Take your mind off coronavirus and become a better manager with these 10 must read books

June 30, 2020 5:00 AM

Although the coronavirus lockdown makes this summer atypical, it can still be a great time to hone your skills or develop new ones. Whether you’re looking to become a more effective manager, make a career change, or improve your financial situation, these books inform on a wide range of topics.

John Wiley & Sons

The Effective Hiring Manager

Mark Horstman

Coronavirus may have caused the greatest rates of unemployment since the Great Depression, but as the world reopens, many firms are considering how to jump-start their hiring again. In “The Effective Hiring Manager,” author Mark Horstman gives advice on how to find and hire the best talent for your firm, both from a skills-based and cultural fit perspective. Based on research, Horstman outlines how to drive success and generate growth and profit through recruiting, interviewing, analyzing the interview and making an offer.

Avery

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead

Brené Brown

Workers reported a 64% increase in feelings of depression since February, according to a May mental health index developed by Total Brain that is being shared to employers by the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions and One Mind at Work. The coronavirus is impacting workers' mental state, and “Daring Greatly” may help employees understand why. In this #1 New York Times bestseller, author Brené Brown outlines how shame and fear creep into our lives, our families and our workplaces and hurt relationships and success we might otherwise be proud of. Brown has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame and empathy, but “Daring Greatly” deals specifically with individual courage and how it can transform every part of our lives.

Remote - Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

The Crown Publishing Group

Remote

Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hannson

With high profile companies such as Twitter and Slack making remote work permanent, this 2013 analysis of the benefits of working from home has again skyrocketed in popularity. New York Times bestselling authors Jason Fried and David Hannson are successful entrepreneurs — they are the duo behind remote-working management platform Basecamp and programming framework Rails. The book follows their workplace management how-to debut, “Rework,” to bring first-person insight on how remote work might be the right path for your company.

Simon & Schuster

Take the Leap: Change Your Career, Change Your Life

Sara Bliss

More than 25 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the coronavirus pandemic hit the country. The employment uncertainty may be forcing you to rethink your career — is finance really your passion? Is sales what you want to do for the rest of your life? In “Take the Leap,” author Sara Bliss interviews 65 people who have changed their lives: Production assistant to million-dollar screenplay writer; attorney to surf instructor; mom to DJ; hairdresser to firefighter. The book acts as inspiration. If they can change your lives, maybe you can too.

The Crown Publishing Group

Brave, Not Perfect: Fear Less, Fail More, and Live Bolder

Reshma Saujani

Since March, unemployment has impacted women more than men, and many women have struggled with the challenges of balancing work and home life while quarantined. But as women prepare to return to the office, this book can help them get ahead. In “Brave, Not Perfect,” author Reshma Saujani encourages young women to “choose bravery over perfection.” Saujani, the CEO of the nonprofit organization Girls Who Code, was the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress. It was then that she saw the gender gap in grade school tech classes and decided to change things. Her book discusses how women should respond to their own expectations and embrace failure.

Penguin Random House

Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Erin Lowry

Many millennials are currently experiencing the second major U.S. recession of their adult life. The book, written to be a type of guidebook for financially strained millennials, covers the basics of budgeting, credit card debt and student loans, but also delves into things like the financial aspect of relationships, and splitting the bill with spendy friends, all topics that can help millennials stay (or become) financially well during this volatile season of life. Lowry’s expertise covering personal finance started with a blog, BrokeMillennial.com, and grew to a few books and extensive media coverage. Lowry encourages all her readers to “#GYFLT” — “Get Your Financial Life Together.”

Penguin Random House

Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away From Their Competition

Anthony Iannarino

Approximately half of U.S. B2B companies have reduced their budgets in response to the coronavirus, according to research from McKinsey & Company. Written for B2B sales professionals, this book begins with the premise that taking market share from competitors is necessary for growth — an approach that may prove necessary in light of such budget cuts. Author Anthony Iannarino, a B2B sales entrepreneur and speaker, outlines a plan for long-term competitive advantage. This includes tactics such as ranking prospective clients by how much they can benefit from your solution and learning about the motivations of different parties in the client’s organization, such as the CEO and accountants.

Running Press Book Publishers

You Are A Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

Jen Sincero

The work-from-home life can act as a restart to what you want to accomplish both in and out of work, and Jen Sincero’s “You Are A Badass” can help you understand what you love and how to be successful doing it. The book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for four years, and has sold more than three million copies. According to Sincero, “if you want to live a life you’ve never lived, you have to do things you’ve never done.”

Dr. Eric Bricker

Healthcare Money Campfire Stories: 16 Lessons in the Business of Healing

Dr. Eric Bricker

The coronavirus pandemic has put the U.S. healthcare system front and center. This book traces the winding ways money influences medicine, based on the experiences of author Dr. Eric Bricker. Dr. Bricker is an internal medicine physician and former co-founder and chief medical officer of Compass Professional Health Services, a provider of healthcare technology and consulting that was acquired by business process outsourcing company Alight Solutions. His stories examine topics such as how hospitals generate financial risk and how to lower the cost of healthcare.

Viking Press

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

John M. Barry

As the world reckons with the coronavirus pandemic, examining the deadly 1918 flu pandemic may prove insightful. Author John M. Barry is a professor at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and a distinguished scholar at Tulane's Bywater Institute and a professor at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. This book is a #1 New York Times bestseller, and Barry has recently been providing commentary on the coronavirus outbreak.