BOOKS FOR LEADERS IN SEARCH OF BETTER
I've spent a lot of time finding and reading books for my own professional development. Now, I want to share them with my colleagues and their teams. I recommend books based solely on my own reviews and opinions. You should know that if you choose to buy any of the books in any format through the text links (titles), I may earn a commission.As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
My Top 3 Reads Right Now
All three best reads provide insights into better leadership, but each book serves a different purpose. Supercommunicators, a new book from The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg, explores how conversations work and how we can learn to be better communicators.
And on a different note, I recommend Do More Good: Moving Nonprofits from Good to Growth by Bill McKendry and Kathleen Sindorf. This book is essential reading for nonprofit leaders who want to expand their organization’s reach and brand impact (after reading, you might want to give your marketing and development leads their own copy).
You might be familiar with Ray Dalio’s book Principles but have you seen his book Principles: Your Guided Journal ? It provides guidance and insights for creating your own principles.
And if you are ready for a fourth recommendation, check out recently released, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings by Steven G. Rogelberg, certain to enhance your one-on-one meeting skills (and likely, for other types of meetings too).
My Top 3 for CEOs
As anyone can see from this website, I have a lot of books to recommend! But I also recognize that time is limited, and you have to choose what you want to read next. More titles are written for the business leader than for the nonprofit leader, but they have a lot to say and their wisdom can be applied to the nonprofit sector with some interpretation by you.
Three books that add a lot of value:
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vokram Malhotra
BE 2.0: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company by Jim Collins and Bill Lazier
Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day by Daniel Goleman and Cary Cherniss
The Words We Use
We use words like curiosity, wonder, imagination, and creativity in our mission statements and on our websites. Whether we spark, ignite, nurture, or inspire, do we really know the deeper meanings of the impact we seek? Do our teams?
Stop—or at least pause—to understand the words that embody your organization’s mission and purpose. Make sure that everyone in your organization understands their meaning. A great way to start is reading and discussing each word one-by-one and discussing what it means to your organization, programs, exhibits, and community impact.
Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It by Ian Leslie
Imagination: The Science of Your Mind’s Greatest Power by Jim Davies
The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead by Monica C. Parker
Does Your Museum Have a Flywheel?
Jim Collins described the flywheel concept in his book Good to Great and expanded the idea in his monograph Turning the Flywheel. The business flywheel is a simple but powerful model. In his monograph Good to Great in the Social Sectors, Collins discusses how the flywheel concept applies to social sector organizations.
The flywheel, a mechanical device, is essentially a heavy wheel on an axle that stores rotational energy. The flywheel turns slowly at first but gains momentum as it turns faster and faster. Friction works against it. You can read Collins’ monograph in minutes but ponder its implications for hours.
I’m intrigued with the idea of reducing friction to keep momentum in the flywheel. A new book authored by Richard Sutton, Huggy Rao, et al titled The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder is a guide to eliminating forces that make it impossible to get things done.
Bottom line: Your organization needs a flywheel. If you want help in developing one, please let me know.
Becoming a Better Communicator
All of these best reads provide insights into better communication, and who doesn’t need to communicate better? But each book is different. Recently released, Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings by Steven G. Rogelberg will enhance your one-on-one meeting skills (and likely, for other types of meetings too). Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, a new book from The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg, explores how conversations work and how we can learn to be better communicators. Leaders are storytellers and Karen Eber's The Perfect Story and Kindra Hall's Stories That Stick will take your skills to a new level.
Time for a New Strategic Plan?
Before you launch your strategic planning process, read this classic: Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions: Enduring Wisdom for Today’s Leaders. A previous and shorter version, The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask About Your Organization by Peter F. Drucker (with Jim Collins et al), is also available. Then share the questions with your leadership team. Whether you’ve decided to guide the process yourself or bring in consultants, consider answering these questions as a first step. They are deceptively simple questions leading to great organizational performance.
I also recommend Simon Sinek’s Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action as prereading for strategic planning. If you intend to engage your team in the planning process, you might want to use Sinek’s Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose as a workbook.
