TOP25 books for female leaders part 2
In my life, I have realized for myself: Constant success = Constant development.
Women who want to develop into an assertive leader tell me one thing: "I see myself as a leader. But I still lack skills and need to learn." This book list is my answer.
Learn the contents of these books and be perceived as a leader who is confident, assertive and yet personable. I'm giving it to you - your ultimate reading list. .
Have fun reading, learning & developing! The links are leading to one big source, however, please visit your local bookshop.
The books are my personal recommendation only, this is not paid advertisement and no affiliate links.
📔 Book of the week: The Success Factor: Developing the Mindset and Skillset for Peak Business Performance by Ruth Gotian
Looking to gain insights into the four attributes that have helped high achievers such as NBA champions, Olympians, Nobel price winners and astronauts to succeed? Based on Dr. Gotian's research and interviews, "The Success Factor" provides practical steps, including online resources, to help your career development. I loved the variety of her interviewees and how they helped to illustrate her message, this was an enjoyable and engaging read! I highly recommend this book for those of you who are not quite sure if you are a high performer, those of you who have leaders telling you that you're doing a great job but you don't quite believe them, or someone who is looking to step up their game. This book is going to bring it all together for you; It was very hard to put down. The book is well written, easy to read and understand, and Dr. Gotian keeps you hooked throughout the entire book.
📔 Book of the week: Chasing perfection by Sue Hawkes
I read Chasing Perfection in preparation for a training workshop. This book is well written and shares advice from Ms. Hawkes, as well as from other successful women who have shared their story. The book is entertaining and a quick read. That said, avoid the temptation to read it fast. Instead, savor each page and take in the words and advice. The first time through, I didn't do the recommended exercises available in most chapters. The second time however, I did these exercises and they helped with context and how her words applied to my personal scenarios. I highly recommend this book. You won't be disappointed.
📔 Book of the week: You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake! by Olivier Sibony
You’re About to Make a Terrible Mistake! (2020) deals with the negative but often predictable effects that cognitive biases have on high-stakes decisions. Far from claiming that biases can be eliminated altogether, it demonstrates how every decision is colored by bias and outlines specific techniques that’ll help you make more rational, fact-based business decisions. Have you ever had a nagging feeling that bad decisions are being made, but can’t quite put your finger on why, or how to make better ones? This is the book to read. Olivier doesn’t give a blunt recipe, but instead an insightful look into some reasons how and why bad decisions are made, followed by a range of techniques to combat them. There’s no magic bullet, but a series of tools to apply to your own experiences. Arguments by backed up by research and business examples. You have to work through the bad practices before finding the practical techniques in the latter half of the book - but it`s well worth the enjoyable journey!
📔 Book of the week: The Five-Second Rule By Mel Robbins
The Five-Second Rule is a simple process of counting backward out loud from five to one as soon as you recognize you’re procrastinating. When you change your focus through counting, the part of the brain responsible for finding excuses gets occupied and, therefore, is less able to come up with reasons why it’s not safe to do the ‘thing’.
How to Use the Five-Second Rule?
As soon as you have the idea to do something or you recognize that you’re procrastinating, count backward, out loud: 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1
Immediately launch yourself into action without thinking.
The key is to ACT, not think; when you think, your brain WILL come up with excuses, typically identifying something less ‘painful’ that you can do instead.
📔 Book of the week: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
This is not a classical time management book. The focus is on concentration management. Take responsibility about when and by whom/what you can get destructed and when to concentrate. The nice thing is that he is not applying whatever helped him as the golden rule but looks for principles. Applying the principles differs from person to person and job to job - but it is extremely helpful.
📔 Book of the week: The Discomfort Zone: How Leaders Turn Difficult Conversations into Breakthroughs by Marcia Reynolds
This is not a classical time management book. The focus is on concentration management. Take responsibility about when and by whom/what you can get destructed and when to concentrate. The nice thing is that he is not applying whatever helped him as the golden rule but looks for principles. Applying the principles differs from person to person and job to job - but it is extremely helpful.
📔 Book of the week: Willpower by R. Baumeister et al
Willpower brings the concept of self-control back into mainstream discussions on achievement. It takes contemporary scientific studies and breaks them down, demonstrating that, despite the previously held views of many experts, willpower can indeed be harnessed and strengthened to make the change in your life you´ve always wanted to make. The book is absolutely worth reading and I'm glad I did. It summarizes the scientific findings on willpower in an entertaining and simply written language.
📔 Book of the week: The Lost Art of Connecting by Susan McPherson
The goal in any meaningful relationship is to give it depth. That’s what the book, The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Business Relationships, is all about. Of course, not every networking contact has to become a deep relationship: We have a finite amount of time, energy, and resources. But when there’s potential to help each other in business and in life, it’s worthwhile to take the relationship deeper. And what people so often ask me is: How? How do you transform a relationship from the superficial to the meaningful without feeling awkward or stiff? This book is not a tactical guide but talks about why it matters.
