Contributors to the August 2020 issue of TD magazine offer their book recommendations.

Linda Fisher Thornton

Unlocking Leadership Mindtraps: How to Thrive in Complexity by Jennifer Garvey Berger

Complexity is one of our greatest leadership challenges. This insightful book describes five mind traps in our human operating system that interfere with our ability to lead and make good decisions. The first mind trap resonated with me in light of recent global leadership challenges—our desire for simple stories. I think you'll find this book interesting and timely.

Annemarie Spadafore

Compelling People: The Hidden Qualities That Make Us Influential by John Neffinger and Matthew Kohut

Compelling People is deeply researched and fun to read; its recipe for compelling leadership is both deceptively simple yet undeniably powerful. I share elements of its "high warmth, high strength" message with clients daily. Also, I especially appreciate its sensitive and valuable perspective on the real obstacles to effective diversity and inclusion.

The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves by The Arbinger Institute

This is an incredibly powerful book that will make you a better leader and an even better human. This book has radically and positively changed my approach with others—seeing them as people, not as objects—and has made a profound impact on my life and the way I teach and coach clients.

Become: The Five Commitments of Purposeful Leadership by Mark Hannum

This book is a wonderful companion to The Outward Mindset, presenting a fantastic model of purposeful leadership and operationalizing how a leader may become an inspiring, innovative visionary who fully engages others and achieves results. It is both a model of personal transformation and framework for achieving superb outcomes.

Kelley Williamson

The Underdog Advantage: Rewrite Your Future by Turning Your Disadvantages Into Your Superpowers by Dean Graziosi

I love this book because it is about looking at what you deem your disadvantages and turning them into your advantages. Doing this can help you rewrite your future.

The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be by Jack Canfield

This is another of my go-to books or books on tape. Canfield is a storyteller and created a book to teach you how to create your confidence, tackle daily challenges, live with passion and purpose, and realize all of your ambitions and dreams. He has created more than 64 success principles that come from watching and researching what successful people do daily to success principles that have catapulted him to the top. If you don’t want to read a 475-page book, then I highly recommend ordering the book on tape. He has a great voice and walks through all the success principles by backing them up with real-life stories and examples.

Stacy Starkka

High Performance Team Coaching: A Comprehensive System for Leaders and Coaches by Jacqueline Peters and Catherine Carr

Carr and Peters have developed a practical, simple, evidence-based model for coaching teams to improve performance. Regardless of coaching experience, anyone wanting to effectively coach teams to improve performance will benefit from reading this book. Their extensive experience as team coaches in various sectors combined with their applied research has resulted in what is becoming a popular model for team coaching that increases team performance in measurable ways. They also have published a quick read of actionable tips titled 50 Tips for Terrific Teams: Proven Strategies for Building High Performance Teams.

Saul Carliner

The Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab

Even before the pandemic, futurists were predicting that automation and artificial intelligence would profoundly transform the world of work, much like personal computers did in the 1980s. This book introduces how that happens.

Temp: The Real Story of What Happened to Your Salary, Benefits, and Job Security by Louis Hyman

This book describes the significant change in employment from lifelong, permanent employment to the labor market we see today. Linked with The Fourth Industrial Revolution, the two books together provide some significant insights into the future of work.