January
18
The best business books I read in 2016
For 2016, I committed to reading a book a week. While I only managed to read forty-six books, just short of my goal, I learnt some great lessons along the way.
My top book on leadership was ‘Superbosses’ by Sydney Finkelstein (2016, 220 pages). In the book, Syndey does a great job highlighting the role amazing leaders have in build the next generation of leaders. You can read my review here or buy the book here
My top book on change was Switch: how to change things when change is hard by Chip and Dan Health (2011, 320 PAGES). Here Chip and Dan build on Tversky and Kahneman’s work showing that human decision-making has two components the rational and the emotional. Thier powerful analogy is that of an elephant and its rider. You can appeal to the rider (rational brain), but if the elephant (emotional brain) is scared, tired or stressed it will not listen to the rider. You can read my review here or buy the book here
My top book on strategy was Blue Ocean Strategy by W Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne (2015, 224 pages). Despite being a relatively old book, there push from the authors to find unmet customer needs remains compelling. You can read my review here or buy the book here
My top overall choice was Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet (2012, 2016 pages). Using his experience as a submarine captain, David shows that you can empower and engage any workforce – no matter the constraints. You can read my review here, or buy the book here
I have kept the same goal for 2017 – let’s see how I fair this year.
Please feel free to share your top books, podcasts or articles.
getting better every day 