This is an insightful book for municipal clerks to identify the emotions that are part of making meaningful connections with their fellow employees, administrators, and council members. In Dare to Lead, Brené taught us about vulnerability and its necessity in building trust and relationships. This book takes that a step further by taking us through our many emotions and the combination that works for each of us to make meaningful connections. (336 pages)
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Book Selections
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Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown
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Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies from a Life at Disney by Lee Cockerell
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The secret for creating “magic” in our careers, our organizations, and our lives is simple: outstanding leadership – the kind that inspires employees, delights customers, and achieves extraordinary business results. (288 pages)
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Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown
Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. (320 pages)
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Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
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Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen. (290 pages)
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Encouraging the Heart: A Leader’s Guide to Rewarding and Recognizing Others by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
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All too often, simple acts of human kindness are often overlooked and underutilized by people in leadership roles. Advising mutual respect and recognition of accomplishments, encouraging the heart shows us how true leaders encourage and motivate those they work with, by helping them find their voice and making them feel like heroes. (224 pages)
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Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis
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With painful honesty and fearless humor, Rachel unpacks and examines the falsehoods that once left her feeling overwhelmed and unworthy, and reveals the specific practical strategies that helped her move past them. In the process, she encourages, entertains, and even kicks a little butt, all to convince you to do whatever it takes to get real and become the joyous, confident woman you were meant to be. (240 pages)
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Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights is not a conventional memoir. As he neared age 50, the Oscar-winning actor revisited the journal that he had kept for the previous 35 years to see what he could learn from it. The result is this book, which combines hard-earned insights about the art of living with vivid accounts of McConaughey’s upbringing in rural Texas, his adventures in the movie business, his global travels, and his lifelong search for love and fatherhood. Part autobiography and part life-guide, Greenlights both explains and illustrates McConaughey’s philosophy of “catching greenlights”—recognizing and even creating those moments when life says “yes” and you cruise into success as you pursue your destiny. Matthew believes the positive aspects of a person’s life can be explained by the concept of “greenlights.” (304 pages)
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Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterley
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Before John Glenn orbited the Earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rulers, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets and astronauts into space. (368 pages)
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I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai
When the Taliban took control of northern Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. At age 15, she almost paid the ultimate price for that education. Shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, she was not expected to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from the Swat Valley in Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. (320 pages)
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I Love It Here by Clint Pulver
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Emmy Award-winning speaker Clint Pulver-aka the Undercover Millennial-shares insights gleaned from thousands of undercover interviews with employees across the country, revealing the best methods for identifying talent, building a sense of ownership, and developing a successful workplace culture that employees will love. You'll also learn the number one driver of employee turnover (spoiler: it has everything to do with you!), what you can do to stop an exodus, and how to build a team that really works. Soon, you'll be recognizing possibilities where others see problems, and capturing the power of small moments to create a meaningful legacy. Your company can be a place where people don't just survive, but thrive. I Love It Here shows you how. (240 pages)
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Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek
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Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders create environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things. (368 pages)
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Leading with Emotional Courage: How to Have Hard Conversations, Create Accountability and Inspire Actions on Your Most Important Work by Peter Bregman
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What makes leadership hard isn't theoretical, it's practical. It's not about knowing what to say or do. It's about whether you're willing to experience the discomfort, risk, and uncertainty of saying or doing it. The most critical challenge of leadership is having emotional courage. (272 pages)
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Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl Sandberg has reignited the conversation about women in the workplace. In Lean In, Sheryl encourages women to sit at the table, seek challenges, take risks and pursue their goals with gusto. She describes specific steps women can take to combine professional achievement with personal fulfillment, and she demonstrates how men can benefit by supporting women both in the workplace and at home. (240 pages)
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Learning Leadership: The Five Fundamentals of Becoming an Exemplary Leader by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
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Exemplary leaders are a vital asset in any organization—they increase engagement and commitment, improve performance and inspire a sense of meaning and self-worth among people. Learning Leadership is a self-coaching guide to help people take charge of their own leadership development and become the best leaders they can be. It builds on the ideas from the best-selling The Leadership Challenge with additional tips that you can use to coach yourself and hone your leadership skills. These are most beneficial for emerging leaders, as well as coaches, trainers, and other human resource professionals or leadership developers. The book is supported by over 30 years of research, from over seventy countries, with examples from real-world leaders. (245 pages)
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Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant
Even after the most devastating events, it is possible to grow by finding deeper meaning and gaining greater appreciation in our loves. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis and how to develop compassion for ourselves. (240 pages)
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Rising Strong: How the Ability to Reset Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead by Brené Brown
Social scientist Brené Brown has ignited a global conversation on courage, vulnerability, shame, and worthiness. Her pioneering work uncovered a profound truth: Vulnerability—the willingness to show up and be seen with no guarantee of outcome—is the only path to more love, belonging, creativity, and joy. But living a brave life is not always easy: We are, inevitably, going to stumble and fall.
