Books that inspire

Career Impact Coaching, LLC

Books that inspire

Transform your life. Books contain the essence of powerful ideas, ideas that can change your life forever. Ready for inspiration? Here are some of my favorite sources of ideas about leadership and career effectiveness:

Badaracco, J.L. (2002). Leading quietly, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Indirect quiet leadership is often discounted because the leader fails to demonstrate the extroverted, overly assertive, charismatic, heroic leadership styles most followers acknowledge. Badaracco shows what
happens behind the scenes with a quiet leader.

Cashman, K. & Forem, J. (2003). Awakening the leader within. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

This book is written like a modern fable, and it is emminently practical. Read the first section in an afternoon. You can profitably study the second section for several years.

Kotter, J. P. (1996) Leading Change, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

John Kotter is Harvard professor who has written extensively about changes in organizations. He recommends that the leaders secure some early wins for their team - something to celebrate as changes are approached. With the early wins, workers can participate in the sense that something is happening.

Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2002). The leadership challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kouzes and Posner have delivered the essentials of leadership in one comprehensive package. The authors apply life experience to a coherent, universal message about good leadership. If you understand and follow Kouzes and Posner’s practical philosophy, you should be able to become a more effective leader.

Welter, B. & Egmon, J. (2006). The prepared mind of the leader, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Leaders can react to changes; they can adapt to changes; and leaders can anticipate changes. This third process – anticipation of changes – requires earlier action and sensitivity toward possible outcomes. The authors suggest that managers should manage a cycle of “sense -> make sense –> decide -> act” with greater efficiency. “Some of us will anticipate our future; others will have to react to what we create.”

My Current Read:

Ferazzi, K. (2009). Who's Got Your Back: The Breakthrough Program to Build Deep, Trusting Relationships That Create Success--and Won't Let You Fail. New York: Broadway Books.

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