Reboot Recommends: 7 Books That Will Inspire Your Leadership This Year

We’re avid readers here at Reboot HQ. There have been a few books that are currently on our highly recommended list to clients. Below, we’re sharing a few of the titles we’ve been passing along and providing the instances for when you might want to reach for them.

1. When you have colleagues who are hard to work with, reach for Getting Along: How to Work With Anyone (Even Difficult People), by Amy Gallo. Gallo’s book outlines eight archetypes of difficult work personalities that might feel really familiar to many of us. She talks about each type, what might be behind the behaviors, and how to respond to each in a direct but collaborative way. A big invitation in this book is also for us to recognize when we have found ourselves behaving in ways that fit any of these archetypes. This book is essential reading for managers, leaders, and anyone working for them.
2. When you need wisdom about making difficult decisions, Reboot coach and facilitator Chrystal Bell recommends Ready: How to Know When to Go and When to Stay by David Richo. “It’s been a valuable tool to uncover what may be happening for clients in the unsettling world of fear and loss when they come to a crossroads,” she adds. If you find yourself at this juncture of this line of inquiry — Where might I be stuck in old patterns that have me tough it out and endure something miserable, and/or what do I keep bailing on, not committing to staying in, that actually is workable and right?— this book lays out the underpinnings of what gets us stuck and has the reader explore their own patterns and relationships with “ready.” The book outlines some of the indicators (often ignored or minimized) that tell us when something is no longer working, offers good counsel around finding support when we do move on, and honoring timing as part of this whole conversation, whether we choose to either leave or stay.
3. When you’re philosophizing about how to build a beautiful people-oriented business, we recommend Not for Bread Alone by Kōnosuke Matsushita, founder of Panasonic. “This is the kind of book that will help you connect with and find clarity from the deeper motivations of being a servant leader,” she notes. “It’s a grounding and inspiring series of anecdotes and something you can pick up and always get something out of.”
4. When you are longing for a better relationship with your life partner, grab US: Getting Past You and Me to Build a More Loving Relationship, by Terrance Real. As a Family Therapist, Terrence Real has worked with thousands of couples when they come to the end of their relational toolkits. What this book offers is a framework for when our adaptive child is showing up, and what our wise adult self is showing up in our relationship. Our work in becoming mature adults is to learn which part of us is on the scene, and how to access our wise adult self when it’s called for. Terry’s lessons keep us curious, listening, and asking for what we need — being relational! — l instead of rooted in an individualistic, “I’m right, you’re wrong” stance of defense.
5. When you’re ready to tune into your inner knowing and tap the source of creativity, bask in the beauty that is Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being.Rubin’s latest work is a masterful treatise on what it means to be a creative human, and how to become a better antenna for the new, good, ideas to flow through you. It’s a method not just for work, whether you’re an artist or an engineer, but a way of being in tune with the world around you in your day-to-day life.
6. When you need to hear a story about building a company your own way and being uniquely you, Reboot co-founder Dan Putt recommends: Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys, by Joe Coulombe. “Joe does a good job of telling the story and talking about his philosophy of building a business, building a (retail-specific) team, and building a company his own way,” Dan adds. “Which is the core of their success as a business.”
7. When you’re looking for advice on how to create inclusive and welcoming workspaces, we recommend Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belonging from our very own Jerry Colonna. With its unusual blend of poetry, quotes, and examples from Jerry’s own life as well as the lives of his clients—Reunion is a life-altering guide for today’s complex and divisive world. Its wise insights and practical advice will support leaders in creating new systems of inclusion, discovering the best of who they are, and nurturing and supporting those whom they are privileged to lead.

We believe that reading is one of the best ways to learn and grow as a leader. Whether you’re a solopreneur, small business owner, new CEO, or a seasoned founder, these books offer a wealth of insight and advice that can help you become a better human and a more effective leader.

What books would you pass along to another leader right now? Let us know what’s currently in your lending library.