And read Jim Collin’s monographs: Good to Great and the Social Sectors and Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great. Both monographs are easy to read in one sitting, and both give you Collin’s further insights into his Good to Great findings.
And if you want to start out with the basics of strategic thinking (I recommend that you do), get a copy of this recently published book by Michael D. Watkins, The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking.
On vision, read Mochael Hyatt's The Vision Driven Leader.
Are Membership Programs Ready for Reinvention?
Museum membership programs across the board seem to follow similar patterns. Is it time to reconsider? Is it time for innovation? Membership and subscription services abound. Amazon Prime, streaming services, and news outlets all experiment with new models. Why do museum membership programs change so little?
If it’s working, why mess with it, right? On the other hand, have museums maximized the potential to add value and serve customer needs (and increase revenue)?
Three books provide an overview of subscription business models as they are evolving today. These aren’t museum membership books. They won’t tell you what to do, but they will open your mind to what subscription models are all about and why they are growing so fast.
The books overlap in examples of models in the subscription economy, so reading one book might be adequate to your needs. However, each author might push your thinking about the possibilities in pushing your membership program in new directions.
Check out Robbie Kelman Baxter’s The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue, Tien Tzuo’s Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company’s Future—and What to Do About It, The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry by John Warrillow, and The Forever Transaction by Robbe Kellman Baxter.
Why Teams Don't Execute on Strategy
You’ve got a new strategic plan, but you’re struggling to get your teams to execute on the strategy. What’s happening? Perhaps you don’t have processes in place to produce the expected results. The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling presents one of the most useful books I’ve found for executing on strategy.
I really like OKRs, especially for nonprofits. OKR stands for objectives and key results. Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doer is a good introduction to OKRs. The OKR Field Book: A Step-by-Step Guide for Objectives and Key Results Coaches by Ben Lamorte takes us from concept to implementation with our teams.
The Role of Optimism
Life is hard. That may be reality, but it isn’t my first choice for an emblazoned t-shirt. My first choice is a quote from Mr. Rogers: “Look for the good where you are and embrace it.”
Like so many museum CEOs, I contended with the impacts of COVID-19 that not only closed our doors for a time but threatened to close them forever. In my first days of working from home, I glanced at a refrigerator magnet with the quote from Mr. Rogers, and his words stayed with me to this day.
His words tell us that we must accept reality—where we are. But acceptance is not enough; we must look for the good around us and once found, embrace it. Optimism matters. Some people come by it naturally. Others have to work at it. Either way, a museum CEO, like everyone who works in a museum or supports a museum, would be better off adopting a mindset of optimism and looking for the good where they are and embracing it.
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
The Outward Mindset by The Arbinger Institute
The Performance Paradox by Eduardo Briceno
Why Don't We Ask Enough Good Questions?
We are faced with situations everyday that require decisions. Arriving at good answers more often than not depends on asking good questions. Good questioning can help us not only with making better decisions, it is essential to leadership, creativity, and communication. Warren Berger has written two thoughtful and useful books on questioning: A More Beautiful Question and The Book of Beautiful Questions. I recommend both. I also recommend Questions Are the Answers by Hal Gregersen. Gregersen interviewed over two hundred creative thinkers to share insights on the power of questions.
Keep the Floors Clean
If the floors are clean, everything is clean.
I learned this from a janitor. If the floors are clean, people will think everything is clean. He said that people will look down at their feet and if the floors are sparkling clean, they will have an impression that everything is clean. I’ve never forgotten this.
Disney takes this very seriously. Every morning at Disney theme parks, the behind-the-scenes cast members wash the streets and pathways, and throughout the day, on-stage cast members sweep in to sweep up anything that guests might drop on the ground.
Disney doesn’t stop there. They clean everything every day, or night, when the parks are closed. They paint, too, so that each day, guests aren’t distracted by imperfections.
As Disney teaches, if guests are distracted by dirt at their feet or paint chips up above, no matter how small, they will assume that the park is not well-maintained, which will detract from the guest experience.
Guests don’t know or care that cleaning or painting is on your maintenance schedule for next Thursday. They care about the experience they are having on the day when they are visiting. A clean environment is part of a welcoming experience. And of course, interactions with your team are essential to the welcoming experience that people feel as they enter the museum.
