Across the last few years, regardless of industry, leaders have needed to step into uncertainty and shifting environments at a rapid pace; and great leaders have risen to this challenge.
As 2024 starts to settle in these leaders bring with them recent skills, lessons and tools in order to adapt, shift and align teams and organisations quickly.
Having said that, great leaders also recognise the important skills of adapting, learning and changing in order to be ready for the unknown (and inevitable) challenges ahead.
One of the best ways to be agile as a leader is to explore current leadership trends; to read. Read a lot….(these were a few of our suggestions for 2022).
Reading allows us to be challenged in our thinking and explore other perspectives.
Here at PT there are a number of trends for leadership that we see are critical for leaders to be across. These trends include:
- Continued ability to lead in uncertain and changing environments
- Capacity to lead self – manage and support personal energy and wellbeing
- Drive cultures and teams that have diversity and inclusion front of mind
- Continuing to invest in people and culture in the changing way of working (hybrid working isn’t going anywhere).
Keen to be across these trends?
We’ve scoured the latest books that have been either published recently or coming out shortly and found these 6 must-read books for leaders.
Enjoy!
Discipline is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control – Ryan Holiday
Holiday is one of the most prolific thinkers and authors on the planet and he explores the virtues of stoicism through his writing. You might be wondering what does stoic virtues have to do with my leadership?
Leadership starts with you and the standards leaders hold themselves to, the things they do regularly are often the best predictors of success.
Step into this year with a strong focus on the disciplines that matter will make a fundamental difference to how you lead this year.
Discipline is the only thing that changes our DNA. This is equally true for individuals and cultures.
Find out more about Discipline with Destiny – Ryan Holiday.
Modern leadership is complex and leaders often have a natural default as to whether they operate mostly out of heart or mostly out of head. This book provides tools and strategies to be able to access both in order to become a great leader. It’s this intersection where compassion and
Practical and backed with studies from leading thinking in their field of research, Kirstin outlines eight attributes of leaders who operate with both head and heart.
This book is a great reminder for leaders to know when to dial up head and when to dial up heart.
Explore Head and Heart by Dr Kirstin Ferguson here.
Cultures of Belonging: Building Inclusive Organisations that Last – Alida Miranda-Wolff.
Cultures that value diversity and inclusion start with leaders who bring a strong sense of humanity and humility to their work.
Continuing to provide places of belonging, where all individuals can bring their full selves to work, is not only a ‘nice-to-have’ it’s an imperative for all organisations. And this is more than just a flash new policy document.
Alida’s book provides practical tools and ideas for your workplace. The nature of these conversations and changes are they aren’t going to be smooth or easy – in fact it’s the facing the challenges and differing view points that is the litmus test to the conversation.
This book is a great start on the list of books and ideas that all organisations need to dive into in order to to create cultures of belonging.
Grab a copy of Cultures of Belonging by Alida Miranda-Wolff here.
The Transformation Myth: Leading your organisation through uncertain times – Gerald Kane, Jonathan Copulsky, Rich Nanda, Anh Nguyen Phillips
Transformation would be so much easier if things were certain, if we could shut down operations for a period and re-emerge new and improved, and if you knew exactly what the market was needing and it didn’t ever change. But transformation is tricky in an environment of continued delivery and continued disruption.
This book focuses more on the transformation required from acute crisis and disruption (such as Covid 19). It’s not the be-all-and-end-all book when it comes to transformation, but given organisations are facing continuous cycles of transformation it’s a useful insight into understanding the tools for change.
Explore The Transformation Myth book here.
Leadership Paradigms for Remote Agile Development
Our talent is demanding and our competitors are using it for competitive advantage. Remote and hybrid work are here to stay and for many there is still a leadership gap in the skills needed long-term to engage, motivate and drive high-performance alongside connection in a remote or hybrid model.
Since release our ‘Work From Anywhere’ book in 2021 the conversation has continued. This book provides a contribution to the conversation through leadership paradigms and the recognition of continuing to develop agility.
Leaders who don’t hone, develop, question, and get curious about the skills needed for ways of working in our modern world will be left behind.
Grab your copy of Leadership Paradigms for Remote Agile Development book here.
The Comfort Crisis: Embrace discomfort to reclaim your wild, happy, healthy self – Michael Easter
What’s your relationship with discomfort? So much is now set up in our lives and workplaces to make things easier, but where does ease and comfort come at a cost?
Easter’s book unpacks the crisis that we are now facing by being more comfortable then we’ve ever been before.
Whilst this is not a strictly leadership book, we are drawn to the psychology of comfort – and the role that leaders have in not rescuing people from discomfort; but rather allow the discomfort of challenge and change be a driving force for motivation, high performance and stronger connections in cultures.
The only way to lead this is to embrace discomfort in your own leadership – it could be the growth you and your team need.
Make sure this book is on your bookshelf for the year ahead – The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter.
___________________________________
Shoot us through your suggestions for must-read leadership books.
