FREE Resource from our sponsor Nelson Searcy
This quarter’s reading list is sponsored by my friend Nelson Searcy and the team at Church Leader Insights. When it comes to healthy church systems, there is no organization I recommend more. Their approach seems to be working – Church Leader Insights is currently expanding at the rate of 500 new church leaders every week. Click HERE to learn how they can help you as well.
In honor of this specific post, Nelson is generously offering the readers of this site a FREE e-resource entitled Top 50 Books Of ALL TIME For Pastors. I’ve downloaded it myself and it’s a great tool to have at your disposal. Click HERE or on the image provided to receive your free copy.
The Top 10 Books Leaders Need To Read In Spring 2022
This group is listed in alphabetical order except for the initial entry. Kindle versions are available for all books. Used copies are available for many. Now enjoy the list!!!
- 2021 The Year In Leadership: The Stories Of Faith, Athletics, Business, and Life Which Inspired Us All by Brian Dodd – Yes, this is my latest book! Do you feel ill-equipped to handle the leadership challenges of a pandemic and post-pandemic world? If so, you no longer have to. In 2021, I helped equip countless leaders across world through his content. Over 80 of my most popular articles make up the pages of 2021- The Year In Leadership: The Stories of Faith, Athletics, Business, and Life Which Inspired Us All. Each chapter is filled with wisdom and insights from the leaders who succeeded and struggled during 2021. I take these lessons from all walks of life and give you practical steps on how to best use them in your own leadership. As you will discover, the stories are entertaining, challenging, inspiring, and sometimes even sobering. The best leaders are the ones who sense and seize opportunity in the midst of chaos. I think this describes you. This is why this book was written. By learning the lessons from 2021, it helps ensure you have the potential to become the leader God meant for you to be in 2022.
- CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best from the Rest by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra – Being a CEO at any of the world’s largest companies is among the most challenging roles in business. Billions, and even trillions, are at stake—and the fates of tens of thousands of employees often hang in the balance. Yet, even when “can’t miss” high-achievers win the top job, very few excel. Thirty percent of Fortune 500 CEOs last fewer than three years, and two out of five new CEOs are perceived to be failing within eighteen months. To identify the 21st century’s best CEOs, the authors of CEO Excellence started with a pool of over 2400 public company CEOs. Extensive screening distilled that group into an elite corps, sixty-seven of whom agreed to in-depth, multi-hour interviews. Among those sharing their views: Jamie Dimon (JPMorgan Chase), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Reed Hastings (Netflix), Kazuo Hirai (Sony), Ken Chenault (American Express), Mary Barra (GM), and Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (Nestlé).
- Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Greatness by Ron Friedman – For generations, we’ve been taught there are two ways to succeed—either from talent or practice. In Decoding Greatness, award-winning social psychologist Ron Friedman illuminates a powerful third path—one that has quietly launched icons in a wide range of fields, from artists, writers, and chefs, to athletes, inventors, and entrepreneurs: reverse engineering. Using eye-opening examples of top performers—from Agatha Christie to Andy Warhol, Barack Obama to Serena Williams—and groundbreaking research on pattern recognition, skill acquisition, and creative genius, Friedman reveals the staggering power of reverse engineering and teaches you how to harness this vital skill for yourself.
- The Sale: The Number One Strategy to Build Trust and Create Success by Jon Gordon and Alex Demczak – In The Sale releasing April 26th, bestselling author Jon Gordon and rising star Alex Demczak deliver an invaluable lesson about what matters most in life and work and how to achieve it. The book teaches four lessons about integrity in order to create lasting success. The authors tell the story of Matt Williams, a sales representative for Turnbow Technologies, an aviation technology company founded by his grandfather. Matt encounters many obstacles both personally and professionally, and ultimately finds himself in a struggling marriage, an unfulfilling job, in a desperate search for answers, and at the crossroads of a major decision that will determine his future. Matt meets an unlikely mentor, who may just have the answers Matt seeks, as he faces the biggest decision and test of his life.
