Get Inspired with Laridae’s Reading List for Leaders

Wolfpack
By Abby Wambach

Based on her inspiring, viral 2018 commencement speech to Barnard College’s graduates – Abby Wambach’s message to all women is: If we keep playing by the Old Rules, we will never change the game. Welcome to the New Rules. Welcome to the Wolfpack.

Atlas of the Heart
Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience
By Brené Brown

If we want to find the way back to ourselves and one another, we need language and the grounded confidence to both tell our stories and to be stewards of the stories that we hear. In Atlas of the Heart, we explore eighty-seven of the emotions and experiences that define what it means to be human and walk through a new framework for cultivating meaningful connection. This is for the mapmakers and travelers in all of us.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
By Angela Duckworth

In this instant New York Times bestseller, pioneering psychologist Angela Duckworth shows anyone striving to succeed—be it parents, students, educators, athletes, or business people—that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.”

Just Work
By Kim Scott

How we can recognize, attack, and eliminate workplace injustice―and transform our careers and organizations in the process.

Minority Leader
By Stacey Abrams

Minority Leader is a necessary guide to harnessing the strengths of being an outsider by Stacey Abrams, one of the most prominent black female politicians in the U.S.

No Hard Feelings
By Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy

From Humu’s Head of Content Liz Fosslien and organizational designer Mollie West Duffy: No Hard Feelings, a wickedly funny interactive guide to un-repressing your emotions at work, finding constructive channels even for jealousy and anxiety, demystifying digital interactions and coworker communication styles, and ultimately allowing readers to be the same person in work and in life.

The Art of Gathering
By Priya Parker

A bold new approach to how we gather that will transform the ways we spend our time together – at work, at home, in our communities, and beyond.

Inspired INC.
Become a Company the World Will Get Behind
By Lisa MacCallum, Emily Brew, Nicole Howson

Inspired INC. offers a brilliant guide to the new and newly demanding landscape in which companies operate. If Anand Giridharadas ‘Winner takes all’ asks powerful and necessary questions of today’s business leaders, Inspired INC. offers actionable answers. This is a book many business leaders will have been waiting for, and will benefit from reading

Think Again
The Power of Knowing What you Don’t Know
By Adam Grant

Examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your opinions and open other people’s minds.

Thanks for the Feedback
The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well
By Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen

While receiving feedback can be fraught, doing it well can be taught! A a classic in the world of leadership, organizational behavior, and education.

Hustle and Float
Reclaim Your Creativity and Thrive in a World Obsessed with Work
By Rahaf Harfoush

Explores how work culture creates contradictions of want and need, and points to a more sustainable path.

Decisive
How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work
By Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Fresh strategies and practical tools enabling us to make better choices in leadership and in life.

Dare to Lead
Brave work, tough conversations, whole heart
By Brene Brown

A practical and accessible guide to effective leadership, building meaningful relationships, and strong communication skills.

Burnout
The secret to unlocking the stress cycle
By Emily Nagoski, Ph.D. and Amelia Nagoski, D.M.A.

For anyone who has felt overwhelmed and exhausted by everything they have to do, yet still worried they weren’t doing “enough.”

The Future Leader
9 skills and mindsets to succeed in the next decade
By Jacob Morgan

A look at leadership as a skill and what is required within a climate of change.

The Speed of Trust
The one thing that changes everything
By Stephen M.R. Covey

A look at how ‘trust’ is integral to all relationships in work and personal life.

The Leadership Challenge
How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations
By James Kouzes and Barry Posner

A detailed guide on leadership through interpersonal relationships, work cultures, and organization structures.

Reinventing Organizations
A guide to reinventing organizations inspired by the next stage of human consciousness
By Fredrick Laloux

A look at the role leadership and workplace culture plays in the health of an organization with a focus on building compassion and community.

Drive
The surprising truth about what motivates us.
By Daniel Pink

An engaging look at motivation and how to inspire others. (Evidence-based)

Good to Great
Why some companies make the leap…and others don’t
By Jim Collins

A look at an in-depth study on what distinguishes companies (and leaders) that are good and those that are great. Note: supplementary source: Good to Great and the Social Sectors: a monograph to accompany Good to Great.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
A leadership fable
By Patrick Lencioni

Written through a story format, Lencioni identifies patterns and dysfunctions of teams, and offers solutions.

Difficult Conversations
How to discuss what matters most
By Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen

A practical (evidence-based) guide to having difficult conversations.

The Coaching Habit
Say less, ask more & change the way you lead forever
By Michael Bungay Stanier

A practical guide to learning how to be more coach-like in your conversations as a manager.

Start with Why
How great leaders inspire everyone to take action
By Simon Sinek

A look at leadership and inspiring others by understanding the purpose and meaning of your work. The “why” you do it.

A Slight Change of Plans
Maya Shankar blends compassionate storytelling with the science of human behavior to help us understand who we are and who we become in the face of a big change. 

Worklife
Look inside the minds of some of the world’s most unusual professionals to explore the science of “making work not suck.” 

Dare to Lead
Conversations with change-catalysts, culture-shifters and more than a few troublemakers who are innovating, creating, and daring to lead. 

Rework
Episodes focus on managing and operating good business. Created by co-founders of Basecamp and other business owners.

Geeks, Geezers, & Googlization
Episodes range in topic with a focus primarily on management and thought leadership.

The Small Non-Profit
Episodes focus on building capacity and sharing ideas for non-profit organizations.

Inspire
Created by The Humphrey Group and hosted by Bart Egnal, episodes focus on leadership through great communication.

Being Well
Hosted by Dr. Rick Hansen, episodes focus on emotional intelligence and practical tools for wellbeing.

Calm Masterclass (app)
Audio programs taught by world-renowned experts