📔Book of the week: Tribe of Mentors by Timothy Ferriss
If you love learning from the best, buy this book. Tim Ferriss has interviewed 100 role models (e.g. Brene Brown, Gary Vaynerchuk, Susan Cain) and asked them for practical life tips.
What I love about the book are the 11 brilliant questions he asks everyone.
For example:
→ What books do you give away most often?
→ What item under €100 has improved your life the most?
→ What are your best tips for unwinding in the evening?
Every time I open the book, I come across a new treasure trove of knowledge.
📔 Book of the week: Disrupt Yourself by Whitney Johnson
Whitney Johnson's books are a must-have in my library. In Disrupt Yourself, with a New Introduction, she writes about the importance of reinventing yourself throughout your career - and your life. We are all so constantly surrounded by innovation that we often don't notice that we haven't changed our own thinking in five, ten or twenty years. Whitney Johnson's great book helps avoid falling into this trap with a defined seven-step model that she has also followed herself. She takes change and disruption as an opportunity to develop a process that enables readers to understand the normal course of a career. It's all done in a very personal way.
📔Book of the week: Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
A great book and absolutely recommendable! As a "feminist" I often get to hear "what am I still standing up for in the 21st century, everything is already fair" *eye roll*. Read this book and then you will know what women still stand up for today and what we MUST stand up for. This book delivers in a pleasant writing/reading style facts and analysis and black-on-white results from different areas of life, be it product design, transport planning, education, politics or or.... It´s a must-read for everyone and should become compulsory reading in social studies classes all over the world! The price is not high and the length is also more than doable. So, there are no excuses, go on, read! :)
📔Book of the week: Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant
Grant shows in this book what psychological research has found and what each of us has always secretly known: bad karma eventually takes its revenge.
In older generations there was often the prejudice that the strongest will prevail and succeed. Especially nowadays, in a society where status is blurred and money is no longer everything, this is no longer true. Prominent examples from politics and business show - those who take more and more at the expense of others build up all the more adversaries who are just waiting for the wind to change. Grant describes this and shows that it pays to be cooperative and still pursue your goals consistently (Giver). Because those who always try to push through their own interests with a crowbar (Taker) will quickly run into headwind.
📔Book of the week: Mindset by Carol Dweck
This book offers practical information and takeaway action on how to recognize a fixed mindset and transition into a growth mindset. The author explains clearly what both are and how a fixed mindset can hold us back, which is more negative perception while a growth one, a positive one can help us learn and develop. More than just about being positive it contains useful advice on how to view setbacks as opportunities to learn from example and developing a growth mindset to help both yourself and others. It's well written and easy to read, overall an excellent book!
📔Book of the week: Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane
We all know highly magnetic people who turn heads whenever they enter a room and seem to be liked by everyone immediately. But what is their secret?
In her book, Olivia Fox Cabane explains what charisma really is and breaks down the abstract concept into its basic components: presence, power and warmth! The book is very practically oriented, in fact the author gives many examples as to how to apply the theory to real life situations. I really liked about this bestseller that it does not contain trivial information that can be found anywhere but original thoughts and individual approaches to the topic.
Although the book contains minor flaws (unnecessary examples of clients, some repetitions), I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to add charisma to their personality traits.
📔 Book of the week: Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning by Tom Vanderbilt
In the book "Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning," author Tom Vanderbilt explains how his young daughter inspired him to become a beginner again. Instead of trying to become an expert in something through 10,000 hours of practice as Malcolm Gladwell discusses, he wanted to simply try new things. Vanderbilt notes that as adults, we lose our childlike ability to just try. "We’re afraid of just being OK at things." So, is there something you would like to try, not to impress anyone or to gain a new career, but only to enrich your life? This book is funny, uplifting, and delightfully informative, Beginners is about how small acts of reinvention, at any age, can make life seem magical. When you look for tips and tricks to become better at learning new things this is not the book for you, this book is great storytelling and uplifting!
📔 Book of the week: Finding focus in a busy world by Joshua Seth
This book answers the question "why am I unfocused?" in a kind yet very direct way. We are unfocused because of "stuff"(or baggage, or issues, or mental/physical clutter)–both internal and external –that gets in the way of our objective. And what is our objective, anyway? Success. And what is success? Joshua Seth answers these questions and helps you get over your "stuff" with easy-to-do actions. I give this book my highest recommendation.
📔 Book of the week: Atomic Habits by James Clear
Be more sporty, lead a healthier life or take the next step in your career: Unfortunately, many good resolutions quickly come to nothing. But how do you establish good habits permanently and get rid of bad ones? In "Atomic Habits", James Clear demonstrates the power of cumulative, continuous improvement and shows multiple strategies to implement good resolutions into one's daily routines. Underpinned by scientific findings from biology, psychology and neuroscience, the author explains the dynamics of our actions and shows systematic methods for actively shaping our lives. This book is a must for anyone who wants to acquire good habits and break bad ones. Clear's entertaining and practical writing style inspires imitation and is appropriately complemented by apps and media resources. After just a short time, you'll unmask your own decision-making patterns!
