I believe the world can be a more courageous place. I think you’ll agree that starts here, with us.

To that end, I hope these books help you break down invisible barriers in your relationships and strengthen your connections to those around you.

I’ll update this list with both more books and with book summaries (when I get around to them).

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown takes the incredible work she’s done after decades of studying vulnerability and shame and applies it to the workplace. It’s so full of value it’s worth studying like a holy book, from small tips to creating safety during a meeting, to how armouring shows up in the office, to the case studies and evidence of vulnerability and transparency in communication, all of this delivered with the authors characteristic charm, some parts heart warming, some parts hilarious, some parts absolutely devastating.

Start With Why by Simon Sinek breaks ground for anyone who has a mission. It explains with fascinating case studies how all the most innovative leaders out there do something incredibly well, they start with why. Reading this book will teach you to communicate in a way that connects directly with people’s hearts, whether they are your client, colleague, friend or family, whenever you share with them it will be at a much deeper level of connection and engagement.

Mindset by Carol Dweck explores the ground-breaking research done by the author and their team which illustrated for the world what an immense impact attitude makes on results. It identifies and defines two different mindsets; growth and fixed, illuminating how each different mindset impacts the results and quality of life of every person on the planet. Once you see it you’ll never be able to put the knowledge away, this book will show you the immutable power you have to develop your own skills in any area.

Mindsight by Daniel J Seigel offers a concise, detailed framework for understanding the dynamics of empathy. It teaches about the neuroscience behind connection, from the discovery and function of mirror neurons, to a working definition of the mind, a concept that’s proven difficult to pin down for thousands of years. Mindsight, so explains the author, is the sense we have of our own thoughts and feelings. Reading this book will allow you to see how no matter where you are, the skills of mindsight can be developed just like any other.

Think Again by Adam Grant posits that in the industrial age the skills of thinking and learning were critical to success, but things have changed. In the information age, the skills of rethinking and unlearning become critical. The author examines the often catastrophic cost of becoming entrenched in ways of thinking and operating, looking at examples from all over professional fields to illustrate the macro cost to organisations and even the micro cost to our personal lives. He offers incredibly powerful language tools we can use to effectively filter through the noise and cut out the politicising, preaching and persecuting to notice when we’re being manipulated by powerful mouthpieces.

Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss offers a fascinating and candid look into FBI negotiation. For anyone working in mental health, particularly in crisis support, it should be interesting to note that Chris Voss started his career volunteering in a suicide helpline. He covers in the book how the skills he learned in suicide and crisis support were the ones which led to an illustrious career negotiating with terrorists. Who could have guessed that learning to listen with deep non-judgement could have such far reaching impact and opportunity?

The Speed of Trust by Steven R. Covey reduces so many of the problems we face in organisations today down to a single equation; Trust is the throttle to speed. The book dives into applied organisational psychology from a completely hands on perspective, no dry theory, just real world experience leading multi million dollar organisations and helping them move through immense periods of change. It has massive applications for your work life, but can be just as deeply applied to your personal relationships too.

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk laid out the personal journey of a psychiatrist discovering this hidden, unknown thing called trauma in the clients he served. It’s a touching, at times very emotional insight into the connections formed between brain and body within all of us during times of great stress. The author paints a detailed look in simple language, revealing for example the way modern medical technology has proven that when someone is in a flashback, their brain lights up the same electrical neurons as though they were literally there, not just replaying a memory but actually there in the midst of their trauma trigger. Most exciting about this book is the hope it can give you for healing your own trauma, or that of people you support personally or professionally.

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson reduces a complex question into a simple answer. Why is it that no matter where you look, people make decisions they know are bad for them? Whether it’s reaching for another cigarette, impulse buying that widget or telling themselves they’ll start saving money next year… It seems the world is full of all this empowering knowledge, used by so few. If you like reading about human behaviour, the compound effect and the philosophy behind success, I can’t recommend this book enough. It massively inspired this post to help you master productivity.

If you have any book suggestions you’d like to share, please do! The best way to reach me is to just start a chat via your preferred social media.