You know you’ve found the best career book when page after page you find inspiration, motivation and fulfilment. I read such a career book 3 years ago – Give and Take from Adam Grant (more about it below).
It completely changed my mindset and working style.
Since then, I’ve been on a successful path, both in my personal and professional life.
I got promoted three times.
I successfully launched my blog to help women like you take charge of their careers.
I built a community of amazing and motivated businesswomen.
And I successfully balanced all of that with having my first child.
So here are the 10 most empowering career and business books – ones I’ve read but also ones that thousands of other motivated career women have found helpful to boost their career success.
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1. Give and Take – Why Helping Others Drives Our Success
The essence of this book is simple – it is better to give than to receive, be nice to other people, help without expecting anything in return and so on. But beyond the simple first impressions, this career book is an absolute treasure.
Recommended by Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The Oprah Magazine and more, it challenges the traditional individual drivers for success – passion, hard work, talent and luck. Grant’s examples and research provide empirical support for his simple argument that giving without expecting anything in return, offers a superior way to do business, interact with people, get ahead and succeed in life.
2. Brave, Not Perfect – Fear Less, Fail More and Live Bolder
In this half self-help book, half call to action, Reshma Saujani seeks to inspire women to shed societal myths, believe in themselves and accept that failure builds strengths. Ssociety portrays girls as frail and defenceless. This guides them to pursue predefined professional and personal arenas in which success is certain. They attempt to be perfect in their relationships and professions. But women should work to be brave, but not perfect. Trying and failing is the path to success.
3. The Happiness Advantage – The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work
In this self-growth book, Shawn Achor provides effective tactics for increasing your happiness. He offers clear principles for improving your state of mind, career path, health, and relationships with the world and other people. Even 10 years after its publication, this career book remains a bestseller, noted for its straightforward tips and pragmatic, accessible program. Achor cites extensive research to back his claim that managerial and executive success derives from positivity and personal happiness.
4. Girl, Stop Apologizing – A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals
Rachel Hollis is on a mission to convince women that they can be and do more. This bestseller encourages every woman to dream big and pursue her dreams unapologetically. Hollis cites her personal history as an example of overcoming insecurity and self-doubt to set and achieve impressive goals and build successful businesses. Get ready for solid girl-power affirmations, confidence boost and a motivation kick to embrace your goals, without apologising.
5. Becoming
Get ready to be inspired to become the best version of yourself. In this powerful and beautifully crafted memoir, Michelle Obama invites you to relive her journey, from the tough South Shore neighbourhood of Chicago, through the hallowed halls of the Ivy League and along the rough road that led to the White House. Michelle writes with wit, depth and insight, not only about her time as First Lady but also about universal experiences such as losing a father, falling in love, having a child and attempting to balance a career and motherhood.
6. The Likeability Trap – How to break free and succeed as you are
Journalist Alicia Menendez dissects the challenges facing women in the workplace and the public sphere as they try to navigate passage between the rock of “likeability” and the hard place of leadership qualities. Using research and anecdotes, she discusses why people see women who exhibit strength and achievement as cold and underhanded, but perceive warm, generous women as weak and incompetent. Menendez will take you on a journey to break free. And succeed as you are!
7. Mind Hacking – How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days
The mind revolution is underway. Once befuddled by drugs and alcohol, Sir John Hargrave drew on his coding background to hack his addiction and transform his life. In this humorous, practical guide, he shares his system of objective mind training. He offers ways to identify negative mental loops and generate fresh “positive loops”. He provides numerous “mind games” to build healthy patterns of concentration and “meta-thinking”, as well as a 21-day challenge of playful personal mind transformation.
8. The Little Book Of Big Change – The No-Willpower Approach to Breaking Any Habit
Social psychologist Amy Johnson offers a fresh take on controlling bad habits. Rather than encourage people with negative habits and addictions to view themselves as sick and telling them to fight against their habits with willpower, Johnson teaches them simply to be mindful of their urges and forget willpower altogether. Combining spiritual psychology, personal anecdotes and neuroscience research, this book offers an alternative framework for anyone who wants to overcome a bad habit.
9. The Upside Of Stress – Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It
Search ‘Stress’ in Google and you immediately form a view on how negative it is – the “health epidemic of the 21st century”, “one of the biggest health hazards in the workplace“.
Stanford University psychologist Kelly McGonigal offers a rare contrarian look at stress. She disputes overblown warnings about stress’s toxicity and cites studies showing that pressure harms only those people who believe it harmful. By contrast, those who embrace stress and use it to fuel their efforts are happier, healthier and more productive. She engagingly describes dozens of paradigm-smashing studies, relates stories of how embracing stress transforms lives and offers practical advice on reworking your relationship with stress.
10. The Achievement Habit – Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life
This career book does exactly what it says – it helps you stop wishing, start doing and take charge. Packed with practical suggestions and motivational secrets, Roth provides ways to achieve goals you might not otherwise reach. Most of his ideas are easy to implement too! We recommend his insights to anyone seeking to free themselves from destructive habits and become more productive.
Summary
Women face many challenges in the corporate world – unequal promotion opportunities, societal pressure, biased evaluations.
These 10 eye-opening and practical career book ideas will equip you with the right tools to overcome these challenges and have the career success you’re working so hard towards.
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