Contributors to the October 2022 issue of TD magazine offer their book recommendations.

Judy Ellis

The Waymakers: Clearing the Path to Workplace Equity With Competence and Confidence

by Tara Jaye Frank

This diversity, equity, and inclusion resource contains strategic guidance for business leaders who want insight into creating more inclusive workplace cultures. The book challenges you with compelling examples of the impact of inequity on people from underrepresented groups and gives practical how-to steps, based on research, to achieve real organizational change.

UNBIAS

By Stacey Gordon

This book offers practical solutions to build inclusive workplaces. Gordon offers tools to help leaders have uncomfortable conversations about inequity in the workplace and company success stories that bring theory to life. The four sections—Awareness, Alignment, Action, and Advocacy—provide a concrete strategy to accomplish diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.

Marjan Bradesko

The Power of Kindness: The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life 

by Piero Ferrucci

Ferrucci wrote about empathy long before it became a buzzword in business. The book contains practical advice on applying kindness as the most human characteristic to everyday life, including business. Behaving as a human, in its most generous sense—that is what this book is all about.

South

By Ernest Shackleton

Although this book is about the epic adventure (and survival) of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica between 1914–1917, the book contains about 200 pages of the best leadership lessons one can imagine. Through the most exciting stories of brave men and their leader, we learn from their challenges and are inspired by their persistence and memorable achievements. They survived, all of them! The lessons are directly applicable to any business setting.

Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude

By Jeffery Gitomer

Gitomer, although known for his sales books and attitude, published several other business books. This book stands out not only by the color but by the energy that sparks from it. In a great design and simple, clean, and inspirational language, it is the best reading whenever you need more energy, more optimism, more determination, and passion. More YES! attitude.

Meridith Elliott Powell

Succession: Mastering the Make-or-Break Process of Leadership Transition

by Noel M. Tichy

Tichy is probably one of the greatest authorities on succession planning. His book is truly his life's work, and he lays out fantastic examples of companies where succession planning has worked and where it has failed. That gives the reader a true perspective and a deeper understanding of how complex succession planning is and what needs to be done to create a sustainable and effective succession plan.

Why Leaders Fail: And 7 Prescriptions for Success

By Mary Kelly and Peter Stark

This is one of my favorite books to recommend to leaders. I recommend it whether you are new in your position or have been leading teams for more than 20 years. The authors use research and case studies and go into great detail about the major issues plaguing business today. In the book’s chapters, you’ll find prescriptive solutions as to what is keeping your top talent from reaching their full potential, how to increase loyalty and engagement across all levels of your organization, and how to strategically lead and help team members navigate change and uncertainty. This book lays a great foundation for building a succession culture.

Liji Thomas

The First, The Few, The Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America

By Deepa Purushothaman

Despite corporate pledges to diversity, equity, and inclusion, this novel lays bare the tremendous opportunities that still exist to ensure that women of color are seen, heard, and valued in corporate America. This is an important read about the very real barriers that still exist and empathetic advice on how to overcome them.

Brad Karsh

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

By Greg McKeown

It’s the time we all wait for in Chicago: summer. There is an energy in the air as everyone gets outdoors and makes plans for the great-weather months, but sometimes, less is better. I was reminded of that idea as I read this book. I was thinking about what this means at work. My favorites include “stop trying to do it all,” “If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no,” and “I can do anything but not everything.”