Open Up: 10 Great New Books By Women For Women Who Read To Lead
These 10 books add up to a library of great reads by women for women.
In her new book, Backroads Boss Lady: Happiness Ain’t a Side Hustle- Straight Talk On Creating The Life Your Deserve, Jessi Roberts, founder of Cheekys, a clothing and accessories brand with $6 million a year that she launched in a small Idaho store, tells it like it is.
“Success isn’t about the killer idea. Success is about incremental change: evolving an old concept in to a slightly better idea, then putting in the effort to make it work,” Roberts writes, in the book written with Brett Witter.
“#Books by these great women add up to an epic library: @DrNancyOReilly, @ReemaZaman, @1stladyofcolors, @JudyRinger, @LydiaFenet, @ericacerulo, @clairemazur, @joankuhl, @drjoyGPP, @BlackAwyfrmHome, @ToniMorrrison”
If you’re looking for a light read that is heavy in honesty and inspiration, this may be the one for you, as Roberts writes about family struggles, failures and joys, as well as rural life, sisterhood and what she calls “finding contentment without compromise.”
It’s not quite beach reading season for most of us, but it is a good time to take advantage of all the new books out now and coming soon this spring that highlight women’s stories of leadership, entrepreneurship, success and more. Some of these books are about how to access your power, and some are about how to access your humanity, empathy, or just allow you to sit and enjoy a well-written collection of essays.
In This Together: How Successful Women Support Each Other in Work and Life by Nancy D. O’Reilly. The founder of Women Connect4Good, and chair of the board of Take The Lead, O’Reilly’s latest book tells the stories of 40 successful women from a wide range of fields to show how working together instead of competing against each other makes us all stronger.
I Am Yours: A Shared Memoir by Reema Zaman. The award-winning author, speaker, and actress born in Bangladesh, raised in Hawaii and Thailand, and living in Oregon tells her story and urges all women “to break through the limits placed on us by family, society, and tradition. To find our voices. To make space for ourselves in this world. Now is the moment to reclaim what was once lost, stolen, forsaken, or abandoned.”
Read more in Take The Lead on books we recommend for women leaders
I’m Not Really a Waitress: How One Woman Took Over the Beauty Industry One Color at a Time by Suzi Weiss-Fischmann. The founder and creator of OPI, yes, the nail polish everyone has 100 bottles of in her home, writes about how she transformed a small dental supply company into a top global beauty brand.
Turn Enemies into Allies: The Art of Peace in the Workplace (Conflict Resolution for Leaders, Managers, and Anyone Stuck in the Middle) by Judy Ringer. A conflict and communication skills trainer, black belt in Aikido, and founder of Power & Presence Training and Portsmouth Aikido, Ringer may be providing the guidebook everyone needs who works in a high-conflict work culture. She “provides a way of working with clashing employees that is deliberate and systematic, informed by the author’s expertise in conflict and communication-skills building and a decades-long practice in mind-body principles.”
“In her book #TurnEnemiesIntoAllies, @JudyRinger may be providing the guidebook everyone needs who works in a high-conflict work culture.”
The Most Powerful Woman in the Room Is You: Command an Audience and Sell Your Way to Success by Lydia Fenet. The senior vice president of Christie’s and an auctioneer, Fenet knows a bit about selling to the highest bidder. She “shares the secrets of success and the strategies behind her sales approach to show how to channel one’s own power in any room.”
Work Wife: The Power of Female Friendship to Drive Successful Businesses by Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur. Close friends IRL and founders of the fashion and design website Of a Kind, Cerulo and Mazur celebrate how female friendship can “fuel successful businesses.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Gloria Feldt’s bestseller, “No Excuses”
Dig Your Heels in: Navigate Corporate BS and Build the Company You Deserve by Joan Kuhl. Founder and President of Why Millennials Matter, Kuhl writes about ways to engage, retain and advance women at work. “This is the first book of its kind to truly arm women to hold their ground and play the long game, staying and advancing in corporate careers. It is the roadmap that shows women how increasing their breadth of experience gives them more power to identify opportunities for and effect innovative and equitable change. “
From Sabotage to Support: A New Vision for Feminist Solidarity in the Workplace by Joy L. Wiggins and Kami J. Anderson. An equity and diversity consultant, Wiggins; and Anderson, author, scholar and founder and CEO of Bilingual Brown Babies, together show “how to take an active approach to better understand ourselves, the biases we may be holding without realizing it, and lift up other women along the way. By pausing to reflect before acting, it is possible to make a different choice, interrupt our action, and take steps to improve our world rather than perpetuate injustices, knowingly and unknowingly. This new book frames sabotage as both a historical inheritance and contextualizes the current problem, providing practical solutions that women can start using in the workplace right away, regardless of their position.”
“Even though it’s not quite the season for beach reading, books #bywomenforwomen highlight women’s stories of #leadership, #entrepreneurship, #success, and more.”
The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations by Toni Morrison. The Nobel Laureate and beloved author, Morrison has a collection of decades worth of essays, letters, speeches and more on politics, life and art.
Hopefully you will check out some of these titles to read, listen to and enjoy.
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About the Author
Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com