While Unreasonable and Setting the Table are from restauranteurs, the lessons are invaluable. They describe how they go beyond expectations in service to their customers.
Lead With Hospitality by Taylor Scott
Unreasonable by Will Guidara
Setting The Table by Danny Meyer
Be Our Guest from The Disney Institute
Is Wellbeing the Purpose of Museums?
John Falk has observed that museums have always enhanced personal, intellectual, social and physical well-being. In his thought-provoking book The Value of Museums: Enhancing Societal Well-being, he provides tangible suggestions of how museums can build on their success in supporting well-being, measure value, and adapt for the future.
John Falk’s definition of well-being is particularly relevant to museums—and his definition differs from some of the common ways the term is used today. However defined, the well-being (or wellbeing) of those we seek to serve needs our attention. And perhaps it needs to take a central role in how we think about a museum’s purpose and goals.
The Gallup organization has studied wellbeing worldwide for years and has shared findings for the workplace in the book Wellbeing at Work: How to Build Resilient and Thriving Teams by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter. Gallup found that a third of Americans are suffering from anxiety and depression – a growing problem worldwide. The authors present actions and a metric to create a thriving and resilient culture.
An older title (2010), Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements by Tom Rath and Jim Harter is a good overview of what wellbeing means (as defined by the Gallup organization).
Measuring What Counts: The Global Movement for Well-being by economist Joseph Stieglitz and colleagues presents the idea of measuring economic and social well-being beyond GDP.
The Written Word
As leaders, we write everyday – emails, texts, memos, and sometimes longer pieces intended to persuade. In all cases, we could benefit from sound advice. Trish Hall, former editor of the New York Times op-ed page, has written the definitive guide Writing to Persuade, presenting the core principles and techniques of persuasive writing.
Smart Brevity by Axios co-creators Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Shwartz introduces writing in the age of social media. Less is more in their approach. Concise and visual communication.
Simply Said: Communicating at Work and Beyond by Jay Sullivan covers more ground than the written word with good advice throughout.
Choose Your Words Carefully
Communicating is a two-way street. No matter what you say, you haven’t communicated until the receiver receives the message. And after receiving your message, the receiver interprets what you said. There’s a lot of room for miscommunication.
Communicating well is challenging, and learning better ways to do it will enhance your effectiveness. The words we use, spoken or written, can have a big impact.
Three books will change the way you think about the words you say and how and when you say them: Jonah Berger’s Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way, Phil M. Jones’ Exactly What to Say: The Magic Words for Influence and Impact, and Leadership Is Language by L. David Marquet.
Do Your Managers Know How to Manage?
The role of the manager is changing—moving from boss to coach. Do your managers know what this change means in their everyday interactions with their teams? It’s not an easy transformation for those who have a “boss” mindset. Many of the problems we experience today within the organizational culture are due to outdated and bad management.
That’s the message of It’s the Manager: Moving from Boss to Coach by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter. Based on decades of research by Gallop, they reveal 52 findings on the future of work and the central role that managers play in making or breaking an organization’s success.
I reccommend three books for managers: When They Win, You Win by Russ Laraway, The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo, and Henry Mintzberg's Simply Managing.
Kim Scott doesn’t shy away from “boss” in her book Radical Candor, but she enables managers to build a culture of compassionate candor. Scott has specific advice on building a cohesive team and achieving results collaboratively.
Sustainability is a Continuous Balance of Mission and Resources
In his monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sectors, Jim Collins introduced a distinction between the Economic Engine of businesses and the Resource Engine of social sector organizations. While the Economic Engine refers to the profit mechanism, translated into return on invested capital, the Resource Engine in the social sector organization has no one economic driver. The whole purpose of the organization is to meet social objectives and human needs that cannot be priced at a profit.
The critical question, according Collins, is not “How much money can we make?” but “How can we develop a sustainable resource engine to deliver superior performance relative to our mission?” Social sector organizations have three basic components: time, money, and brand.
I recommend reading Jim Collins’ Good to Great along with his monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors.
