence for professionals. In the book, the author walks you through-and helps you leap over-the 9 most common obstacles that stand in the way of building authentic confidence. She offers digestible actions, behaviors, and exercises you can use to change the way you think and the way you present yourself to others.

Relying on sound, scientifically validated data, the book helps…


Book cover of Couples That Work: How To Thrive in Love and Work

Abby Davisson Author Of Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life's Biggest Decisions

From my list on making big life decisions that involve money and love.

Why am I passionate about this?

My obsession with decision-making books began in elementary school, when I read tons of Choose Your Own Adventure books. When I realized they wouldn’t prepare me for life (turns out, dragons are rare), I began reading others. I got an MBA at Stanford, where I took a class taught by labor economist Myra Strober that changed my life by helping me navigate the money and love decisions I encountered while climbing the corporate ladder at Gap Inc. and raising two young kids with my husband. My former professor and I wrote Money and Love to empower more people to live more intentional lives and feel more confident about their big life decisions.

Abby's book list on making big life decisions that involve money and love

Abby Davisson Why did Abby love this book?

Dual-career couples are on the rise – chances are, if you plan on having a long-term relationship or even getting married at some point, you will have to navigate this two-person high-wire act. Jennifer Petriglieri offers a useful take on the three big questions all couples need to grapple with over time for their careers and relationship to flourish jointly: How can we make this work? (handling the logistics of combining two busy lives and often raising young kids); What do we really want? (navigating the inevitable questions that arise in mid-life); and Who are we know? (once our identities and bodies are much changed from the ones that first attracted our partners). I loved the data, stories, and exercises in this book, and have applied them to my own life. 

By Jennifer Petriglieri,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Couples That Work as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Every couple wants a happy relationship and a meaningful career but how do we balance both?

In Couples that Work, Professor Jennifer Petriglieri shifts away from the language of sacrifice and trade-offs and focuses on how couples can successfully tackle the challenges they will face throughout their lives--together. The book explores key questions like:

- Can you and your partner have equally important careers or must you prioritise one over the other?
- How can you juggle children or family commitments without sacrificing your work?
- Does every decision require compromise or can you find solutions that benefit you both?…


Book cover of Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success

Stephen Shedletzky Author Of Speak-Up Culture: When Leaders Truly Listen, People Step Up

From my list on transforming your leadershit into leadership.

Why am I passionate about this?

The first day of my career began with 1,000 people being laid off citing “post-merger efficiencies.” I was the young whippersnapper walking in as many more were walking out, boxes in hand. I saw, firsthand, the impact of uncertainty, lack of clear and transparent communications, and leadership, not just on performance, but also on the health and well-being of the colleagues around me. In that first job I became fascinated and obsessed with how work can be something we enjoy and find meaning in. Since then, I’ve devoted my career to making work more inspiring, engaging, and fulfilling. This became my passion and cause because I felt the very opposite.

Stephen's book list on transforming your leadershit into leadership

Stephen Shedletzky Why did Stephen love this book?

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.

By Adam Grant,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Give and Take as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A groundbreaking look at why our interactions with others hold the key to success, from the bestselling author of Think Again and Originals

For generations, we have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work, talent, and luck. But in today's dramatically reconfigured world, success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others. In Give and Take, Adam Grant, an award-winning researcher and Wharton's highest-rated professor, examines the surprising forces that shape why some people rise to the top of the success ladder while others sink to the bottom. Praised by social scientists, business theorists, and corporate…


Book cover of No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Proven Plan for Getting What You Want in Love, Sex, and Life

Tony Endelman Author Of The Big Stick: Collected and Applied Wisdom from the Teachings of Dr. Robert Glover

From my list on men’s self-development books that don’t totally suck.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 2013, my father–an amazing man who was the picture of health–died suddenly and unexpectedly while at the gym. At the time, I was miserable and unfulfilled. My father’s passing sent me down a path of deep self-exploration, where I realized that life is simply too short and unpredictable to settle for less than what you truly want. As I endeavored to change my life, I became a certified life coach, relationship coach, and happiness trainer, initially to help myself, but soon discovered a passion for helping others. I've been lucky to have incredible mentors like Dr. Robert Glover. My unconventional brand of self-help has been featured in numerous publications.

