10 Books You Should Read This Winter 2024

THE WINTER months are the perfect time for a little binge-reading. While I can’t promise that any of the titles suggested are cozy reads, they will get you fired up.

Personally, I would start with Productive Failure and Mindshift. Like The Illusion of Innovation by Elliott Parker, they will get you thinking in new ways and set you up for the others.

Use this list to create your own winter reading plan. Here are ten suggestions to begin the new year intentionally.

  On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century by Tony Blair - (September 2024)

The leadership manual Tony Blair wishes he had when he became prime minister, with personal insights and global examples that show aspiring leaders how to go from talking about change to making change. Sir Tony Blair learnt the precepts of governing the hard way: by leading a country for over ten years. In that time he came to understand that there were certain key characteristics of successful government that he wished he had known when he started. Now Sir Tony has written the manual on political leadership that he would have wanted back in 1997, sharing the insights he has gained from his personal experience and from observing other world leaders at first hand, both while he was in office and since, through his Institute’s work with political leaders and governments globally.

  Mindshift: Ignite Change, Inspire Action, and Innovate for a Better Tomorrow by Brian Solis - (October 2024)

Every company needs leaders who can spot and seize on opportunities at a moment’s notice. Every organization needs leaders who can rally teams together around new opportunities. Those who can see important, emerging trends foresee the coming disruption and harness those forces, translate them into actionable insights and motivation to fuel their company’s march into the future rather than ignoring or running or hiding from opportunities. In Mindshift Brian Solis draws on his experience of leading initiatives that drive innovation and business transformation to deliver the empowering message that this is the time to change the world for the better. And that change starts with you. In this book, you’ll discover why legacy leadership continues to miss the mark and fail to adequately account for change and innovation, causing people to miss the winds of opportunity or threats of disruption until it’s too late. Let this inspire, not frustrate you.

  Productive Failure: Unlocking Deeper Learning Through the Science of Failing by Manu Kapur - (October 2024)

Written by a leading global expert on human cognition, productive failure, and learning methods, Productive Failure shows you how to design the experience of failing. Research shows that repeated experiences of intriguing, constructive failure can help students (and our own children, and anyone else we lead) develop creativity and learn more deeply. When carefully curated, failure can become a signal for learning, not the noise detracting from it. The result? Learners gain a lifelong readiness to push themselves outside of their comfort zones, using setbacks as launchpads for learning and innovation. The evidence-based principles in this book are powerful, not only in formal schooling contexts, but also for anyone taking charge of and designing their own lifelong learning.

  Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering by Malcolm Gladwell - (October 2024)

Twenty-five years after the publication of his groundbreaking first book, Malcolm Gladwell returns with a brand-new volume that reframes the lessons of The Tipping Point in a startling and revealing light. Through a series of riveting stories, Gladwell traces the rise of a new and troubling form of social engineering. He takes us to the streets of Los Angeles to meet the world’s most successful bank robbers, rediscovers a forgotten television show from the 1970s that changed the world, visits the site of a historic experiment on a tiny cul-de-sac in northern California, and offers an alternate history of two of the biggest epidemics of our day: COVID and the opioid crisis. Revenge of the Tipping Point is Gladwell’s most personal book yet. With his characteristic mix of storytelling and social science, he offers a guide to making sense of the contagions of modern world. It’s time we took tipping points seriously.

  The Power of Culture: An Economist Edge Book (The Economist Edge Series) by Laura Hamill - (November 2024)

A revelatory new book showing how organizations need to be proactive about their culture—and how they can achieve that vital goal. Organizational culture, though, can be a tricky thing to understand and master. The Power of Culture tackles this head-on, exploring what culture is, and why it matters; how it needs to be aligned with strategy and values; and how to understand it, change it, and make it a reality. Told through real stories and examples and using the author's Intentional Culture Circle as a guide, this new book helps everyone at work to be more aware of culture and how to find opportunities to use it for growth and success.

  Reset: How to Change What's Not Working by Dan Heath - (January 2025)

Changing how we work can feel overwhelming. Like trying to budge an enormous boulder. We’re stifled by the gravity of the way we’ve always done things. And we spend so much time fighting fires—and fighting colleagues—that we lack the energy to shift direction. But with the right strategy, we can move the boulder. In Reset, Heath explores a framework for getting unstuck and making the changes that matter. The secret is to find “leverage points”: places where a little bit of effort can yield a disproportionate return. Then, we can thoughtfully rearrange our resources to push on those points. The book investigates mysteries: Why the middle is the roughest part of a change effort. Why inefficiency can sometimes accelerate progress. Why getting “buy-in” is the wrong way to think about change.

  Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership by Christie Smith and Kelly Monahan - (January 2025)

In an era where the foundational elements of business are being disrupted, Essential: How Distributed Teams, Generative AI, and Global Shifts are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership emerges as a crucial guide for leaders navigating the profound changes reshaping industries and markets worldwide. Whether you're looking to redefine your leadership approach, adapt to the transformed market, or leave a lasting legacy, this book offers a compelling case for why now is the time for a leadership reinvention. Dive into this essential resource and begin your journey towards leading with greater impact and humanity in the business world of today and tomorrow.

  Inspire: The Universal Path for Leading Yourself and Others by Adam Galinsky - (January 2025)

Two kinds of leaders populate the world: those who inspire and those who infuriate. Which will you be? Whether you’re a leader, a member of a team, a spouse, or a parent, this engaging and rigorous exploration unpacks the science of inspiration. Through compelling stories, fascinating research, and practical tips for addressing the common dilemmas we face daily, Inspire reveals how all of us, regardless of status or circumstance, can be more inspiring more often. Social psychologist Adam Galinsky shows how inspiring leaders can fill us with a wellspring of hope and possibility as they guide us to become better versions of ourselves. In contrast, infuriating leaders disappoint and annoy, fueling seething cauldrons of rage. But both types of leaders are deeply connected—together, they represent a universal continuum that is rooted in the very architecture of the human brain. This means that inspiring leaders aren’t born—instead, we can inspire or infuriate in any given moment through our behavior, words, or presence.

  Employment Is Dead: How Disruptive Technologies Are Revolutionizing the Way We Work by Deborah Perry Piscione and Josh Drean - (January 2025)

With disruptive technologies on the horizon, traditional employment models are becoming outdated. How will your organization adapt to the evolving landscape of work? Business is on the cusp of a profound transformation. Conventional work models are failing to adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of the modern workforce. Simultaneously, the emergence of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, coupled with web3 innovations, including the metaverse and decentralized work models, is unlocking a new realm of possibilities. It raises the question: Is the era of traditional employment over?

  Rethinking Work: Seismic Changes in the Where, When, and Why
Rishad Tobaccowala - (February 2024)

A sea change is occurring—a change so monumental that it is making us re-invent the traditional ideas of where work is done, when work is done, why work is done, and even what work itself is. We have a choice. We can either be reactive and struggle to adjust to transformational events on the fly, or we can be proactive and control the narrative—reinventing work to align with the evolving environment. Schools, banks, law firms, startups, medical offices—every sector will be affected by the current or soon-to-be-emerging trends and events that Rishad describes in this invaluable guide. Learn to thrive in a world where the who, what, why, where, when and how of work will be transformed: Who will people work for? What will organizations look like? Why will people work? Where will people work? When will people work? How will leadership change?

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 12:38 PM
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