I also recommend reading economist Alan Proctor’s two books: More Than Just Money: Practical and Provocative Steps to Nonprofit Success and Linking Mission to Money: Finance for Nonprofit Leaders.
What Science Is
How many people in your organization understand the nature of science? Probably not many. The mission or purpose of science and natural history museums, planetariums, zoos, aquariums, gardens, nature centers and alike have science at their core. Yet, the people who work in them do not all share common understandings of what science is. Let’s face it, many of the job roles do not require a science background (including the CEO).
Science has been called the greatest invention of all time, yet there is no single definition accepted by all. I’ve found definitions that get to the essence of science—among them, “Science is a way of asking questions that leads to the most reliable knowledge about how things are” (Rush D. Holt).
Here are three books for getting started with the basics:
The Joy of Science by Al-Kalili. Quantum physicist Jim Al-Khalil wants us to experience the joy of thinking and living a little more scientifically. He captures the nature of science in eight brief lessons.
Natalie Angier's. The Canon: The Beautiful Basics of Science.
Richard Dawkins' The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True.
Mental Health in the Workplace
We are hearing more everyday about mental health and the growing concern about its prevalence among people of all ages. Over decades the Gallup organization has surveyed millions around the world, assessing unhappiness, wellbeing, and mental health. The results are alarming. According to Gallup, one-third of Americans have shown signs of clinical anxiety or depression.
As leaders (who might also live with unhappiness and mental health issues), it might not be apparent how urgent it is to pay attention to mental health in the workplace as well as among the people who visit our museums everyday or participate in our programs within communities.
Two books – based on Gallup findings – addresses these concerns. The Blind Spot by Jon Clifton discusses the decade-long rise in global unhappiness. Wellbeing at Work: How to Build Resilient and Thriving Teams by Jon Clifton and Jim Harter explores five key elements of wellbeing in the workplace.
Newly released, Raising Mentally Strong Kids: How to Combine the Power of Neuroscience with Love and Logic to Grow Confident, Kind, Responsible, and Resilient Children and Young Adults by Daniel G. Amen and Charles Fay presents evidence-based help for families and caregivers. Also, The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt explains the epidemic of mental illness sweeping across childhood.
Anxiety at Work by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton is a practical guide to reducing anxiety and building resilience in teams. Anxiety can paralyze teams. Building healthier mindsets and a more compassionate workplace is something all organizations should work toward.
Consider adding all of Brene Brown’s books to your bookshelf. Her book, Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts is a research-based presentation of what leadership really means and how it focuses on recognizing potential in people and how to develop it.
When Is the Next One Coming?
I have no special expertise or experience to deal with a pandemic and the consequences for an organization, even after decades in museum leadership. Like everyone else dealing with COVID-19, I had to do whatever I could do, not alone but with a devoted team, to save our people and our museum.
We did what every other organization did with the circumstances we faced. We experienced a panic attack about cash, took action to cut expenses, looked for budget relief from every possible source, and ran scenarios based on uncertain re-opening to the public.
The virus controlled our every move. We did not control it. We responded. We had to deal with the present even when looking at models of viral spread, looking for an end point.
In organizations, we are often trapped in the present. Our teams are focused on making things work in the here and now. But our real job as leaders is to look ahead, far ahead to where an organization should go next.
In times like these, once we stop the bleeding, we need to look ahead and plan for our organization’s future. Another pandemic or other major disruptions can descend upon us with little warning.
Leading Through Disruption by Andrew N. Liveris
Leadership U: Accelerating Through the Crisis Curve by Gary Biurnison
Change: How Organizations Achieve Hard-To-Imagine Results in Uncertain and Volatile Times by John P. Kotter
New to Leadership?
Imagine being dropped into an unfamiliar environment where your survival depended on your knowledge, wits, and tools at hand. I’m not talking about survival alone on a distant island. I’m talking about a time when you started a new job as a leader in a nonprofit organization.
Your first hundred days might have felt like being dropped into a place fraught with unknowns and challenges. Would you ask the right questions, chart a path that others could follow, and start a journey that would lead to an envisioned destination? Would you survive? Would the organization survive and thrive?
Whether you are new to the top job, want a refresh, or want to read what others have to say, here are books to consider.
