leadership books for boys (and other humans)
Someone recently asked me to prepare a little list of books for their high school boys to read about leadership. I was surprisingly stumped, since my focus is often on girls and women. I figured that the first order of business was that it had to be gripping stuff. And then it had to be about leadership in some way. So, after some thought, here's my list, and I figure these books are worth reading by more than "just" high school boys.
Consider this a call for your suggestions.
- Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, because it explores alternatives ways to solve problems and it shows that the girl can take charge.
- Setting the Table, by Danny Meyer, because it is not a typical take on business and can be applied to everything outside the restaurant world.
- Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Golman, because yeah, it's important to be reminded that EQ is critical for leadership when you're in a world that so expressly values IQ and doesn't always understand the difference between the two.
- Leadership 2.0, by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, because there are behavior-sharpening skills that really work if you deploy them.
- Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, because it's about a six-year old who saves the world with his inadvertent leadership and who can't secretly relate/aspire to that?
- How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie, because if you don't read this in high school, you might never read it and it's a classic, productive start to getting along with people.
- Awaken the Giant Within, Tony Robbins, because the author survived a hideous childhood into a thriving adulthood with a knack for teaching some profoundly worthy skills.