(From Fast Company) -- These 12 books have shaped not only the way we work this year, but how we think and the conversations we're having. Authored by luminaries like Nate Silver, Clay Christensen, and Susan Cain, these delightful-to-read tomes offer insight into the power of vulnerability, habit, social media, and more.
1. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
In Quiet, author Susan Cain argues that introverts are a reservoir of untapped talent—and that progressive managers can create environments in which they thrive.
“Any time people come together in a meeting, we’re not necessarily getting the best ideas," she tells Fast Company, "we’re just getting the ideas of the best talkers.”
Amazon, $15.20.
2. How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon
As the author of the disruption-defining Innovator’s Dilemma, Clay Christensen is one of the most esteemed minds in business. In How Will You Measure Your Life?, he and coauthors James Allworth and Karen Dillon investigate what it means to have a fulfilling career, and finds that it is both a focused and open process.
"I believe that we can, in a deliberate way, articulate the kind of people we want to become," he says. "As the rest of life happens to you, you can utilize those things to help you become the kind of person you want to be."
Amazon, $15.98.
3. Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours by Robert Pozen
Bob Pozen once simultaneously served as president of Fidelity Management, lectured full-time at Harvard Business School, and wrote for the Harvard Business Review—meaning that he’s earned the right to write a book called Extreme Productivity.
"If you want an active schedule," he tells us in an interview about turning career plans into daily actions, "you have to husband your time so you can act on the things that are important."
Amazon, $15.97.