This Is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership That Matters by Drew Dudley
You're In Charge - Now What? by Thomas J. Neff
How To Be A Great Boss by Gino Wickman
Great Organizations Have Great People and a Great Culture
A great organization has both great people and a great culture. They maintain a work culture that is fun, exceedingly productive, and fully supportive of their vision, purpose, and values. They do everything in their power to make people feel valued and needed, happy and engaged in their work. They know that joy on the job comes from working with purpose and with a trusted team. They live their values—they know them, respect them, and are guided by them. All decisions are aligned with their values.
It's a high bar. All organizations achieve this level of greatness only through dedication and persistence.
Culture Rules: The Leader's Guide to Creating the Ultimate Competitive Advantage by Mark Miller
Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations by Mary C. Murphy
Mastering Community: The Surprising Way Coming Together Moves Us from Surviving to Thriving by Christine Porath
Pseudoscience and How to Address It
If you share my concern for the disturbing state of pseudoscience among our fellow citizens, then I urge you to read these books. People will always believe in strange things, rejecting evidence-based ways of thinking. But social media has increased the potency of conspiracy theories and other pseudoscience to new levels.
Read Steven Novella’s The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake and John V. Petrocelli The Life-Changing Science of Detecting Bullshit.
And Daniel J. Levitin's A Field Guide to Lies.
Carl Sagan’s The Demon-haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark is a classic, and I encourage everyone to read it.
Are you Curious?
Babies are born scientists, their senses focused on exploring everything around them. In their early years, children ask lots of questions. Their curiosity and sense of wonder seem endless. Unfortunately, for many children, their curiosity and sense of wonder diminishes over time. Keeping curiosity and a sense of wonder alive is an important role for museums. Here are titles that will help you support the children of people you serve, children in your life, as well as rediscover curiosity in your own life.
Purposeful Curiosity by Constantine Andriopoulos
Curious? by Todd Kashdan
Why: What Makes Us Curious by Mario Livio
Workplaces People Love
Museums are great places to visit. They aren’t necessarily great places to work. Creating workplaces that people love is the responsibility of its CEO and leadership team. Great workplaces don’t just happen. They take a lot of work.
Don’t wait to read one of these books.
I Love It Here: How Great Leaders Create Organizations Their People Never Want to Leave by Clint Pulver
The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace by Ron Friedman
Beyond Happiness: How Authentic Leaders Prioritize Purpose and People For Growth and Impact by Jenn Lim
Bringing Joy into the Workplace
Do you enjoy your work? Do you work to create joy for everyone in the workplace?
Joy Works: Empowering teams in the New Era of Work by Alex Liu
Joy, Inc.: How We Built a Work[place People Love by Richard Sheridan
Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee
Coaching Winning Teams
It should be obvious. Winning teams have great coaches. Your managers must be skilled coaches. Coaching skills should be a continuous professional development effort in your organization.
Elevate Your Team: Empower Your Team to Reach Their Full Potential and Build a Business that Builds Leaders by Robert Glazer
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungat Stanier
Unstoppable Teams: The Four Essential Actions of High-Performance Leadership by Alden Mills
Human Connection and Potential
We are all connected by our technology, but have we lost genuine human connections? Leaders are discovering the importance of creating workplaces where teammates feel connected and engaged. If you want to create a more collaborative workplace where people are fulfilled and productive, you might want to read one or more these books.
Back to Human: How Great Leaders Create Connection in the Age of Isolation by Dan Scawbel
Think, Talk, Create: Building Workplaces Fit for Humans by David Brendel and Ryan Stelzer
Empathy Works: The Key to Competitive Advantage in the New Era of Work by A. Sophie Wade
Cultivating Critical Thinkers
Many museum leaders believe that what we do to spark children’s interest in the world, to connect the dots between what they learn in school to what exists in real life, and to nurture their critical thinking skills and habits of mind will prepare them to tackle problems, make decisions, explore career opportunities, contribute to society, and enjoy life. And many leaders believe that the world needs more critical thinkers than ever before to confront misinformation that surrounds us.