- Blood In The Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks by Chris Herring – I bought this book to study what was the maniacal leadership style of Pat Riley. It is a fascinating profile of the legendary leader. Through his original reporting and interviews with more than two hundred people, author Chris Herring delves into the origin, evolution, and eventual demise of the iconic club. He takes us inside the locker room, executive boardrooms, and onto the court for the key moments that lifted the club to new heights, and the ones that threatened to send everything crashing down in spectacular fashion. Blood in the Garden is a portrait filled with eye-opening details that have never been shared before, revealing the full story of the franchise in the midst of the NBA’s golden era. And rest assured, no punches will be pulled. Which is just how those rough-and-tumble Knicks would like it.
- Reborn: How Encountering Jesus Changes Everything by Clayton King – With deep compassion, Clayton King shares the compelling stories of 12 broken people who came face-to-face with Jesus in the New Testament and got a second chance at life. A respected religious leader, an ostracized woman, a despised embezzler, a condemned thief–all of them flawed, sinful, full of regret–encountered Jesus and were never the same. Along with their stories, King shares contemporary stories of people struggling with addiction, lust, greed, and depression, showing that Jesus still meets people right where they are and changes them from the inside out.
- Building a Killer Team: Without Killing Yourself Or Your Team by Shawn Lovejoy – You don’t just need a team; you need a killer team.n this practical application guide, you’ll discover how to foster togetherness, identify, recruit, and retain top talent, have meetings that matter, build a deeper bench, inspire your team, equip underperforms, and release team member the right way. You will not get very far without a killer team. The book you hold in your hand will help you build that team while maintaining your sanity and credibility in the process.
- How to Beat a Broken Game: The Rise of the Dodgers in a League on the Brink by Pedro Moura – After years of frustrating playoff runs, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally reclaimed the World Series trophy after more than thirty years, led by star pitcher Clayton Kershaw, electric outfielder Mookie Betts, and a bevy of impressive young players assembled by team president Andrew Friedman. No team is better positioned to win now and in the future. Yet winning at modern baseball is nothing like it was even twenty years ago. In the years since the famous Moneyball revolution, baseball has grown to look less like a sport than a Wall Street firm that traded its boiler room for a field. Teams relentlessly chase every tiny advantage to win games and make money, even as it hurts fans, TV ratings, and players, courting bigger problems in the long run.
- Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski by Ian O-Connor – The definitive biography of college basketball’s all-time winningest coach, Mike Krzyzewski.Known worldwide as “Coach K,” is a five-time national champion at Duke, the NCAA’s all-time leader in victories with nearly 1,200, and the first man to lead Team USA to three Olympic basketball gold medals. Through unprecedented access to Krzyzewski’s best friends, closest advisers, fiercest adversaries, and generations of his players and assistants, three-time New York Times bestselling author Ian O’Connor takes you behind the Blue Devil curtain with a penetrating examination of the great, but flawed leader as he closes out his iconic career.
- Sustain Your Game: High Performance Keys to Manage Stress, Avoid Stagnation, and Beat Burnout by Alan Stein Jr. – Following his incredible book Raise Your Game: High Performance Secret from the Best of the Best and based on his years as a successful basketball performance coach—having worked with and alongside superstars like Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant—and a keynote speaker to major companies like Pepsi and Amex, Alan Stein Jr. brings you the keys to lasting, unimaginable success. The secret? Sustain Your Game teaches a timeline of short term to medium term to long term because we are always battling all three: stress in the now, stagnation in the present, and burnout in the long term.
This book is for high performers who want to learn practical strategies and action steps on how to sustain their game across all three timelines. It assembles invaluable advice and lessons from successful athletes, entrepreneurs, social scientists, journalists, CEOs, motivational speakers, business coaches, and consultants, as well as Alan’s own personal stories.
#CommissionsEarned
Once again, my latest book 2021: The Year In Leadership – The Stories of Faith, Athletics, Business and Life Which Inspired Us All is currently available for pre-order!!! Each chapter is filled with wisdom and insights from the leaders who both succeeded and struggled during 2021. I takes those lessons from all walks of life and gives you practical steps on how to best use them in your own leadership. As you will discover, the stories are entertaining, challenging, inspiring, and sometimes even sobering.
Get this must-read book TODAY by clicking HERE or on the image provided. It releases April 12th.