“In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none. Zero.”

— Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner

I read many books each year (physical copies, e-books, and audio books). As an ICF Certified Executive Coach, I read a lot about coaching and leadership development to keep my skills and approach sharp. I also read books about business and social justice, as these are particular interests of mine. I recommend books of interest in my monthly newsletter to share with my subscribers. To keep track of what I am learning through reading, I write notes in my Evernote notebook that I can reference to use in the future (i.e. blog posts like this). Here are some books that have had a positive impact during this pandemic. Share what books that have had an impact on you in the Comments below.

10 Favorites Books with Impact During COVID-19

Business / Leadership

I frequently read books about business and leadership because I often use the lessons in my consulting practice or when I am teaching leadership development for my clients.

Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It by Dorie Clark
This book shares excellent ideas to differentiate yourself. Whether you are a business owner or employee in an organization, Clark shares some great action steps at the end of each chapter. Her writing style is relaxed, and she shares many cases and examples of how she supported clients to stand out. Clark starts with developing your niche and ends with putting thought leadership into practice. As a solopreneur, I am always looking for different ways to build my personal brand and the brand of my business, Sarah Scala Consulting.

The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
As a huge fan of Walt Disney World, starting when I was a baby in my Mom’s belly, I was excited to read this book by former CEO Bob Iger. In this memoir on leadership and success, he shares his successes as well as struggles in his career. I appreciated his humble and honest lessons and principles on leadership including: Courage, Fairness, Optimism, and Decisiveness.

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock
This book shares lessons from the former Head of People Operations at Google. What stood out to me most was Google’s approach to hire the best people (top 90%) and investing more money in talent acquisition, and spending very little money on learning and development. Google’s philosophy is to hire the best performers who can “start doing great work right away.” This is different from most companies that “spent more on training current employees than on hiring new employees.” There are many great lessons in this book that are summarized as a few bulleted sentences at the end of each chapter, which makes it easy to remember and apply.

Coaching / Consulting

I read a lot about Coaching as an ICF Certified Executive Coach to keep my skills and approach sharp.

The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stainer
This is one of the best selling coaching books! After hearing Stainer speak at the World Business and Executive Coaching Summit (WBECS) recently, I appreciated his simple approach and energy. This book is excellent for organizations that want to bring a coaching program to their company. This simplified process includes seven essential questions for managers and leaders to use when coaching their teams or staff.

Reinventing You - Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future by Dorie Clark
This book is helpful whether supporting coaching clients through transitions, or as a way to look at pivoting or branching out into multiple income streams. In this step-by-step guide, Dorie shares real examples along with actions and the best ways to re-brand or re-define yourself and your work. This book may be helpful to those who want to build a career focused on your unique talents, change professions, or re-define yourself in your current role.

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg
I have to confess that I built the habit of flossing my teeth, years ago, using BJ Fogg’s habit formula. I have been reading Fogg’s blog and following him since Ramit Sethi recommended his article on habits. When his book came out, I excitedly read it! It shares a simple approach to developing habits by starting with a tiny micro habit and building on it. Fogg’s formula is: make it easy, make it fit your life, and make it rewarding.

Humble Consulting: How to Provide Real Help Faster by Edgar Schein
This book suggests a change in the way consultants work with their clients. Historically, consultants would run assessments or tests with clients, diagnose the issue, and recommend a solution. Schein suggests a different approach to support the complex challenges that organizations face today. Through twelve case studies, the author shares an approach that includes authentic openness, curiosity, and humility.

Anti-Racism / Social Justice

After reading the book White Fragility a few months ago, I realized quickly that I have a lot to learn about the history of race and racism.

Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD
I learned about this book through the Next Big Idea Club when I attended the FREE training by Eberhardt titled: How to Fight Racial Bias, According to a Stanford Psychologist. This course was very helpful as I continue to learn about anti-racism. Eberhardt is best known as the world’s expert on the psychology of “black-crime” association and biases. She is often hired to work with police departments to help minimize their bias towards minorities. This book shares her real experiences, from being pushed against her car, handcuffed and arrested during a traffic stop a day before completing her doctorate at Harvard, to her 5-year old son asking, after seeing the only black man on an airplane, he “hoped he doesn’t rob the plane.” Each example shares her in-depth research on bias and how it plays out in every day life.

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
In this book, DiAngelo provides a straight-forward discussion to assist white people in better understanding racism as a systemic issue while acknowledging the discomfort many white folks have in discussing race in any fashion. Robin is on faculty at the University of Washington, Seattle and has done significant research and written books on equality and racism. An additional, quick resource by this author is a 20-minute video, where DiAngelo shares what it means to be white in a society that proclaims race meaningless, yet is profoundly separated by race. I found this short video to be extremely helpful: Deconstructing White Privilege with Dr. Robin DiAngelo.

How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
This book helped me understand the history of racism in the world, and how it has impacted Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC). In addition to historical facts, the author walks you through chapters in his life and how racism impacted and influenced him. In this book, Kendi defines ANTIRACISM as “a powerful collection of antiracist policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by antiracist ideas.” The focus for being antiracists lies in policy, whereas the author defines ANTIRACIST as “one who is expressing the idea that racial groups are equals and none needs developing, and is supporting policy that reduces racial inequity.” I found it helpful to differentiate policy from behavior. I especially appreciated the recent podcast with Brené Brown and Kendi: How to Be an Antiracist.

I am thankful that my local public library has many books available to check out digitally through Overdrive or for curbside pickup. Your local library may have access to e-books as well.

What books have had a strong impact for you during COVID-19? Leave a comment.

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK. WHAT BOOKS HAVE YOU READ SO FAR IN 2020? I SPENT A LOT OF TIME WRITING THIS STORY, SO IF YOU ENJOYED IT, PLEASE CONSIDER SHARING, AND LEAVE A COMMENT OR QUESTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STORY. I’D REALLY APPRECIATE IT!

Check out my other blogs on recommended books:

10 Favorite Books of 2019 on Leadership, Coaching, and Entrepreneurship
5 Favorite Books on Positive Psychology
5 Favorite books on Coaching Coaching
5 Favorite books on Leadership Excellence

Disclaimer: This very helpful post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means that should you click any of the links and make a purchase, I may get a small commission at absolutely no cost to you.

Follow my blogs on Medium, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Sign up for our Newsletter for great articles, tools, and top blog posts

About the Author:
Sarah Scala is a senior talent management leader and executive coach with 20+ years of experience providing organization development, change management, and leadership development solutions for diverse global and local industries. She is a collaborative consultant, coach, and educator supporting performance transformation of executives, leaders, and teams. Sarah is a methodical, results-driven leader recognized for helping clients reach their highest potential, increase revenue, reduce turnover, elevate business profitability, build competencies, and improve performance.

Privacy policy: I do not rent, sell, trade or share your email address with anyone, ever.

Blog

10 Books with Impact During COVID-19

10 Favorites Books with Impact During COVID-19﻿