Leaders Need Inspiration Too: 5 Books to Inspire and Refine Your Leadership Skills
Fresh off the Global Leadership Summit last month, I am feeling inspired. The GLS Summit is a 2-day conference in Chicago live-streamed across the world. The speakers are always engaging, motivating, and usually bring their own form of storytelling that has me salivating by the end of the summit.
The topics ranged from a discussion of generational issues, how to face change as a leader, negotiating in high stakes situations, and leading creative problem-solvers to find sustainable challenging work. Leaving the GLS Summit, I could envision a new way of doing things for my team. Although I had felt like I just drank through a fire hose, I felt that frenzy of excitement we all feel when we think we may be able to implement and make real change within our organizations.
The inspiration I felt leaving the conference was intoxicating and it’s one I would have never experienced without the ability to attend the Summit.
But not all organizations invest in their leaders in such an impactful way. They leave leadership development up to Human Resources or they hand their employees a login to an online tool and never set expectations around the importance of learning to lead others.
I saw this disturbing statistic the other day. Forbes that reported that the Center for Generational Kinetics (CGK) and Ultimate Software did a national survey that found that 80% of employees said they could do their job without their managers.
So, we spend all this money to hire people to lead our people and then they do a terrible job at it, so much so that our people feel they could do their job without leadership? Eeek!
What makes a good leader? Coming right from the GLS Summit, I’d say that I left the Summit feeling inspired and motivated to create change in my organization and thus, I am likely going to approach leadership differently than the manager who hasn’t received leadership training in months or even years. In fact, I’d argue that inspired leaders inspire others.
If you are one of those leaders who is feeling a bit uninspired at the moment, I have a few tips on how to get re-inspired by the idea of leadership. One of my favorite methods is finding a great book that really motivates me to be a better leader or to think of leadership in a different way.
Here are just a few of my favorite leadership books and why I think they are worth your time and money, which will definitely inspire you to inspire others.
5 Books to Inspire and Refine Your Leadership Skills
The Ideal Team Player
Why You Should Read It & Implement It:
The hardest part about hiring a new team member is knowing whether they are going to become a team player worth all the time and effort you are going to invest in them or if they are going to be a regretful hire – someone who just gets by and who doesn’t appreciate all the time you’re investing in them. What I like most about this book is the way it’s setup and how simple and easy it is to execute the strategies and ideas in this book. For one, it’s written like a story and is a quick read for any manager who doesn’t have a lot of time. Furthermore, the concepts and ideas are simple and straight-forward, yet extremely practical.
who this book is for:
I recommend this book to anyone who is trying to hire team players and/or assess whether they have a team of team players. I especially refer back to this book when doing any type of recruiting for my team and look through the interview questions to help me assess whether I am making a good choice or a regretful one.
Traction
Why You Should Read It & Implement It:
This book has been quite career changing for me. I don’t say that a lot about a book, but the strategies and tactics outlined in this book for creating structure around businesses that are young and growing is hard to beat. Traction is a focused on how to create visions, goals, structure, and process around businesses that are growing and evolving rapidly. If you are one day hoping to run a business or become a partner in an organization, I think this book is essential reading.
who this book is for:
Business owners and partners, executives, and future C-suites who want to understand how to lead their business in a systematized and process-focused approach so that it can scale quickly.
Thanks for the Feedback
Why You Should Read It & Implement It:
How many of us have been on the receiving end of some tough feedback? It can be rough, right? I love this book because it focuses on how to receive feedback like a pro. What do I mean by that? Well, far too often we have all these silent voice in our head of what someone truly means when they give us feedback, but those silent voices can lie. They can tell us stuff that isn’t true and make us think very critically and incorrectly about the feedback we receive. They can make us feel insecure and ashamed, when in reality many times the feedback and the intent behind the feedback may actually be very constructive. This books helps strip away those voices and focuses on how to find the constructive feedback within the feedback, even if delivered poorly.
who this book is for:
Everyone or anyone who wants to approach feedback more constructively or anyone who feels sometimes they get too emotional about the feedback they receive. This book is also great for anyone who wants to give better feedback and be empathetic to the person receiving the feedback, so when they react to the feedback, you can have a better idea of what they are thinking and feeling in the moment.
Herding Tigers
Why You Should Read It & Implement It:
At the highest level our roles require us all to be first and foremost problem solvers. Problem solving requires creativity and thus means we are all operating in some form or fashion as creative employees. This book is focused on leading creatives (problem-solvers) in a way that provides them both stability and challenge, which Todd Henry argues are the two most valuable qualities in any job to a creative. However, he also makes a strong argument for keeping these two qualities balanced in a way that builds thriving employees instead of angry, stuck, or lost employees. As I went through this book, I found myself highlighting and earmarking entire sections to come back to and implement in my own team. So, if you’ve ever felt like your team could use an influx of something, but you’re not sure what…try this book out!
who this book is for:
Managers and leaders who are looking to build thriving teams who are creatively problem-solving to fix your organization’s biggest hurdles.
Excellence Wins
Why You Should Read It & Implement It:
Anyone who is looking to differentiate their service or offering through exceptional service a la Ritz-Carlton. We’ve all been there – we think we are operating at maximum client satisfaction and then we get the unsavory news that what we believe is not reality. Author Horst Schulze former head of Ritz-Carlton North America and various other luxury hotels, wrote his book, Excellence Wins, as a primer on how to serve your customer at the highest possible tier of excellence. He talks extensively in this book about customer expectations, exceeding expectations, anticipating their needs, and building a culture devoted to a vision, through motives and objectives.
who this book is for:
Leaders who want to build cultures within organizations that are committed to excellence everyday.
Are you ready to get your inspiration on? Try one of these books or get enrolled in the Promotion Plan Workshop to learn more about how you can build the career of your dreams in the next 90 days.
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Hi, I’m Jessica
As an internationally recognized legal marketer and law firm executive, Jessica has spent her career helping attorneys pitch their services and their resumes to some of the largest global companies and CEOs in the world. Her specialty: Helping smart professionals be unforgettably hire-able. Whether you are seeking your first job or a career change, Jessica empowers you step-by-step. Execute simple, yet practical and actionable tasks to get your resume past the stack and into the hands of your next manager.
