Book reviews (Sept 2021)
I often get asked if I can recommend good books, videos, or podcasts on a particular development topic or ‘leadership’ more generally. I also have a big heap of these kind of resources to read / watch / listen to, which always seems to go bottom of the list of things to do. So I’m going to start writing and sharing brief reviews, that hopefully you’ll find helpful, and will encourage me to prioritise my reading. They’re my personal opinion only. Plus a piece of advice - just reading / watching / listening to something different from your usual business picks is helpful.
Playing Big: A Practical Guide for Women Like You by Tara Mohr (2015)
This book is targeted at women who want to shift gear in their career, but are held back by their inner critic and imposter syndrome. The author has a Yale / Stanford background, has a long list of key note speaking, and was trained by the Coaches Training Institute. I found she was sometimes she's a bit verbose and 'Californian' in style, but I really liked how the book takes you from noticing and naming your critic, and finding your inner mentor, through to taking a leap and making it easy. Each chapter has a good summary of key ideas covered, and journalling questions so you can use it as self-help, as well as working through some of the ideas with a coach. Of course some of the ideas apply to anyone wanting to 'play bigger' and some really tune-into internal barriers felt more by women e.g. leaving good student habits behind. So I would recommend this one, with the warning about the touchy-feeliness for any with an analytical / logical lens.
Working from Home: How to Build a Career You Love When You're Not in the Office by Harriet Minter (2021).
I had high hopes for this short book given it was published this year, the author is a journalist and coach, and editor of the Guardian's Women in Leadership column. It is an easy read as she writes well and with humour, and concentrates on practical hints and tips. However pandemic lockdowns and enforced working from home are only covered in the intro and end chapter, so the main chapters felt a bit out of date to me and too simplistic in their advice. For example in dealing with virtual meetings the tips are to hide self view on video calls, build in breaks, and switch to the phone when you've had enough of the screen. There are good values reflection, skills reflection, and future vision exercises, for people who haven't seen these before. Plus ch 6 on managing your mental health has good reminders, and ch 7 managing your team from home has the basics for anyone completely new to managing. But overall I wouldn't recommend it due to the bit out of date / simple feel.
The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st Century by Chris Lewis & Pippa Malmgren (2019).
The authors (one UK, one US) split their time between the UK and US, and have based their model on their work with LEWIS Advisory Boards (LAB), which for the last 25 years have brought together leaders from all walks of life in cities across the globe. It’s 250 pages, readable, references websites and books rather than academic papers. They summarise their ideas in an 8 ‘Is” model or Kythera, a 360 degree globe balancing light side v dark side tensions of 1. information v inundation 2. internationalism v insularity 3. immediacy v impatience 4. intelligence v insurgency 5. infrastructure v isolation 6. innovation v intimidation 7. inclusivity v inequality 8. inspiration v inversion. It made me think and has good arguments for the sort of leadership I advocate. However, there are duplications (authors argue inter-relatedness) in their 8 key areas of paradoxical change, particularly 1 and 3. And there are key areas missing e.g. there’s nothing on climate change (environment is mentioned in one paragraph in Ch 5), nothing on race. I would still recommend though.