Books, Books, Books

Must Reads

Whether you are a seasoned leader, or just beginning to leverage your skills, these books are excellent foundational reads. They are consistently recommended by leaders of all types.

• Blanchard, K., & Johnson, S. (1982). The One Minute Manager. New York, NY: William Morrow & Co, Inc. 
• Carnegie, D. (1981). How to win friends and influence people.  New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. 
• Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap and others don’t.  New York, NY: Harper Collins.  ISBN: 9780066620992
• Maxwell, J.C. (2007). The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership: Follow them and people will follow you. New York, NY: Harper Collins: ISBN: 9780785288374.

Leadership Styles

Do you know your leadership style? These books can support you in both identifying and developing  your style over time.

•  Blanchard, K., Hodges, P. (2008). Lead like Jesus: Lessons from the greatest leadership role model of all time. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.  
• Gordon, J. (2007). The Energy bus: 10 Rules to fuel your life, work, and team with positive energy. New York, NY: Wiley.  ISBN:  9780470100288. 
• Sinek, S. (2017). Leaders eat last: Why some teams pull together and others don’t. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.  ISBN:  9781591848011. 
• Stabile, S. (2016). The road back to you: An enneagram journey to self discovery. Chicago, IL: IVP Books. ISBN: 9780830846191.

Influence

Everyone has a sphere of influence, regardless of position or title. As women, we have influence on our friends, families, colleagues, communities, and more.

• Duckworth, A. (2018). Grit: The Power of passion and perseverance.  Scribner. ISBN: 978-1501111112.
• Horsager, D. (2012). The trust edge: How top leaders gain faster results, deeper relationships, and a stronger bottom line. New York, NY: Free Press. 
• Scroggins, C. (2018). How to lead when you’re not in charge: Leveraging influence when you lack authority. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Faith Based Leadership

Leadership grounded in faith and centered on the Word of God has its roots in Biblical wisdom.

• Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Brave work. Tough conversations. Whole hearts. New York, NY: Random House. ISBN: 9780399592522.
• Hagan, S. (2016). The language of influence. CreateSpace Independent Publishing. ISBN: 9781523863143.
• Malcolm, K.T. (1982). Women at the crossroads: A path beyond feminism and traditionalism. Chicago, IL: Intervarsity Press.  ISBN:   9780877843795.
• Morris, R. (2014). The blessed church: The simple secret to growing the church you love. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBrook.  ISBN 9780307729750
• Wilson, S. (2013). Ready, set, grow!: 3 Conversations that will bring lasting growth to your church. Springfield, MO: My Healthy Church.  ISBN: 978-1624230769.

Developing Yourself

As you find yourself moving into leadership positions, or, just want to develop yourself as a professional in whatever your calling is, these books can be a good resource to guide conversations and change.

•  Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2002). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. ISBN: 9780071401946.
• Hiatt, J.M. (2006). ADKAR: A model for change in business, government, and our community. Fort Collin, CO: Prosci Research. ISBN: 9781930885509.
• Gallup. (2021). CliftonStrengths.  Gallup has rebranded its StrengthsFinder 2.0 as CliftonStrengths. The Strengths Assessment “measures your talents – your natural patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving – and categorizes them into the 34 CliftonStrengths themes.” (Gallup, 2021). This assessment provides you with your top five themes. Gallup also have several resources related to this that range from simply explaining your 5 most dominant traits to several resources that advise you how to work with others based on those themes. Check out their resources here: CliftonStrengths
• Warren, R. (2013). The purpose driven life: What on Earth am I here for? Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.