This is a combination of confession and critical commentary. I set out to write a post promoting some of my favourite women writers. What I saw in my library shocked me. No more than a handful of the hundreds of books which have most influenced my thinking about organisations, leadership and business are written by women. WOW!!! This has not happened by design. I simply choose books that interest me. If I relay to you the books which have impacted me most profoundly they are mostly written by men or occasionally by a woman with a man (whose name usually comes first on the reference). When I probed this a little I discovered that the majority of popular business and leadership books are written by men. So,
Firstly, I apologise to the women authors out there for not being more deliberate in choosing to read your writings!
Secondly, ladies, more of us need to be writing books that will be taken seriously in the leadership environment.
Thirdly, I am committing to reading at least one woman-authored book to every three male-authored books and to promoting the best ones to others!
Finally, here are some outstanding women-authored books that I have read. Can I inspire you to read these and help me to find others? There's a post dated 20 August on the Engagement Dynamics LinkedIn page where you can make suggestions.
Liz Wiseman: Multipliers and Rookie Smarts
Pamela Meyer: From Workplace to Playspace
Teresa Amabile (with Steven Kramer): The Progress Principle
Lisa Lahey (with Robert Kegan): Immunity to Change and An Everyone Culture
Brene Brown: Daring Greatly and Rising Strong (and of course she has others!!)
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