Raising Critical Thinkers: A Parent’s Guide to Growing Wise Kids in the Digital Age by Julie Bogart
Think Like A Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life by Ozan Varol
Think: Why You Should Question Everything by Guy P. Harrison
Unleash Creativity
Leaders understand the importance of encouraging creativity within their organizations. They strive to inspire and keep alive curiosity in themselves and in others. They know that great ideas can come from anyone within or outside of our organization. Curious people innovate by asking questions, exploring options, experimenting, and viewing failure as a learning opportunity. They cultivate a culture of originality and imagination, encouraging teammates to contribute their wildest ideas. They depend on original thinkers and innovation for success.
Here are three books that might spark your curiosity for cultivating a creative culture:
Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley and David Kelley
The Art of Creative Rebellion: How to Champion Creativity, Change Culture and Save Your Soul by John S. Couch
Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways by Srah Stein Greenberg
Be Happy!
As CEO, you don’t have to be responsible for everyone’s happiness. Each of us has responsibility for our own happiness. But you don’t have to be the one making people unhappy. Gain more understanding of what makes us happy and how a workplace contributes to happiness.
Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment by Tal Ben-Shahar
The Happiness Advantage: How a positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life by Shawm Achor
Happy @ Work: How to Create a Happy, Engaging Workplace by Robyn L. Garrett
Grow in Emotional Intelligence
Work can get stressful and overwhelming. When it does, our emotions run high. Having emotional intelligence enables us to deal with emotions in a productive way. These books provide strategies for increasing emotional intelligence (EQ) in yourself and in your team.
Emotional Intelligence : Why It Can Matter More than IQ by Daniel Goleman
Emotional Intelligence Habits: A Powerful New Way to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence by Travis Bradberry
Optimal: How to Sustain Personal and Organizational Excellence Every Day by Daniel Goleman and Cary Cherniss
Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts by Brene Brown
Be the Changemaker
We all know that change is a constant. We cannot have a successful organization by reacting to change; we must lead change. CEOs and senior leaders are changemakers. It’s part of the job. But it matters how you lead change efforts. People who work in your organization are often resistant to change, so knowing how to bring people with you is all important.
Here are three books with good advice:
The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind by Jonah Berger
Leading Change by John P. Kotter
Becoming a Changemaker: An Actionable, Inclusive Guide to Leading Positive Change At Any Level by Alex Budak
Leading Social Change
What roles does your museum play in advancing solutions to social and environmental problems? How does a museum make a difference? How does a museum scale up and increase impact? Here are several great resources.
Social Startup Success: How the Best Nonprofits Launch, Scale Up, and Make a Difference by Kathleen Kelly Janus
Design Social Change: Take Action, Work Toward Equity, and Challenge the Status Quo by Lesley-Ann Noel
The Toolbox: Strategies for Crafting Social Impact by Jacob Harold
Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens by Rajiv Shah
Poverty in Our Communities
We all know that museums should not serve only the privileged few. Many museums try to serve children and families living below the poverty line. How well do we do this? How well do we understand what to do? Three books provide a good introduction to the needs. I’m not suggesting that reading is nearly enough, but it helps.
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis by Robert D. Putnam
Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why by Paul Tough
Building Resilience
How do leaders foster resilience within their teams? Mental health – ours and our teams – is a growing concern. Nurturing resilience is important, but how does one do it? These books offer strategies and actionable advice.
The Resilience Plan: A Strategic Approach to Optimizing Your Work Performance and Mental Health by Marie-Helene Pelletier
Resilience by Design: How to Survive and Thrive in a Complex and Turbulent World by Ian Snape and Mike Weeks
Certain Uncertainty: Leading With Agility and Resilience in an Unpredictable World by Des Dearlove
Managing a Nonprofit
Even if you’ve been in nonprofit leadership for years, you might benefit from the advice packed into these books. If you’ve come to nonprofit work from business, I recommend that you read these without delay.
Managing a Nonprofit Organization by Thomas Wolf
Managing the Non-profit Organization: Principles and Practices by Peter F. Drucker
Joan Garry’s Guide to Nonprofit Leadership by Joan Garry
Belonging
Leaders do not take a just culture for granted. They continually confront root causes of workplace injustice: bias, prejudice, and bullying. They grow in their understanding of each other, in how they can support one another, and how they can work together for the success of their organization and its impact. They work to create community and belonging.
