Reading list for Future Leaders
Not many things are as universally agreed upon as: reading books makes you smarter
As a business school graduate, management consultant, then team leader for a large corporate, reading has always played a huge role in my life. Below, I have picked out the four books which I believe can play a massive role in shaping your next few years as a new leader.
Understand what you and your team are good at
Go Put Your Strengths to Work by Marcus Buckingham
I can’t tell you how many times I went back to this book during my managerial career at Kraft Heinz. As managers it is becoming more and more common that we should focus on our team’s strengths, as opposed to their weaknesses. But how should we do it?
Ask these four amazing questions of your new team in your next one-to-one meeting:
Success: where have you had success in your career?
Instinct: what activities seem to come naturally to you?
Growth: where does learning come easy to you?
Need: what activities do you feel like you have to do?
Read the full book review here.
Learn how to communicate with your team better
The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier
This book is a perfect companion for that all important new habit: the one-to-one conversation. Ask these simple seven questions and remember to listen with curiosity!
What’s on your mind?
And what else (is on your mind)?
What’s the real challenge here for you?
What do you want?
How can I help?
If you’re saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?
What was most useful for you?
Read the full book review here.
Have better relationships across diverse cultures
The Culture Map by Erin Meyer
If you work with teams across multiple cultures, this is a perfect book to get you started. It will help bust a lot of myths and give you practical tools to guide you through some sticky moments.
Here are a few lessons worth remembering:
① Just because your country does it that way, it doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Meyer recounts a meeting where a Chinese executive said, “you have two eyes, two ears, but only one mouth. You should use them accordingly.” In the UK we value having our voice heard, in other parts of the world they value hearing other voices.
② Bridging cultures starts with upfront communication. We all work in cross-cultural teams now. Several team members might prefer direct negative feedback, whereas others prefer indirect negative feedback. As a leader, you have to be upfront and communicate to your team that you lean more one way.
③ Having clashing values doesn’t mean we can’t get along. When we are a team made up of a diversity of individuals, we have to put in work upfront to understand each other so that we can have empathy for each other when the going gets tough.
Read the full book review here.
Lead through changing times
Switch by Chip and Dan Heath
This book was foundational for my career in leadership. Why? It’s cliched but, because change is a constant. I would always refer back to this book to make sure I was ticking off as many steps as possible in the change process. Remember, to have influence we need to tackle other peoples’ rationality, their emotions, and their environment.
Check out the nine steps of the change process here.
