The most recommended books about work

This book—written by a scholar who also works in government—is both infuriating and enlightening. It takes on the real problem of precarious, poorly paid jobs and, by getting way into the weeds of how companies are organized, gives a clear explanation for how so many jobs became so bad and at least some hope for a policy fix. The root of the problem, Weill shows, is basically outsourcing: large companies hire out jobs (cleaners, security, customer service) to low-paying, often badly managed small companies, and that drives down wages, benefits, and job security. The most insane examples of this occur when laborers are pushed into being independent contractors or franchise owners. Officially they are “small business owners” but in practice, they have no control over their work and no opportunities to grow. The book is full of memorable (and enraging) vignettes and examples, making a dry argument about corporate structure… show more.

This whole book is mindblowing, laying out the ways that the success of our current economic system of work is built on the unpaid labor of women and people of color. The section on nonprofits is essential reading for anyone working or volunteering in the sector. This is not a treatise for not working or quiet quitting; it is a case study of why we work and how we can work better, and surprise surprise, it also comes back to understanding the economics of power and privilege, who is benefiting, and who is being left behind. This book gave me the confidence in my convictions that my work in the nonprofit sector had been contributing to the problem rather than reimagining new ways of being.

This is not an easy book to find. It’s a small and short hardcover book where famed management legend, Tom Peters, lays out the how to turn your personal brand (and your work) into a project… but not just any project. Tom believes that every aspect of your work should be a Wow! Project. The book is 50 easy-to-grasp sections that have, without a doubt, changed my approach to everything from writing an article to starting a business. This book is a hidden gem… I’m quasi-mad that I’m sharing it publicly, it’s been a great secret advantage. ;)

Nelson believes that “how we view our work and how we do our work matters a great deal more than we might imagine” (14). A common tendency for me has been to view Sunday as worship and rest, and then I am off to work on Monday.

Nelson constructively bridges this gap with theological depth and practical counsel. He clarified God’s purposes for work in a way that helped me make the most of it while simultaneously joining God in his work.

Nelson notes how work shapes us; through it, we can shape the world around us and contribute to the common good. 

This book allowed me to read 45 questions from Fortune 500 executives asking about faith, life, and business. Have you ever felt you were missing the answers to success in business? If you aren't getting what you need to know, you may not ask the right questions. With God in The Marketplace, we see the emphasis on not letting anyone do your thinking for you. We all consider what we can do to change our family, business, and church. Nothing can happen without first seeing how God wants to transform us. We all know that without solving problems, our company has no profits; by applying the principles in the book and trusting God, we can become more like Christ in every situation. When you finish this book, you will realize that God will raise you up, and people will observe your conduct as a Christian Businessperson. At the end… show more.

When we’re transforming our stories, we’re not only asking ourselves to do something different, but we’re also asking the people, places, and things around us to evolve as well. The Art of Quiet Influence fosters awareness of self by bringing in Western and Eastern philosophical wisdom – from Confucius to Rumi to Buddha to Gandhi – to shed light on influencing best practices. While the title implies an influence of others, it emphasizes knowing yourself through your mind, body, and soul prior to seeking changes for anyone else. The book offers a focused presence where output is more important than outcomes and the use of words outweighs yelling and domination. Such inner peace and calmness allow us to be authentic in our abilities to transform.

This book came into my life when difficult decisions had to be made, and it turned out to be a sage advisor I needed then. It made me re-evaluate my commitments to myself, my partner, and my career, weigh the tradeoffs, and make the hard choices.

David Whyte made me challenge my disbalances between career and home, but most of all, he reminded me of the most neglected marriage with myself. This book invites a deep conversation about personal fulfillment whenever I open it.

This book captures the decline of the traditional job—stable, well-paid, with a good chance of moving up—between World War II and the end of the 20th century. Wartzman is a clear, engaging writer who tells gripping stories about workers, bosses, chief executives, and politicians to explain what the old “social contract” between big companies and American society was, and why it disappeared. But he’s also particularly good at not overly romanticizing the earlier era, when huge swaths of people—like women, people of color, immigrants, the disabled, and others—were cut out of the workforce by prejudice and racism. This book makes business and labor history engaging and entertaining, even while it will make you mad about how bad things have become.

I grew up listening to my elders about the 1930s. I’ve read dozens of books about that decade,  and this is the best in terms of the documentation of average Americans. We absolutely must understand the 1930s to deal with what faces us in the nation and world in the 2020s. Adamic was an immigrant who believed in the potential of America, and about half of this book is his reporting around America, with a focus on the working class. The other half is memoir. The reporting is deep, the writing beautiful. 

The objective of a minimalist, anti-materialist, simple life is to open ourselves up to whatever “something greater” the universe has in store for us. Drawing on rigorous science and historical evidence, Alex Pang helps us understand how the act of slowing down helps bring us closer to that something greater. As a farm kid, I was raised in a culture that embraced overwork and shunned slowing down. So learning to have a simpler life meant I had to buck that culture and develop an understanding of how rest benefited my brain and well-being. 

This book helped me move my business to a place where all owners and employees enjoyed more freedom and lower stress, and where greater fun and creativity unfolded.