Summer Reading List 2024
I have compiled two lists of books this year, one recommended by participants from my middle leader workshops and the other is a list of books I have recently come across that I want to read.
Books Recommended By Middle Leader Workshop Participants
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Stephen r. Covey
Be proactive. Don't be a victim. Humans see the world through paradigms. Become self-aware and honor others. Life is not simple. Process and results matter.
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
Simon Sinek
Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders create environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things.
Global Ed Leaders (Podcast)
Impactful interviews with renowned thought leaders and deep-dives in to international school trends and strategies, to support you in your international school leadership journey.
Successful Difficult Conversations in School: Improve your team's performance, behaviour and attitude with kindness and success
Sonia Gill
Holding difficult conversations well is the key to successful leadership and management in schools - this easily read book will be invaluable to both experienced and new leaders.
Whether you are a Head or Deputy Head, a Head of Department or Year 3 Teacher, this book will help. It is full of practical ways to help you, when facing one of 'those' conversations with a colleague or parent, you know in your heart you need to have, but would rather avoid having, because you don't really know what to say or how to say it.
The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy
Jon Gordon
For managers and team leaders or anyone looking to turn negative energy into positive achievement, The Energy Bus provides a powerful plan for overcoming common life and work obstacles and bringing out the best in yourself and your team. When you get on The Energy Bus, you'll enjoy the ride of your life.
The Captain Class: The Hidden Force That Creates the World's Greatest Teams
Sam Walker
This book tells about how captain plays an important role in teams, just as how middle leaders' role to a team.
The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company
Ram Charan
In business, leadership at every level is a requisite for company survival. Yet the leadership pipeline –the internal strategy to grow leaders – in many companies is dry or nonexistent. Drawing on their experiences at many Fortune 500 companies, the authors show how organizations can develop leadership at every level by identifying future leaders, assessing their corporate confidence, planning their development, and measuring their results.
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Meta (previously called Facebook) from 2008-2022, provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career. She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment, and demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women both in the workplace and at home.
7 Principles of Transformational Leadership: Create a Mindset of Passion, Innovation, and Growth
Huge Blane
In the world of work, the single greatest asset of successful individuals, teams, and organizations is their mindset--what happens in between their ears. It's not the corporate strategy, the sales compensation plan, or the market segments they're pursuing. It is what each leader, team member, and employee chooses to focus on, believe, and create for themselves and others.
Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts.
Brene Brown
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.
Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools
Megan Tschannen-Moran
Trust is an essential element in all healthy relationships, and the relationships that exist in your school are no different. How can your school leaders or teachers cultivate trust? How can your institution maintain trust once it is established? These are the questions addressed and answered in Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools, 2nd Edition. The book delves into the helpful research that has been conducted on the topic of trust in school. Although rich with research data, Trust Matters also contains practical advice and strategies ready to be implemented. This second edition expands upon the role of trust between teachers and students, teachers and administrators, and schools and families.
The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues
Patrick Lencioni
In The Ideal Team Player, Lencioni tells the story of Jeff Shanley, a leader desperate to save his uncle’s company by restoring its cultural commitment to teamwork. Jeff must crack the code on the virtues that real team players possess, and then build a culture of hiring and development around those virtues.
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
Chip Heath & Dan Heath
This book delves into some fascinating mysteries of experience: Why we tend to remember the best or worst moment of an experience, as well as the last moment, and forget the rest. Why “we feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they’re not.” And why our most cherished memories are clustered into a brief period during our youth.
Happiness 2.0: The Reset Button (Podcast)
Many of us rush through our days, weeks, and lives, chasing goals, and just trying to get everything done. But that can blind us to a very simple source of joy that’s all around us. This week, in the fourth and final installment of our Happiness 2.0 series, psychologist Dacher Keltner describes what happens when we stop to savor nature, art, or simply the moral courage of those around us.
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships
Marshall Rosenberg
Nonviolent Communication serves our desire to do three things:
Increase our ability to live with choice, meaning, and connection
Connect empathically with self and others to have more satisfying relationships
Sharing of resources so everyone is able to benefit
The Aggregation of Marginal Gains: A Fail-proof Blueprint for Standing Out Even When the Odds Are Heavily Stacked Against You
Promise Tewogbola
For the uninitiated, the Aggregation of Marginal Gains simply states that if you decide to improve on a particular skill by as little as 1% every single day, you would be better than at least 90% of other people who have that skill. This principle was popularized by Sir Dave Brailsford who used it to convert mediocre British professional cyclists into Olympic gold medalists. In this book, I share 5 KEY SKILLS you can focus on for the Aggregation of Marginal Gains to work in your favor, instead of against you. The good thing is that these skills are not limited to any niche. You can use them in any field of endeavor you find yourself in.
Who Moved My Cheese? : An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Spencer Johnson
This book guides the reader to anticipate change, adapt to change quickly, enjoy change and be ready to change quickly, again and again.
Maxwell Leadership Podcast: Do You Have What It Takes
So, you’re starting something new? I bet one big question rolling around in your mind is, “Do I have what it takes?” This week, John C. Maxwell, Mark Cole, and Traci Morrow start a new two-part series on questions leaders can ask themselves to know if they have what it takes to begin a new venture. Following John’s lesson, Mark and Traci discuss how to apply what you’ve learned to your life and leadership.
Key takeaways:
Passion gives the vision energy. Vision gives passion direction.
Stress is the gap between the demands placed on us and our ability to meet those demands.
Many times, action is not the riskiest path. The riskiest path is inaction.
What is the Fish Philosophy?
The FISH! Philosophy is training that inspires workplaces and individuals to choose to create the kind of life they desire. It is a simple Way of Being that allows teams to come together and agree to enjoy work more.
It has been around for over 20 years and has gained global recognition as the number 1 culture training program in the world. In fact, 80% of Fortune 500 companies have used The FISH! Philosophy training.
Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership
Kim Cofino and Christina Botbyl
Featuring the experiences of over 70 successful female leaders in international, public, and private schools around the world, Finding Your Path as a Woman in School Leadership brings together interconnected stories about the realities of being a woman in K–12 school leadership today.
Stretching Your Learning Edges: Growing (Up) At Work
Jennifer Abrams
This is the book for anyone who embraces growth and learning as an individual and as a workplace colleague. You’ll find an introspective view of personal development and an insightful foray into the potential for influencing groups. This book offers research-based tools and templates to guide the journey towards becoming one’s best self.
Where Is the Teacher?: The 12 Shifts for Student-Centered Environments
Kyle Wagner
In this groundbreaking book, seasoned educator Kyle Wagner explains the new role of the teacher in the 4th industrial revolution. You will learn how to shift from being a deliverer of content, to a thoughtful designer and facilitator of student-centered learning experiences who gently guides from behind the scenes.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Jonathan Haidt
In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults.
