- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Start With Why by Simon Sinek
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
- Boundaries for Leaders by Henry Cloud
- Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brene Brown
- The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.
When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.
But daring leadership in a culture defined by scarcity, fear, and uncertainty requires skill-building around traits that are deeply and uniquely human. The irony is that we’re choosing not to invest in developing the hearts and minds of leaders at the exact same time as we’re scrambling to figure out what we have to offer that machines and AI can’t do better and faster. What can we do better? Empathy, connection, and courage, to start.