by Susanne Biro

For the last ten years I have had the good fortune of working with hundreds, perhaps thousands of senior leaders in many different parts of the world. I am grateful for the insight this experience has given me. It has put a face to large organizations and granted me an honest look inside, into the very real life of its leaders. It is a life filled with the stress of market and business demands, the waves of personal and professional triumphs and defeats, and the inner struggle all of us face in dealing with the inevitable pain that accompanies our human experience.

Over these last ten years, I have found myself recommending the same books for my clients to read. I often recommend reading as a supplement to our work, as it is the fastest way to have my clients get outside of their mental box. I am so impressed by the fact that, for less than the cost of a dinner out, you can obtain one person’s entire life learning, all organized and neatly packaged in several hundred pages. This learning, if applied, can help ensure you don’t make every mistake yourself. Reading is the quickest way to new insights, reminders, fresh perspectives, and concrete tools - tools you can use immediately to obtain different results in both your personal and professional life. Of course, you have only one life, so true advancement in either has a positive effect on both.

This reading list is one that I now wish to share with each of you, in celebration of ten years of work. I promise that if you read the following and apply what resonates for you, you will achieve an uncommon success – a life of fulfillment, achievement, and perhaps most importantly, peace of mind. All leadership development is personal development. There can be no true power to lead without first the mastery of one’s self and the mastery of one’s own mind.

Top 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

Living a Life of Inner Peace – Eckhart Tolle (audio)

Leadership & Self Deception – The Arbinger Institute

Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence – Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie McKee

Turning the Mind into an Ally – Sakyong Mipham and Pema Chodron

The Leader’s Voice: How your communication can inspire action and get results – Clarke and Crossland

The Leadership Pipeline: How to build the leadership-powered company – Charan, Drotter and Noel

The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels – Michael Watkins

Toxic Success: How to Stop Striving and Start Thriving – Dr. Paul Pearsall

NLP At Work: The Essence of Excellence – Sue Knight

Cultural Intelligence: People skills for global business – Thomas and Inkson

Of course, we all have our own preferences when it comes to what we consider to be great leadership development resources. Please consider sharing your own personal recommendations in the “Comments” section below so we can also benefit from your experience.

Susanne Biro is a senior leadership coach and co-author of Unleashed! Expecting Greatness and Other Secrets of Coaching for Exceptional Performance. She can be reached by email.

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