Some Great Books, Tools & People That Helped Me Grow

So today I thought I would start providing content in a completely unused category on my blog. “Recommendations”. And just as a disclaimer upfront: I am not earning any money by recommending these tools, people or books.

Book(s)

I have to start with my favorite non-fiction book of all times (so far):

Kim Scott’s “Radical Candor: Be a kickass boss without losing your humanity”.

You can find it here, if you like to shop on Amazon. I am sure you can also find it wherever you download your electronic books and in a well sorted book store.

Why is her book my first book recommendation? I do really like Kim Scotts’ writing style a lot. It just clicked for me, when I read her book. Here are some of the things I really appreciated in her book:

• She starts with how she failed and then failed her way to success – since you know the title of my blog, you know how much I can relate!
• Her book provided me with language for a leadership style that is very similar to mine and that was eye opening for me (very subjective of course)
• I loved her concept of Rockstars & Superstars. I have shared my own thoughts on this concept of hers here.
• She shares A LOT of examples and her examples never fall short (some other really famous speaker/ writer do, in my opinion).

Brené Brown’s “dare to lead”

I am admittedly not too excited about Brené Brown’s writing style. But her book “dare to lead” is definitely a “must read” for people leader and deserves a spot in my first recommendation. Mostly because it offers some great tools for efficient team work, team building etc.. And here is what I liked most:

• She shares personal experience and most importantly failures which is great. Because I think that’s always the best way to connect and to resonate.
• I also liked her rules for meetings and how everyone get’s a “bail out of the meeting” card to excuse themselves with no explanation.
• I really enjoyed doing the “value exercise” she did with her team with mine too. Very insightful and eye opening. You should try it!
• Brené Brown offers a workbook and a hub that you can use for further exercises and material which definitely increases the value of the book that you are getting for your money.

While I of course have read more books, this will conclude the book section for today. Another recommendation next time, stay tuned.

Tools recommendation

No, this is not a revival of “Home Improvement” and definitely not meant literally as in tools for arts and crafts. I am definitely having two left hands so that would not work. This is more to talk about some online tests and pages that definitely helped me learn about myself and as an outcome grow from that knowledge. I am going to focus on “tests” today.

Gallup / Clifton strengthsfinder

You can find the Clifton strengthsfinder from Gallup here.

We did it as an employee development exercise but I would definitely recommend doing it on your own as well. It’s not that expensive if you only get the “short report” and still very reasonable for the full report. Knowing your top strengths and how to best use and grow those? Priceless! Hence it had to be my first recommendation under “tools”.

Top benefits from my perspective:

• You learn about your top strengths and your least strong skills
• You also learn to focus on your strengths vs. your least strong skills and why
• The detailed material explains how your strengths could potentially also turn into something negative, if you are not careful (i.e. if you are an Achiever, you get things done no matter how long it takes but that could become a bad role model for your team)

Dr. Kristin Neff’s self-compassion online test.

Are you a compassionate person? I definitely am. And when my coach asked me, if I actually knew how self-compassionate I was, I got curious. Spoiler alert: I am VERY self-compassionate. That was not always the case, but glad I got to where I am at now. Want to know yourself?

You can do the online test from Dr. Kristin Neff here.

When you do, you can also buy her book about self compassion. I was not a big fan. It has a lot of self-compassion exercises which I think is a great thing, when you want to improve in this area. It wasn’t for me though. But always great to know where I stand!

Project Implicit from Harvard University

One favorite recommendation from my coach was to test my unconscious biases. It’s really important to understand that biases do not only influence our thinking, they are also impacting how we are acting. Especially towards others. Especially critical, if you are a people leader.

You can find a comprehensive selection of tests developed by Harvard University as part of their Project Implicit here.

There will be no real inclusion, belonging and diversity, if we do not address our unconscious biases. And the conscious ones as well, of course. It starts with admitting we have them.

People “recommendation”

This one is difficult. But I thought I would share some people I have come across on LinkedIn or in another professional capacity, that I find inspiring and recommend following or to work with.

I have to start with my coach. I have recommended her in many of my blog posts because quite literally this page would not exist without her.

Tiffany Keenan, MSW

You can find her LinkedIn profile here. I recommend working with her but coaching and the right coach are super subjective. So if she were not the one for you, find one that you can connect with. It’s worth it!

There is a lot of content on LinkedIn. Here a few profiles I am following that I recommend as they are inspiring to me. This is not a comprehensive list, I am going to share a weekly recommendation moving forward:

Luana Bronzini (she/her). Luana is a dear former colleague and a friend. I love her focus on empowerment and she is really great in cheering on others, too!

Emily Button-Lynham (she/her). I have not worked with Emily yet, as she is located in the UK and focuses on empowering women to take the next step towards self-employment. I love her focus on women and on having a life outside the 9-5 Corporate job!

Marshawn Denny (she/her). I came across Marshawn’s profile through Luana and have enjoyed reading her uplifting and empowering posts.

Yes, there are a lot great guys on LinkedIn, too. But I felt like giving a shout-out to the ladies today. Next time more on the male part!