Here are three books to help you think about your work:
Design for Belonging: How to Build inclusion and Collaboration in Your Communities by Susie Wise
Cultures of Belonging: Building Inclusive Organizations by Alida Miranda-Wolff
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth by Amy C. Edmondson
How to Negotiate and Persuade
How are your negotiation skills? While you might not find yourself in high-stake negotiations, there are many situations where these skills will be invaluable. It's a topic covered in many good books.
Negotiation Made Simple: A Practical Guide for Solving Problems, Building Relationships and Delivering the Deal by John Lowry
Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading, and Public Speaking by Mehdi Hasan
Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate by Robert Fisher and Daniel Shapiro
Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate by Barry Nalebuff
15 Tools to Turn the Tide: A Step-by-step Playbook for Empowered Negotiating by Seth Freeman
Start With No by Jim Camp
Negotiating the Nonnegotiable: How to Resolve your Most Emotionally Charged Conflicts by Daniel Shapiro
Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury
You. Storyteller.
A key to successful leadership is storytelling. Some people seem to come by it naturally. One can learn how to tell a story. It takes practice. I recommend these three titles to get started.
How To Tell A Story by Meg Bowles et al
The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence, and Inspire by Karen Eber
The Storyteller’s Secret by Carmine Gallo
A Look in the Mirror
Look in the mirror. You are the person who everyone in your organization is looking to for leadership. You can enhance your skills—like team building or public speaking—and you should. But something is missing if you don’t work on self.
There are many self-help books to explore, but a few titles stand out.
The Motive by Patrick Lencioni
Life’s Great Question: Discover How You Contribute to the World by Tom Rath
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Patrick Lencioni
Inner Mastery, Outer Impact by Hitendra Wadhwa
Habits
Good habits can have a powerful effect on your leadership. They can have a powerful effect on your organization.
Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear
The Power of Habit: why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results by Charlie Gilkey
Dealing With Workplace Drama
No matter how hard we try to create a culture of belonging, workplace drama emerges occasionally to thwart our efforts. We must deal with it head on. Three books are helpful resources for candid conversations and approaches for making things better.
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott
Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at a Time by Susan Scott
3 Vital Questions: Transforming Workplace Drama by David Emerald
Leadership Essentials
James Kouzes and Barry Posner have been writing about leadership for many years. Here is wisdom in three books. The first title is a comprehensive volume for leaders. The second is a brief, just-the-essentials book. The third is for leaders at all levels in your organization.
The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
The Truth About Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Everyday People, Extraordinary Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Less Is More
Work smarter, not harder. Good advice, but we often find ourselves caught up in too many things to do and not knowing where to prioritize. We can burnout. We know that burnout is a threat to success within our organizations.
These three books can help you gain control and accomplish more.
Essentialism : The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
Slow Productivity” The Lost art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport
Shorter: Work Better, Smarter, and Less – Here’s How by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
What Brain Science Tells Us
If we are using our brains, we should be learning what researchers are learning about the human brain and how it affects our work.
Brain Rules for Work: The Science of Thinking Smarter in the Office and at Home by John Medina
Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Individual Performance
As a museum CEO, you know that both individual performance and team performance are important. You strive and your team members strive to achieve greater things every day. You cannot get better without putting in the effort.
Here are three books for seeking better:
Intrinsic Motivation: Learn to Love Your Work and Succeed as Never Before by Stefan Falk
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant
Great at Work: The Hidden Habits of Top Performers by Morten T. Hansen
Science Museum CEO Must Reads
Science museum CEOs do not all have science backgrounds. They bring knowledge and skills from other professions. Scientist or not, science museum CEOs engage with scientists, corporate CEOs, university leaders, government officials and others who possess knowledge – sometimes deep knowledge – of science and science policy. Here are three books that I recommend reading before your next meeting.
