Must Reads: 17 Great Books From Women Leaders for 2024
It’s time to get your reading list ready and Take The Lead is here with recommendations from 17 authors. The books range from memoir to essays, historical overviews and several practical guides to being the best leader you can be.
“It’s time to get your reading list ready and @Takeleadwomen is here with recommendations from 17 authors. #mustreads #bookrecs”
1. In her first book, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, author, ER physician and former professor of medicine, Uche Blackstock writes about growing up in Brooklyn with her twin sister, Oni, watching their mother, a Harvard Medical School grad, deal with patents and workloads. She and her sister became the first mother and daughters legacy from Harvard Medical School. She writes of the inequities in healthcare and health disparities in a country where only 2 percent of all U.S. Physicians are Black women. Blackstock is the Founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity.
Watch and listen to Gloria Feldt interview Blackstock in her 2020 Virtual Happy Hour.
2. In her latest book, Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1, activist Angela Y. Davis offers essays dealing with issues affecting women historically and currently. According to the book description, “Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, the first of two important new volumes, brings together an essential collection of Davis’s writing over the years, showing how her thinking has sharpened and evolved even as she has remained uncompromising in her commitment to collective liberation. In pieces that address the history of abolitionist practice and thought in the United States and globally, the unique contributions of women to abolitionist struggles, and stories and lessons of organizing inside and beyond the prison walls, Davis is always curious, always incisive, and always learning.”
“In her latest book, “Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1,” activist Angela Y. Davis offers essays dealing with issues affecting #women historically and currently.”
3. Keisha N. Blain, professor of Africana studies and history at Brown University, columnist for MSNBC, Guggenheim Fellow, and author of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, Until I Am Free, in her latest book, Wake Up America: Black Women on the Future of Democracy, offers historic context and the latest insights on democracy from Black women leaders.
4. Certified Business and Body Knowledge Coach Stephanie Wood, in her new book, The Body Knowledge Entrepreneur: How to Navigate Your Unique Style for Business Success, explains why many face burnout and feel disconnected from purpose. A former Broadway dancer/choreographer, now entrepreneur and commercial real estate professional turned business coach, Wood offers solutions to chasing success at all costs. According to Wood, "Learning to integrate your unique entrepreneurial style creates a sense of natural purpose versus trying to mimic other business owners. How freeing it is to define success on your own terms versus living someone else’s story. It is time for women to showcase their talents in an entrepreneurial environment."
“According to Stephanie Wood, “Learning to integrate your unique #entrepreneurial style creates a sense of natural purpose versus trying to mimic other #business owners.””
5. Written by Stacy Feiner, Rachel Andreasson, Kathy Overbeke, and Jack Harris, The Sixth Level: Capitalize on the Power of Women's Psychology for Sustainable Leadership, “offers a model of leadership that emerges from the experience of successful leaders. Their narratives describe four core differentiators of mutuality, ingenuity, justness, and intrinsic motivation—this is a leadership model for the future. This book is written by a psychologist and performance coach, a sociologist of gender and leadership, a practitioner-scholar of management, and a business executive and owner, along with sixteen successful leaders who share personal accounts and practical strategies of exemplary leadership.”
6. In her latest book out in March, gender studies scholar Judith Butler, offers in Who’s Afraid of Gender? a timely look at anti-gender ideology and fear-mongering. “At a time when anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans rhetoric is being weaponized by right-wing extremists around the world, Butler argues that opposing these conservative and incendiary concepts requires solidarity among all those fighting for equality,” according to the book description. Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Time, Elle, Kirkus, Literary Hub, The Millions and Electric Literature, “The aim of Who’s Afraid of Gender? is not to offer a new theory of gender but to examine how ‘gender’ has become a phantasm for emerging authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, and transexclusionary feminists. In their vital, courageous new book, Butler illuminates the concrete ways that this phantasm of ‘gender’ collects and displaces anxieties and fears of destruction. Operating in tandem with deceptive accounts of ‘critical race theory’ and xenophobic panics about migration, the anti-gender movement demonizes struggles for equality, fuels aggressive nationalism, and leaves millions of people vulnerable to subjugation.”
“In her latest book out in March, gender studies scholar Judith Butler, offers in “Who’s Afraid of Gender?” a timely look at anti-gender ideology and fear-mongering. #feminism #gender”
7. In her revealing memoir, Private Equity, author Carrie Sun writes a cautionary tale of her time at a top hedge fund and how the toxic culture was affecting her mental and physical health. Named a most-anticipated book of 2024 by NPR.org, Oprah Daily, Town & Country, The Millions, and Financial Times, the book is “A searing examination of our relationship to work, Carrie’s story illuminates the struggle for balance in a world of extremes: efficiency and excess, status and aspiration, power and fortune. Private Equity is a universal tale of self-invention from a dazzling new voice, daring to ask what we’re willing to sacrifice to get to the top—and what it might take to break free and leave it all behind.”
8. In her latest book, You Get What You Pay For: Essays, author and poet Morgan Parker offers essays and historic context to examine, “America’s cultural history and relationship to Black Americans through the ages. She touches on such topics as the ubiquity of beauty standards that exclude Black women, the implications of Bill Cosby’s fall from grace in a culture predicated on acceptance through respectability, and the pitfalls of visibility as seen through the mischaracterizations of Serena Williams as alternately iconic and too ambitious.” The book description continues, “You Get What You Pay For is ultimately a portal into a deeper examination of racial consciousness and its effects on mental well-being in America today. Weaving unflinching criticism with intimate anecdotes, this devastating memoir-in-essays paints a portrait of one Black woman’s psyche—and of the writer’s search to both tell the truth and deconstruct it.”
