{"id":12651,"date":"2017-12-09T23:54:15","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T07:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/?p=12651"},"modified":"2024-07-08T17:11:30","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T17:11:30","slug":"books-for-leaders-unconventional-awesome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getlighthouse.com\/blog\/books-for-leaders-unconventional-awesome\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Awesome & Unconventional Books for Leaders to Learn From"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Business books are all the same. A few good ideas and 100 pages of fluff.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If you or a friend reads regularly, you may be plagued by this unfortunate fact of life for many of the most common books for leaders.<\/p>\n

Andy Grove, legendary CEO of Intel, even went so far as to write about these books in his management bible, High Output Management<\/a>.\u00a0 There, he shared the story of how other business book authors would send him their books with kind notes and warm thoughts.<\/p>\n

Grove generally\u00a0found little value in their books, but he appreciated their thoughtfulness. So to avoid cluttering his house with books he didn't want, he ripped out their notes to save them, and threw away the books.<\/p>\n

The alternative for the rest of us: Pick the right books<\/em><\/h2>\n

For us mere mortals, we're not getting mailed books for leaders by the latest management experts. Instead, we, or our friends, family, and colleagues, are paying for these books.<\/p>\n

This makes choosing the right books critical. Time spent reading a book where the goal is to learn should be a major positive, not feel like a waste of time and money.<\/p>\n

I'm here to help.<\/h3>\n

Over the past 7 years I've read over 180 books<\/a>. This has come through a simple habit of 20-30 minutes at a time on morning and evening commutes and the occasional weekend down time. Through those years, I've read my share of highly impactful books, and frustrating, long-winded ones.<\/p>\n

Today, I'd like to share 5 of my favorite books for leaders that break the mold.<\/p>\n

Getting away from the Good to Great<\/a> and Malcolm Gladwell style<\/a> theory + handful of anecdotes model of book writing, these books will expand your horizons and teach you multiple actionable concepts that will help you or the fellow leader in your life in big ways.<\/p>\n

Best of all, as many are a bit unconventional, you'll find they apply in many areas of your life, not just work.<\/p>\n

5 of My\u00a0Favorite, Awesome & Unconventional Books Leaders like You Should Read<\/h1>\n

If you're a regular reader of the Lighthouse blog, then some of these books should be familiar. They've had a profound impact on me and how we've built our product, Lighthouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each of these books has core lessons that I've personally applied and gotten great value from.\u00a0I hope you'll pick up one or two and experience the same.<\/p>\n

\"books<\/a><\/p>\n

Awesome & Unconventional Books for Leaders #1:\u00a0Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss<\/a><\/h2>\n

While the movies may say, \"we don't negotiate with terrorists,\"<\/em> that's not entirely true. This book is half thrilling stories from a former FBI hostage negotiator, and half incredibly actionable lessons for any kind of negotiation.<\/p>\n

If the approaches are good enough for life or death, I'm pretty sure they'll work in your\u00a0life, too. For me, applying the lessons in this book has helped in a number of negotiations and deals I would not have won\u00a0before reading it.<\/p>\n

As a manager or leader, negotiation is a fact of life for you. You'll negotiate for things in your career. You'll negotiate on projects with your team. Customers will require negotiation, and if you are involved in sales, you'll absolutely need these tactics to win deals. I can confidently tell you, they'll help in all those areas, because they've helped me with them.<\/p>\n

What's most interesting to me about this book is how contrarian it is. Never Split the Difference<\/a> basically destroys conventional wisdom on how to negotiate. As Voss writes, \"Being right isn't the key to a successful negotiation; having the right mindset is.\"\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

If you or the leader in your life needs to get better at any form of negotiating in their life, this is the book they need to read.<\/p>\n

Learn a concept from it on the Lighthouse blog:<\/strong><\/h4>\n