Book Recommendations: Linkedin Edition

Somewhere in the middle of undertaking a History degree 18 years ago, I completely fell out of love with reading, and it's something I'd always regretted. Last year I picked up a Kindle, subscribed to Audible, and made a point of rediscovering my passion for a good book. This week, I hit 100 books for 2024. An utterly bonkers number, and one I would never have guessed I'd come close to.

Below, in no particular order, are a handful of the books that influenced and challenged my thinking in a work context over the last year and a half (images link to Amazon.co.uk listings if there's any you want to learn more about). Most of these have been around for a good while and are well established, but if any are new to you, I hope you find something interesting enough to check out for yourself. Please let me know what you think if you do.

If you've got any books that particularly inspired or motivated you in your working life this year, I'd love to hear your recommendations as well!

What's the most interesting book you've read recently?

1. How Big Things Get Done (Bent Flyvbjerg, Dan Gardner)

This was fab! We're always hearing about massive projects that run over budget and long past their deadlines, but this is a book about how some iconic and colossal projects got completed under budget and ahead of schedule. A key theme of the book is to over invest in your planning phase, and keep your implementation/delivery window as short as is practical. It was a pretty handy and interesting read whilst getting up to speed as a newly appointed Project Manager, working for Alec Kendrick .

2. Nudge: The Final Edition (Richard Thaler, Cass Sunstein)

Over the last couple of decades this has been a highly influential book about behavioural economics and choice architecture. If you want to understand why people constantly seem to make irrational and counter-intuitive decisions in work and life, that make them poorer, less healthy and less happy, this one is for you.

3. Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean (Karen Berman, Joe Knight)

If you lack financial training, but want to get a decent understanding of how the finances affect the management and performance of any business, including yours, this is an excellent resource. Written in very practical and accessible language, I listened to the entire book on Audible on a round trip to Bristol and back just before Alicia Fazackerley-Brown was due to start as FD at James Clay and Sons, and came away more confident and more curious about finance in general. I was immediately able to apply several of the things I'd picked up in day-to-day work, and felt more comfortable engaging with the senior leadership team on strategy. Highly recommended!

4. Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away (Annie Duke)

Not long after I made the decision to leave a business I'd been with for over a decade, this was heartily recommended to me by Jess Napthine-Hodgkinson FHEA , and remains one of my favourite reads of this year. A book about the importance of timing in good decision-making, and in particular, the value of identifying your exit point before you undertake a new project or role. Once you're 'in it' on a day-to-day basis, it becomes exponentially harder to convince yourself to cut your losses and quit. A great exploration of the gambler's fallacy from a former World Series of Poker champion.

5. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini)

Influence is an absolute classic, and a foundational resource for anyone interested in better understanding influence and persuasion. Covers more than 3 decades of evidence-based, peer-reviewed scientific research, with a ton of recommendations on how to ethically apply the academic findings in a commercial context. Influence is definitely a bit more dense/dry in parts than the rest of this list, and I did start to find it a bit of a slog by the end, but I would still recommend persevering - it's worth the effort.

6. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (Daniel Pink)

Drive is all about individual motivation, and the huge disparity between the way businesses typically think about and approach motivation, and what scientific research has exhaustively demonstrated to be the reality. This both reinforced and developed my thinking around the adverse impact micromanagement has on both the manager and the employee, and the ineffectiveness of linking performance to financial incentives. I read this whilst preparing to join Jamie Cansdale and the team at ARBOR Ales , and it was invaluable in helping to clarify my thinking and communication early on, when making changes to the line management and remuneration of the sales team.

7. Radical Candor: How to Get What You Want by Saying What You Mean (Kim Scott)

Ignore the click-bait title, this is worth a read if you're interested in developing better communication within and between teams and organisations. Explores the importance of open, honest and frank communication (both positive and critical), but rooted in empathy and understanding, not hostility or unkindness.

8. Alchemy: The Magic of Original Thinking In a World of Mind-Numbing Conformity (Rory Sutherland)

An impassioned and entertaining argument against the tyranny of rational thinking and logical decision-making in business. This is a really fun and provocative book, and will make you think differently about a whole host of stuff you take for granted. Think illogically, be more irrational, and look past the data. Just be careful if you 'like' any clips of Rory on Instagram...you will quickly get flooded with more by the algorithm!