Here are some of my favorite things: reliable books I recommend in my teaching and coaching (and that you'll find on my personal shelves!), tools I use daily, and newer additions and guest recommendations to help build your leadership practice.
Readings
& Resources
Learn to lead your teams by creating psychological safety. Yes, there's a framework for that.
People Framework
One planning framework to rule them all: a method for designing successful programs, initiatives, strategies, even life goals.
Planning Framework
Learn to establish priorities -- and navigate the priorities others set for you -- by understanding, and knowing how to act on, your deepest values.
Priorities Framework
Our Signature
Leadership Frameworks
You've heard that diverse workplaces are better; here's the cognitive science behind why. A super engaging read from Scott Page -- the prof you'll wish you'd had! -- full of case studies and real examples.
The Diversity Bonus
Your work meetings may not feel like parties, but they are gatherings. Learn how -- and why -- to host meetings where people feel warm, welcome, and eager to engage.
The Art of Gathering
Acknowledging that all women still have a lot to fight for in the workplace, this book guides you to be strategic without becoming a Machiavellianne.
It's time to get comfortable with discomfort. If you're a white feminist in a leadership role this book is essential for helping you rethink power and its use for your team.
White Women
Machiavelli for Women
We can learn a lot about leading by reading: not about leadership per se, but about the human experience. These books will challenge you to think differently about how to live -- and how you, and your teams, can show up -- and thrive -- at work.
For Your Bookshelf: Beyond the Usual Leadership Recommendations
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, which is why I only recommend books and tools I know and love personally, or that our guests from The Uplift recommend specifically for our audience.
Talking about hard things is, well, hard. This book helps you plan, prepare for, and participate in the most meaningful conversations you need to have.
Crucial Conversations
"Consistent feedback on meaningful work" has become the most important phrase in my leadership practice. This book explains why it's so essential and how to implement it.
The Progress Principle
Practical Advice to Use Today
A big part of creating psychological safety is how you communicate. These are hands-down my favorite books for teaching effective communication skills you can put to use immediately.
For Women Leading at all Levels
Leading as a woman can be lonely, especially if you're fighting for inclusion and belonging. But you are in excellent company! You are surrounded by women figuring it out, championing what they believe in, and making a difference. These books will give you insights into what other women experience when they lead, and optimism that we can truly make a difference.
A series of essays about how women university presidents make decisions and the choices they infuse into their leadership practices.
Junctures In Women's Leadership
It's not you. We are set up to feel unconfident. This quick and easy read will help you wrap your head around why and what you can do about it.
The Confidence Code
Fresh perspectives on how traditionally "feminine" traits can become superpowers for women leaders.
When Women Lead
Honesty + leadership + humanity. This book will help you with all the conversations you need to have, in and out of the workplace.
Radical Candor
Research, interviews, and historical evidence show why women are taken less seriously than men, and what we all can do about it.
The Authority Gap
IndieBound
An edited collection exploring the biases that frame and constrain women's leadership, and offering strategies for developing systemic solutions to upend those barriers.
Women Leading Change in Academia
The tools I swear by for managing my productivity. I teach how to use them together inside The Leadership Academy.
Productivity Tools
Perfect for monthly set-ups, logs, and doodling. My set has lasted me since 2019.
BuJo Pens
My favorite analog holder of all things GTD & BuJo related. So many colors to choose from! Just make sure to buy the version with dotted pages.
Notebook
Getting Things Done
"Because your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them." After more than a decade, "GTD" is still my favorite way of thinking about how to organize all my mental "stuff."
The Bullet Journal Method
A lovely complement to GTD, bullet journaling (or the BuJo method) is a popular, easy, and hyper-customizable method for keeping track of, well, everything.
Favorite Podcasts
Forget shame. Forget scarcity. Here's a new way for women to look at money.
Host: Tori Dunlap.
A faculty-focused look at productivity, happiness, and recovery from burnout.
Host: Rebecca Pope-Ruark.
"Practical wisdom for leaders" from the International Leadership Association.
Host: Scott J. Allen.
On a mission to spark conversation by addressing higher education’s role in creating social change. Host: Southern Connecticut State U.
Everything you wish you'd learned in school about US history, racism, democracy, and misogyny...and how they're interconnected.
Host: John Biewen.
Recommended on The Uplift
What our guests are reading
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathways to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life
Racial Battle Fatigue in Faculty: Perspectives and Lessons from Higher Education
The Quaking America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation's Upheaval and Racial Reckoning
How to Be An Antiracist
The Trouble with White Women: A Counterhistory of Feminism
The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans - and How We Can Fix It
Nice White Ladies: The Truth About White Supremacy, Our Role in It, and How We Can Help Dismantle It
