Good books on leadership

What Makes You Tick?

In my own journey of self-discovery, I’ve learned how important it is to discover what drives you internally—what makes you tick. When I speak to young people, I like to ask what subject at school really engages and excites them. Surprisingly, many have no clear answer. They haven’t really gotten to know themselves, which makes me wonder how they will make wise career choices for themselves. Life is too precious to spend it doing work that does not make you feel alive every day.

This process of self-discovery begins with looking at and listening to yourself. It requires the ability and willingness to reflect on yourself and your life, a quality that is less common than it should be and that every would-be leader needs to begin practicing at an early age. What do you most love to do? What are your strengths and weaknesses? What kinds of challenges engage you and bring out the best in you? Answering these questions honestly and objectively can be a challenge, but it’s worth the effort to learn more about your greatest assets—your own mind and heart.

By the time you’ve developed a sense as to what career path you find attractive, test yourself in the real world. Pay close attention to the feedback you receive from others. This will help you discover how your talents may link up with realistic career options and where you are most likely to be able to add value to the world. Then, having chosen a path that expresses your aspirations in a realistic fashion, work hard to improve your skills through continual practice and learning.

This is the start of the journey of self-discovery that every aspiring leader must take—the launching of the ship, if you will. But there’s much more to learn if you want to make your voyage a successful one.

Discovering your true interests and strengths isn’t always easy. For many people, it is a matter of trial and error, with false starts and missteps along the way. Of course, those false starts are not necessarily wasted. In fact, they can often provide knowledge and experience that proves critical to your later success. Many people discover, having studied one field in school, launched their careers in a second field, and then, perhaps, flourished in a third field, that all their areas of knowledge and expertise end up being relevant and helpful in the work they ultimately find most meaningful.

So in your voyage of self-discovery, don’t dismiss any opportunity to learn as “irrelevant” or “useless.” The truth is that you can never know for sure what kind of knowledge may prove to be valuable at a later stage in your career—a stage that may be impossible to foresee.

In the book, you can read more about the tools towards effective leadership. Until our next blog, please share with me your comments as I look forward to our discussions.

Best Regards,
Hussein A. Al-Banawi
Author, The Unknown Leader

Five Key Trends for Leadership Development

The driving force behind the success of any organization is the leadership strength of its employees. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, the concept of leadership development is critical for the success of the businesses. Therefore, the article focuses on discovering and nurturing the seeds of leadership in an organization. We are highlighting here, a list of five trends for leadership development that business leaders need to focus on today.

Boot-camp Training
A recent study shows that 91% of the employees feel that they have too much work on their plate. When it comes to education, the beginners should be given a break and therefore “boot camp-style learning” is a perfect way. Educating employees has become, today, essential and the learning method needs to be practical and challenging. With training, the business leaders should also include chances for team bonding and team building activities, to allow for business beneficial brainstorming discussions with colleagues.

Engagement with Employees
Organizations with engaged workforces have higher productivity and profitability and it is a huge market advantage. In recent years, several studies have conducted that in an organization, mere 15% of the employees are highly engaged. More than 60% of the workforce was found to be only engaged with their particular tasks. Business leaders should know the important factors that engage their team members.

Investment in leadership development
As per recent studies, an organization should invest a particular budget to develop first-line employees. Developing the first level of workforce must be a priority on any organization’s agenda. These leaders are generally promoted to their post based on technical skills and knowledge; but it is their people skills, that determine their effectiveness and success in their new leadership role. Today high-impact corporates are creating leadership councils that are composed by senior leaders to motivate, engage and develop talent.

Technology is a key to leadership development
Technology plays a major role in leadership development. Technology savvy companies have rapidly become an integral aspect of today’s leadership effectiveness. With the latest technologies adapted by the corporations, communication between leaders and employees become easy and smooth. Technology will connect employees and clients making collaboration and information flow faster.

Transparency
The 2008 financial meltdown and the fall of some big businesses have emphasized the importance to maintain transparency in businesses. Recent studies show that 60% of CEOs in companies are now making more disclosures about their risks, strategy and financial performance. According to them, the pros of this practice are improved decision-making, innovation and better reputation. They have brought into focus the significance of transparency as a best practice.

Accepting new challenges and motivating other employees is what defines today’s leader. Therefore, keeping abreast of important leadership trends is the key to success. If organizations can implement these trends into their initiatives, they will achieve an even more productive year.

Good Books on Leadership Serve as Role Models

Books are great sources of information that play an important role in developing effective leadership.To became a successful leader it is important that you have adequate amount of knowledge as there is no one who can succeed in life with limited knowledge and information. The great leaders are good readers too and they never stop learning new things. They go on reading as much they can and always try to explore new ideas and inspirations which can improve their leadership skills. But in today’s tech-savvy world no one has time to read books.

The article here will let you know that the benefits you obtain from reading books are endless. Good books on leadership act as mentors in sharpening your leadership skills. Leadership books are the inspiration which let the leaders know what others have done to become an effective leader.

The Power of Good Books on Leadership is Enormous

The habit of reading is an essential skill of a great leader. Reading good books on leadership is very helpful for a person who wants to become an active leader and wants to do something for the society. There are many benefits to reading books. Leadership books acts as resources for you to become smart leaders. They broaden the prospective horizons and build confidence. They also develop the leadership skills within you which sharpen your thoughts and motivate your mind. They also bringa positive change and nourish your leadership skills.

Reading books makes you think smarter as they offer an outstanding wealth of learning various leadership qualities. Good books on leadership also talk about lives of some model leaders.These books can provide you with the ideas about what other famous leaders were thinking and how they were working. It seems like that you are directly interacting with the person in the book.

List of Some Popular Books That Every Young Leader Should Read

Today there are various books available on leadership which communicate the key principles required for successful leadership. There are also good books available on leadership which are for graduates and those who are going to start out on their careers. If you are looking for a list of great books to read on leadership, then here is our list for you:

• The Truth About Leadership by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven R. Covey
• The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
• Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
• The Unknown Leader by Sheikh Hussein A. Al-Banawi
• Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell
• On Becoming a Leader by Bennis
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
• Leadership Is an Art by Max Depree
• From Values to Action by Harry M. Kraemer
• Leaders Make the Future by Bob Johansen
• Designing the Smart Organization by Roland Deiser

That’s it in a nutshell. Good books on leadership are the best option when you are looking for help to better leadership.To acquire new insights and gain more knowledge you have to read as much as you can. So take some time of your busy schedule and read some good books on leadership to sharpen your leadership shills. Make books your loyal friends and companions. Happy Reading…!

The Unknown Leader (good books on leadership) is a Book written by Hussein, Find more information to https://theunknownleader.com/category/the-book