9. Out in April, The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History, by Karen Valby is the story of several ballerinas from the Dance Theater of Harlem who became internationally celebrated. According to the book description, “During the civil rights movement, Lydia Abarca became the prima ballerina with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Her successes (of which there were many, including being the first Black ballerina on the cover of Dance magazine and being cast in a Bob Fosse Broadway show) were found with her closest friends, fellow ballerinas Gayle McKinney-Griffith, Sheila Rohan, Karlya Shelton, and Marcia Sells. This book tells the story of these pioneering women, how they performed for the likes of the Queen of England and Stevie Wonder, and provides a snapshot of the history of Black ballet.”
10. In Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet, data scientist Hannah Ritchie is hopeful about the future. Instead of being doom and gloom, she offers a new way to look at progress on climate change. She offers these facts, “Carbon emissions per capita are actually down Deforestation peaked back in the 1980s. The air we breathe now is vastly improved from centuries ago. And more people died from natural disasters a hundred years ago.”
“In “Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet,” data scientist @_HannahRitchie is hopeful about the future. #sustainability #climatechange”
11. Princeton University Professor Ruah Benjamin in her new book, Imagination: A Manifesto, calls on everyone to imagine a better world and then work collectively to make that happen. According to the book description, “Imagination: A Manifesto is her proclamation that we have the power to use our imaginations to challenge systems of oppression and to create a world in which everyone can thrive. But obstacles abound. We have inherited destructive ideas that trap us inside a dominant imagination. Consider how racism, sexism, and classism make hierarchies, exploitation, and violence seem natural and inevitable—but all emerged from the human imagination.”
“Princeton University Professor Ruah Benjamin in her new book, “Imagination: A Manifesto,” calls on everyone to imagine a better world and then work collectively to make that happen. #mustread”
12. Overworked and burned out. In Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It, work researcher Malissa Clark writes about the dominance of hustle culture and how to address it. According to the book description, “Clark examines overwork and burnout, not just from the individual's perspective but from an organizational perspective too. She delivers a comprehensive, nuanced definition of workaholism, busting myths along the way—working long hours, it turns out, doesn't automatically make you a workaholic. She also helps you assess whether you're falling prey to the phenomenon and whether you're creating workaholics in your organization. Clark shows you how to escape the trap of putting work at the center of everything and thus losing your well-being.”
“In “Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It,” #work researcher Malissa Clark writes about the dominance of hustle #culture and how to address it.”
13. White Supremacy Is All Around: Notes from a Black Disabled Woman in a White World from author Dr. Akilah Cadet, founder and CEO of the consulting firm, Change Cadet, is a look at racism, ableism, oppression by systems and ways to approach and dismantle them. “There are books sharing the historical context of white supremacy, providing tips on how to be an ally or anti-racist, and firsthand experiences from Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) which are important. I push the conversation that leads to real change through my story,” Dr. Cadet writes. “This book is for the Black woman who is looking to been seen and soft in shared lived experience. It is for the white person who is immersing themselves in the community they want to advocate for. It is for anyone who understands that learning and unlearning is lifelong.”
14. Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being is an optimistic look at how to live joyfully and with purpose. Author Dr. Sue Varma, a psychiatrist, examines her work with patients, her personal experience and the latest research in psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and neuroscience. According to the book description, “the answer lies in cultivating an optimistic mindset that stays tethered to the real world and helps us make sound and reasonable decisions.” There are eight pillars to help all of us experience a sense of meaning, mastery, and self-acceptance and create lives filled with joy and purpose. Optimists, research has shown, are not just happier and more successful, but physically healthier.”
““Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being” is an optimistic look at how to live joyfully and with purpose. #optimism #bookrec”
15. In Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations, social psychologist Mary Murphy explores how to create a growth mindset individually and as a leader of teams to change the organization’s culture. Out in March, this book explores in case studies and a decade of research how organizations and teams can be “more geared toward growth to inspire deeper learning, spark collaboration, spur innovation, and build trust necessary for risk-taking and inclusion.” In these cultures, team members are “less likely to cheat, cut corners, or steal each other’s ideas. And they’re more likely to achieve top results. In these cultures, great ideas come from people from all backgrounds and at all levels—not just those anointed as brilliant or talented.”
16. Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing is out in April from author Laura Mae Martin. Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor offers insights on how to make the “new way of work” work for you, providing actionable steps to optimize your productivity, accomplish more, prevent burnout, and cultivate a harmonious work-life balance. “Laura brings her unique approach to productivity and well-being to anyone who wants to be more effective and experience ‘calm accomplishment,’ whether at work, at school, or in their own personal lives,” according to the book description. “For more than a decade, she’s been coaching Google executives and employees on how to achieve a state of ‘productivity Zen’—a holistic approach to conquering everything from the avalanche of emails in their inboxes to becoming the master of their own calendars and running excellent meetings. Her strategies have been widely adopted by many, including entry-level employees looking to amplify their individual impact, middle managers, and top executives working across global teams.”
17. MicroSkills: Small Actions, Big Impact by authors Adaira Landry and Resa E. Lewiss, who are physicians, educators, and mentors, takes a look at breaking down large goals into small skills and tasks. According to the book description, “In MicroSkills you will learn how to build your career without breaking yourself, how to manage your task list to get work done, how to build and maintain your professional reputation, how to become a subject matter expert, how to grow and nurture your network and how to become a better communicator. MicroSkills is built on one core, easy-to-learn principle: every big goal, complicated task, healthy habit, and, yes, even what we think of as character traits, can be broken down into small, learnable, skills that can be practiced, and incorporated real-time.”
Leadership Takeaway of The Week:
“Consider how racism, sexism, and classism make hierarchies, exploitation, and violence seem natural and inevitable—but all emerged from the human imagination.” Princeton University Professor Ruah Benjamin, author of Imagination: A Manifesto.
