I’ve tackled some of the outstanding books on my shelf and in my kindle that would be valuable reading for any leadership journey (there are still at least 45 unread ones though! I think I need to disable my credit card until I get through some more of these!)
Leaders are readers - and continuous learning is key to maintaining leadership effectiveness
Here are some worthy reads I’ve enjoyed:
Resonate: Zen and the Way of Making a Difference by Ginny Whitelaw
This book had a profound impact on me. Ginny is a NASA scientist and Zen Master. She explains the science of resonance, and then expands to practical steps to create resonance in your body, with others, for a greater positive impact. NOTE: I interviewed Ginny about leadership skills for the podcast Colin’s latest corporate culture book
Culture Hacks - 28 ideas to transform the way you work by Colin D. Ellis
Colin’s latest culture book is a gem. He highlights the key takeaways at the beginning of each chapter (brilliant!) and then expands the tip with practical case studies and awesome research. He’s the only culture writer I’ve seen to feed his personality into the narrative. Colin is a funny, engaging guy, and his book is a great - and useful - read. NOTE: listen to my popular interview with Colin here.
Stop Missing Your Life: How to be Deeply Present in an Un-Present World by Cory Muscara
Cory shares much of his insights and practices from his six months at a meditation retreat. He writes beautifully and I found myself drawn into the stories. This book has helped me deepen my own meditation practice and day to day presence. I’m finding myself feeling a huge expanse of time instead of the habitual rush to cram everything in.
Refocus your leadership mindset
3 new year action tips:
1. For yourself
Make sure you have the fundamentals organised: your theme word for the year, your rituals sorted, your 3 big goals for the year, your holidays booked in your calendar. Remember, it’s good to have something to do, someone (or something) to care about, and something to look forward to.
2. For your team
After last year’s craziness, now is the perfect time to do a retreat with your team (restrictions permitting). Even if you can’t gather physically, some space for big picture thinking and planning is essential. Here’s what I am doing with a number of clients:
Reviewing what results we want in the culture for the year - what do we want people to be doing? Saying? Hearing? Feeling? Experiencing? Producing? Focusing on?
Reviewing values and the Culture Compass - are we still aligned to our intentions? How is the morale and interactions in the team?
Reviewing our strategy and creating new scenarios based on current trends and conditions - what trends are the most volatile for us in the next twelve months? How can we anticipate and capitalise on these?
NOTE: If you would like me to facilitate a culture or strategy day or retreat for your team, get in touch now - I’ve got some places in my calendar just waiting for awesome dynamic leadership teams like yours!
3. For the organisation
An ‘organisation’ is a collection of people who come together to produce results for others. It rises and falls based on the abilities and capacities of its people. Make sure you have development plans and actions for:
YOU - as the leader you are either limiting or expanding the results of the business. Make sure you are building your skills and capacity. (HINT: Amplifiers may be the perfect fit for you!)
YOUR TEAM - make sure you are building leaders around you. Ensure they have leadership fundamentals (time management, difficult conversations, people reading, coaching, delegation) absolutely nailed. Then make sure they are gaining skills in leading culture, change, strategy, and performance.
NOTE: I love running leadership training for savvy leaders and teams. Contact me to discuss what you and your team can do to elevate leadership abilities.
Lastly, be sure to stop and savour the day. We only experience life through the moment of now, so remember to enjoy the now-ness, even while you are planning what’s next.
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Related Articles:
Your End of Year Reflection Tool - a gift from me
3 things to think about now for the new year
Discover why resolutions don’t work and 9 simple steps to begin instead for an awesome year
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About the author, Canberra leadership expert Zoë Routh:
Canberra based leadership expert, Zoë Routh shares some leadership books and new year action tips.
Zoë Routh is one of Australia’s leading experts on people stuff - the stuff that gets in our way of producing results, and the stuff that lights us up. She works with the growers, makers, builders to make people stuff fun and practical.
Zoë is the author of four books: Composure - How centered leaders make the biggest impact, Moments - Leadership when it matters most, Loyalty - Stop unwanted staff turnover, boost engagement, and build lifelong advocates, and People Stuff - Beyond Personalities: An advanced handbook for leadership. People Stuff was awarded Book of the Year 2020 by the Smart WFM Australian Business Book Awards.
Zoë is also the producer of The Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast.