Contributors to the October 2019 issue of TD magazine offer their book recommendations.
Terri LoGiudice
Powered by Happy: How to Get and Stay Happy at Work by Beth Thomas
I worked with Thomas many years ago, and she is an engaging and inspiring person. In this book, she provides tips and strategies to help you not only be happy at work, but take that happiness with you everywhere. Just making little changes in your daily routine can have a huge impact.
The Expertise Economy: How the Smartest Companies Use Learning to Engage, Compete and Succeed by Kelly Palmer and David Blake
David and Kelly are part of the leadership team for Degreed. What I love about this book is it shows how companies of all different sizes changed the learning landscape so employees had the ability and tools to take ownership of their own learning.
Amanda Arikpo
Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz
This book made a significant impact on how I approached networking. Building relationships is key in any facet of life but absolutely in your professional world. This book helps create an understanding of how important it is to not only find people you connect with but how to continue to build on those relationships.
Mandela’s Way: Lessons for an Uncertain Age by Richard Stengel
Stengel spent a lot of time with Nelson Mandela, learning and capturing all of the details of his amazing journey through life. A variety of lessons are shared in this book—lessons on leadership, personal branding, and life in general.
Simona Vidican
Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done by Laura Vanderkam
This book is a must-read for people who try to measure their productivity in terms of outcomes, goals, metrics, and accomplishments. The author brings a fresh perspective to time management by advocating for a new mindset where we tend our “time garden” as a gardener tends to his plot, create daily and weekly memorable experiences, savor the present, and invest in other people. Your perception of time will change and will help you transition from “I’m too busy” to “I have time for what matters to me."
Bring Your Human to Work by Erica Keswin
Like the title alludes to, this book argues the importance of creating a human workplace that honors relationships in everything the company does. Honoring relationships is critical in an organization, from the way leadership relates to employees to balancing technology and human touch, and from managing meetings to creating wellness programs for employees. To show these principles in action, the author presents a wealth of case studies and spotlights on current companies, which helps the reader connect and relate to the book.
Solomon Akrofi
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
This book distills the coaching process into seven core questions that can be deployed to transform the support leaders can bring to both their peers and their employees.
Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr
Supported by numerous practical examples, this book offers details on how the principles of OKRs (objectives and key results), which was attained in Intel and consolidated at Google, can be implemented successfully in other contexts to drive long-term organizational success.