📔 Book of the week: You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murph
A fascinating, thought-provoking and immediately engrossing book on how we engage through listening (or don’t very often, as it turns out). Quite apart from explaining the actual art of listening, and how we can be more effective in life by being more attuned, the author packs her book with illustrative facts and information. Hearing is passive. Listening is active.
📔 Book of the week: From Stressed To Centered by Dr Gionta and Guerra
Stressed to Centered is a book written about dealing with stress, distractions, and feeling overwhelmed. This is a good guide to dealing with these issues and using a unique and tested method to alleviate the problems and get you back on track to being centered and contributing to society. The methods developed by Dr. Gionta and Guerra are groundbreaking and developed from the combined 30 years of experience. We all have stress and the secret is to assess the stress, build up a resistance to it, develop a guilt-free lifestyle, and live healthily. These are the steps to success. This is a great guide to controlling your stress and living a happy healthy life. A must-read for anyone with stress in their life.
📔 Book of the week: Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager
Just as the iconic bestseller The One Minute Manager gave leaders the three secrets to managing others, so this follow-up book gives people the three tricks for managing themselves. Updated with current and compelling research, this captivating business parable shows readers how to apply the world-renowned SLII® model to their own development. The story centers on Steve, a young advertising executive who is about to lose his job. Through a series of talks with a mentor named Cayla, Steve learns three tricks for effective self-leadership. His newfound skills not only empower Steve to keep his job, but also show him how to challenge assumptions, overcome obstacles, and continue growing, learning, and achieving. In Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager readers will see how accepting personal responsibility for their own success leads to freedom and autonomy. Easy and fun ready!
📔Book of the week: Networking for People Who Hate Networking by Devora Zack
I cannot recommend this book enough. Whether you are an introvert or extrovert - you will come away with more understanding and sensitivity to interacting with and bringing out the best in others. The author's style is fun and easy to read - while making her points very clearly. I read the first edition a number of years ago - the insight it gave into myself as an introvert was literally life-changing. How I could see my tendencies as a positive rather than the often scoffed at negative in this extrovert loving society we live in - and work within my strengths. So glad the book has been updated! Get it - you'll be happy you did.
📔 Book of the week: Why anyone should be led by YOU? by Gareth Jones
It is an amazing and fascinating book. In today’s world practicing a good leadership style can contribute to a better workplace and great outcomes for any organization. The authors Robert and Gareth show us why we should lead and how to deal with people. It is a must-read and recommended book for everyone interested in becoming an authentic leader and to help the followers to be more confident and motivated. To be an authentic leader you must be aware of your weaknesses.
📔Book of the week: Working Out Loud by John Stepper
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the story (so far) of Working Out Loud. In essence the concept of ‘Working out Loud’ is that it does not ask/direct you to change anything about the core of what you are doing, whether that be work, hobbies, life in general and in fact doesn’t question at all what you may be doing now. Rather in addition to what you are doing, share the presence and progress of that with others, but do so expecting nothing (not even a comment) in return. This is where I found it differs from so many other books available.
📔Book of the week: Own the Room: by Amy Jen Su and Muriel Maignan Wilkins
Discover Your Signature Voice to Master Your Leadership Presence. No matter where you sit in an organization, you can "own the room" if you are able to demonstrate your authentic value and distinction and connect to others in a positive way. Filled with real-life stories and examples, Own the Room demystifies the concept of presence and gives you the tools you need to identify and embrace your unique leadership voice — and have a greater impact on the world around you.
📔Book of the week: So good they can´t ignore you by Cal Newport
Anyone familiar with the common self-help literature on the subject of career will quickly notice that this approach is somehow different. Carl Newport takes a hard look at the phrase "follow your passion" - piece by piece, this common motivation myth is deconstructed. Cal Newport shares four rules for how you can be so good they can’t ignore you. Ultimately this leads to job satisfaction. The first rule is this: Don’t concern yourself with passion. He debunks the "passion hypothesis" and shows how following your passion is the wrong way to pursue your dream job. The idea is that when you are good at what you do you are happy. Interesting inspiration and a different view.
I love sitting outside in the sun with something tropical or fruity to drink along with a great book! I'm also prepping for an upcoming (and long overdue) vacation and Iove taking a few good books to read along on the journey. I tend to read a lot of personal or professional development books, but I'm always on the look out for fun and engaging books. What are you reading this summer? If you have any recommendations I'd love to hear! Hit here and share you favorites.
This selection of books is part of my weekly newsletter where I share my 📔Book of the week amongst other tips. Click here to receive my newsletter.
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You cannot know everything there is to know about how to get where you want to be in life. While it’s possible to learn the needed skills, this will take time and likely a lot of money. Instead, what if you had someone (or a group of people) who can help guide you to success?
A mentor is someone who currently is where you want to be. The relationship you have with a mentor can be an official one, or it can be informal such as following in the footsteps of someone you admire. Mentors have experience and have gone through growing pains towards success. They will know what kinds of training you may need or skills to develop.