Look out Bill Gates! Look out Oprah! WorkBytes has our own booklist. As our readers know, we love books here at WorkBytes. In spite of recent our post about our Book Diet for 2019, we did read in 2018 and you deserve to know which books are worth your time. I had a whole list, but I’ve narrowed it down to the 3 that I think are truly life-changing.
Dare to Lead by Brene Brown. Brene Brown has repeatedly impressed me with the sophistication of her work. Because she is a researcher first and a self-help guru second, her stuff really works. The scores of books on leadership that I’ve read prior to this one were guesses and anecdotal ideas. This one has some guts. If you only read one leadership book in your life, make it this one.
Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd. I’ll be honest this book is dense and intense. That’s because it’s packed with ideas that were totally new to me and I had to stop and think after each sentence. Philip Shepherd is questioning our whole way of life as leading to fragmentation and asking us to move back into wholeness. I suspect I’ll have blogs quoting from this book for months to come. If you like having your world rocked and being disoriented, this book is for you.
Servant Leadership by Robert Greenleaf. This is a short book, a pamphlet actually, that was published back in 1970. Many people quote from it, but few have actually read it. People, myself included, assume from the title that they know what the book is about. There’s a depth of ideas in here that aren’t talked about. I blogged last year about the idea that followers are complicit in the rise of bad leaders. That idea blew my mind. There are more like that packed in this little gem.
What books did you love in 2018? Share in the comments!