Tony's book list on men’s self-development books that don’t totally suck

Tony Endelman Why did Tony love this book?

This book didn’t just change my life; it may have saved it.

Countless men across the world will say the same thing. It is an eye-opener. A game changer. A big stick upside the head. It turned my whole world upside down in the best possible way. 

While in the throes of depression and heartbreak, this was the only book that put a name to the beliefs and behaviors that seemed to govern my existence. It gave me the tools to develop more confidence, more resilience, and more self-respect. It also provided a roadmap to a better life. 

By Robert A. Glover,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked No More Mr. Nice Guy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“One of the best books I’ve ever read on men’s emotional health and development.” Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Models.

“I have read every self-help book out there, but this was the first that put everything together in a way that made perfect sense to me.”

“Every page of my copy of No More Mr. Nice Guy is highlighted in yellow. How did you know me so well?

A Nice Guy, according to Dr. Robert Glover, a pioneering expert on the Nice Guy Syndrome, is a man who believes he is not…


Book cover of Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration--Lessons from The Second City

Gail Golden Author Of Curating Your Life: Ending the Struggle for Work-Life Balance

From my list on living a life of purpose, productivity, and joy.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve spent my life as a psychologist, first as a therapist and then as an executive coach and consultant.  My passion has been helping people get out of their own way and live the best lives they possibly can. I have a Ph.D. and an MBA, which provides me with a unique approach. I combine sports-influenced tactics of performance coaching with psychology-trained skills of empathy to help businesses, leaders, and employees perform at their best, with passion and joy. My book captures the essence of what I have learned from my clients and from living my own life.

Gail's book list on living a life of purpose, productivity, and joy

Gail Golden Why did Gail love this book?

Critical thinking is an essential leadership skill, and many business leaders are great at it. The problem is that this approach often intimidates people and stifles their creativity. This book taught me a new set of communication tactics, based on improvisational theater techniques, that reduce fear and drive innovation in the workplace. The best manager I ever worked for was a “Yes, And” manager.

By Kelly Leonard, Tom Yorton,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Executives from The Second City-the world's premier comedy theater and school of improvisation-reveal improvisational techniques that can help any organization develop innovators, encourage adaptable leaders, and build transformational businesses. For more than fifty years, The Second City comedy theater in Chicago has been a training ground for some of the best comic minds in the industry-including John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Mike Myers, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and Tina Fey. But it also provides one-of-a-kind leadership training to cutting-edge companies, nonprofits, and public sector organizations-all aimed at increasing creativity, collaboration, and teamwork. The rules for leadership and teamwork have…


Book cover of Brute: Poems

Andrea Blythe Author Of Twelve: Poems Inspired by the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale

From my list on women reclaiming their own power.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated fairy tales, folklore, and horror since I was a child, drawn to these strange stories in which wondrous and terrifying things happen. In many of these tales, the women often lack a sense of agency or control over their lives and work for a better life within the limitations of their situation. The act of retelling these stories provides space to explore this lack of power and how these women might find clever or unusual ways to reclaim it. In particular, I’m interested in the ways characters might make use of the danger or darkness around them to carve their own path in the world. 

Andrea's book list on women reclaiming their own power

Andrea Blythe Why did Andrea love this book?

In her stunning poetry collection, Brute, Emily Skaja navigates the dark corridors of trauma at the end of an abusive relationship. Exploring the intersections of both love and violence, these poems have a mythic quality to them, with the narrator seemingly struggling to survive the brutality of a fairy tale world longing to gobble her up. At the same time, the fantastical elements of these poems are balanced by the present moment, with cell phones, social media, and other current technologies evoking a kind of modern magic that holds sway over our lives. The poems in this collection take the reader on a journey from sorrow to rage, guilt, hope, self-discovery, and reinvention.

By Emily Skaja,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Selected by Joy Harjo as the winner of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets

Emily Skaja’s debut collection is a fiery, hypnotic book that confronts the dark questions and menacing silences around gender, sexuality, and violence. Brute arises, brave and furious, from the dissolution of a relationship, showing how such endings necessitate self-discovery and reinvention. The speaker of these poems is a sorceress, a bride, a warrior, a lover, both object and agent, ricocheting among ways of knowing and being known. Each incarnation squares itself up against ideas of feminine virtue and sin, strength and vulnerability,…


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