It is the rise from falling that Brown takes as her subject in Rising Strong. As a grounded theory researcher, Brown has listened as a range of people—from leaders in Fortune 500 companies and the military to artists, couples in long-term relationships, teachers, and parents—shared their stories of being brave, falling, and getting back up. She asked herself, What do these people with strong and loving relationships, leaders nurturing creativity, artists pushing innovation, and clergy walking with people through faith and mystery have in common? The answer was clear: They recognize the power of emotion and they’re not afraid to lean in to discomfort. (352 pages)
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Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek is leading a movement to build a world in which the vast majority of us are inspired by the work we do. This book is a deeper dive into the “why” we do what we do on a daily basis. Any person or organization can explain what they do; some can explain how they are different or better, but very few can clearly articulate “why”. Why is not about money or profits – those are results. Why is what inspired us and inspires those around us. (256 pages)
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The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
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Combining cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—Kay and Shipman go beyond admonishing women to "lean in." Instead, they offer the inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve. (272 pages)
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The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
Read about The Gifts of Imperfection
A motivational and inspiring guide to wholehearted living, rather than just the average self-help book, with this groundbreaking work Brené Brown, Ph.D., bolsters the self-esteem and personal development process through her characteristic heartfelt, honest storytelling. With original research and plenty of encouragement, she explores the psychology of releasing our definitions of an “imperfect” life and embracing living authentically. Brown’s “ten guideposts” are benchmarks for authenticity that can help anyone establish a practice for a life of honest beauty—a perfectly imperfect life. (160 pages)
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The Heart of Leadership: Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow by Mark Miller
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This book shows us that leadership needn’t be the purview of the few—it is within reach for millions around the world. The Heart of Leadership is a road map for every person who desires to make a difference in the lives of others and become a leader people want to follow. (144 pages)
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The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations by James M. Kouzes and Barry M. Posner
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Business is evolving at an increasingly rapid rate, and leaders must keep pace with the changes or risk stagnation. People work differently, are motivated differently, and have different expectations today – business as usual is quickly losing its effectiveness. A good leader gets things done; a great leader aspires, inspires, and achieves more. (400 pages)
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The Power of A Graceful Leader by Alexsys Thompson
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In The Power of a Graceful Leader, Alexsys Thompson shares how to begin integrating who you are and how you lead. Through her experience with this disconnect in her own leadership and having coached hundreds of leaders in the integration journey, Alexsys offers tools, tenets, and some relatable stories to support you in your journey becoming an integrated, graceful leader. (258 pages)
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This is Me: Loving the Person You are Today by Chrissy Metz
After starring in the wildly popular television show This is Us, Chrissy Metz shares the life lessons she has learned, from her setbacks and successes. A born entertainer, Chrissy finds light in even her darkest moments, and leaves the reader feeling as if they are spending time with a trusted friend. (320 pages)
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Thunder Dog: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust by Michael Hingson and Susy Flory
Every moment in Michael Hingson’s and Roselle’s lives seemed to lead up to this day. When one of four hijacked planes flew into the World Trade Center’s north tower on September 11, 2001, Michael Hingson, a district sales manager for a data protection and network security systems company, was sitting down for a meeting. His guide dog, Roselle, was at his feet. Paired for twenty-one months, man and dog spent that time forging a bond of trust, much like police partners who trust their lives to each other. (256 pages)
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Year of Yes: How to Dance it Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
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With three children at home and three hit television shows, it was easy for Shonda to say she was simply too busy. But in truth, she was also afraid. And then, over Thanksgiving dinner, her sister mutered something that was both a wake up and a call to arms: You never say yes to anything. Shonda knew she had to embrace the challenge: for one year, she would say YES to everything that scared her. (352 pages)
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