The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience by Lee Mcintyre
The Secret Life of Science: How It Really Works and Why It Matters by Jeremy J. Baumberg
Why Trust Science by Naomi Oreskes
Ray Dalio's Principles
Perhaps you are familiar with Ray Dalio’s books? His first in the three listed here is Principles. And that’s exactly what he presents. He believes and put into practice principles to guide his organization, as well as his life.
If you haven’t done the same, you might want to explore how principles can make a difference.
Principles by Ray Dalio
Principles for Success by Ray Dalio
Principles: Your Guided Journal by Ray Dalio
Patrick Lencioni's Advice on Teams
Patrick Lencioni is known for his best-selling parables on leadership, most notably The Five Disfunctions of a Team. What does that say to you? To me, it sounds like many leaders are concerned with their teams. Let’s face it: teamwork requires a lot more than assembling a group of people and calling them a team.
These are easy reads with actionable advice.
The Five Disfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni
Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni
The Healthy Organization
Open Patrick Lencioni’s book The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business for a short-course on how organizations succeed. Lencioni’s other books are mostly written in a fable format, but this one takes a different approach. His no nonsense, actionable guide to making organizations healthier is in a narrative format.
Also, check out Make Work Healthy: Create a Sustainable Organization with High-Performing Employees by John S. Ryan and Michael J. Burchell
Be Appreciative Everyday
You, your senior team, and your managers have an everyday job: show appreciation. While this might be more natural for some, it is a learned skill for others. Saying thank you is important. And there are many other ways to show appreciation.
Start here:
The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Oganizations by Encouraging People by Gary Chapman and Paul White
Say Thank You for Everything: The Secrets of Being a Great Manager by Jim Edwards
1501 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson
Grit, Range, and Outliers
Stories of success can surprise us. Three titles that surprise us with ideas about success are worth reading – each enlightening!
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
Range: Wht Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Making Decisions
You are familiar with the quote: not to decide is to decide. Some decisions can be made quickly. Others take more time, more consideration. Some decisions are more consequential than others. We are especially challenged when we don’t have enough information to make a decision.
Here are books that help with making the big decisions and avoiding bad decisions.
Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke
How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making better Decisions by Annie Duke
Decide & Conquer: 44 decisions That Will Make or Break All Leaders by David Siegel
Problem Solving
Museum CEOs and their teams solve problems all the time. Some problems are easily resolved. Others, we find more difficult. One of the key insights to solving difficult problems is to ask: Are we solving the right problem?
What’s Your Problem? By Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg
Bulletproof Problem Solving: The One Skill That Changes Everything by Charles Conn and Robert McLean
Learning
We know that our museums offer amazing programs. Museums offer what other places cannot. We have the exhibits, objects, and real things that schools cannot replicate. Learning is hands-on and minds-on. Yet, in our exuberance, let’s be mindful of what we are really trying to achieve. Our teams do not lack for ideas, and our programs lean toward fun. But do they have impact and are they grounded in research?
How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine by Stanislas Dehaene
Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Roediger III, and Mark A. McDaniel
Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and in Life by Ozan Varol
Preserving and Rewilding Biodiversity
As a young child, I spent my days with friends wandering the outdoors near my home. What appeared to me as a dense wilderness was an overgrown abandoned farmland. It was a special place for us to be among the abundant wildlife of this tiny ecosystem. Then one day a shocking thing occurred: bulldozers plowed it all down.
This had a lasting impact on me. But what I didn’t realize growing up was how the clearing of land was happening on such a grand scale all over the world. While my unawareness turned to real concern, I remain uninformed, as many of us are, about the enormity of human impact on our planet and what we must do now to address the rapid extinction of biodiversity.
Museums play a big role in educating people about biodiversity and human impact. Here are three titles that will help you and your team be better informed and motivated.
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild by Enric Sala
The End of Eden by Adam Welz
Relationships
The CEOs success and happiness - and that of the team and partners - depends on the quality of relationships. How do you build the best possible relationships? These three books give solid advice.
Team Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Jean Greaves and Evan Watkins
Partnering: Forge the Deep Connections That Make Great Things Happen by Jean Oelwang
How to Work with (Almost) Anyone by Michael Bungay Stanier
"The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”
Michel Legrand
Leaders are readers.