Accel5®’s Business Book Summaries of the Month: July 2021

Add these summarized business books from Accel5 to your July reading list.

Summertime is the perfect opportunity to catch up on leisure reading while simultaneously improving soft skills. Check out this month’s collection of business books, all summarized to be enjoyed in minutes!

Black Fatigue by Mary-Frances Winters
Black fatigue is the exhaustion that comes from “living while Black” under racist systems. For Black people, it’s inescapable—yet many white people remain oblivious to its effects in the workplace and across society. As founder and CEO of The Winters Group, a global diversity and inclusion consulting firm, Mary-Frances Winters educates business audiences on racial inequities and the Black experience. In Black Fatigue, she presents her research-driven perspective so that business leaders, diversity teams, and general readers will learn to recognize and address injustices that hold back Black Americans.

Follow Up and Close the Sale by Jeff Shore
Sales professionals perform at their highest levels when they serve their customers and prospects. An essential part of the service that salespeople provide is follow-up. Yet, far too many salespeople haven’t perfected the art of following up. In Follow Up and Close the Sale, Jeff Shore shares the mindset and strategy that sales professionals can use to become experts at following up and winning more business.

The Power of Choice by Michael Hyter
If you feel underrepresented in your organization because of racial, gender, or other differentiators, you may also fear that your opportunities for a rewarding and satisfying career will be limited by others’ attitudes and behaviors. While you may face legitimate challenges, it’s how you approach those challenges that determines whether or not you’ll have a fulfilling and rewarding work life. In The Power of Choice, leadership consultant Michael C. Hyter explains how efficacy — making deliberate choices that lead to desired outcomes — can help you overcome challenges you face. Further, he defines a clear path for engineering your career success by making the right choices for you.

Boss It by Carl Reader
In Boss It, Carl Reader offers a step-by-step process to start, grow, and scale a business. He examines the four stages of a business cycle — dream, plan, do, review — as well as strategies for fundraising, preparing a business plan, and executing a marketing plan. You’ll also learn the pros and cons of different growth strategies if you decide to scale your business and the systems and processes needed to make it successful.

Burnout to Breakthrough by Eileen McDargh
Burnout, characterized by mental exhaustion and lowered productivity, is a growing problem for individuals around the world. In Burnout to Breakthrough, Eileen McDargh presents her prescription for breaking out of stressful patterns that contribute to burnout and finding ways to reenergize yourself. She reveals how to examine what triggers your stress and discover which aspects of your personal and work life drain energy. With those insights, you can develop the resilience to manage your energy and direct more of it to the people or activities you value most. Making these necessary changes will lead you out of burnout to a breakthrough.

Lessons from the Titans by Scott Davis, Carter Copeland and Rob Wertheimer
Long before the Internet Age, America’s industrial giants transformed the competitive landscape. Some innovated, grew, and discovered the keys to operational excellence on their paths to success. Others faltered, rallied, and found alternate paths to profitability. In Lessons from the Titans, Scott Davis, Carter Copeland and Rob Wertheimer analyze the paths that 10 powerhouse enterprises took and reveal the lessons leaders can continue to apply today. Leaning on case studies from General Electric, Boeing, United Technologies, and others, they discuss the importance of organizational culture, balance, innovation and commitment, and encourage leaders to internalize those ideas on their own paths to success.

Elevated Economics by Richard Steel
The future of our world will be marked by change, chaos, and fluid improvements. For the most part, the changes will be inspired by purpose, values, and a desire to improve upon the status quo. As a leader, you must be prepared to capture the upside and find your place in creating entities, industries, and markets that reflect these goals. In Elevated Economics, Richard Steel provides a blueprint that leaders can use to navigate the bold new world that awaits. His plan, which can be tailored to help leaders across industries, is backed by the wisdom and experiences of present-day CEOs, up-and-coming leaders, Ivy League professors, and his own work running public and private companies.

The Intelligence Revolution by Bernard Marr
Artificial intelligence (AI) is behind some of the most important, compelling shifts taking place in modern business. Increasingly, companies are finding ways to harness the power of AI and use it to drive simple improvements to efficiency and radical, broad-scale changes to various parts of their operations. In The Intelligence Revolution, Bernard Marr explores AI’s role in the workplace and how, by pairing it with big data, robotics, virtual reality, 3D printing, cloud computing, and other emerging technologies, leaders can find new opportunities for success.

Digital (R)evolution by Yuri Aguiar
In Digital (R)evolution, Yuri Aguiar outlines how to bring your organization into the digital age and keep it on the cutting edge of innovation. With a collaborative and caring team, a willingness to take risks, a focus on execution, and strong top-down leadership, your organization will be equipped to look ahead and fulfill the shifting needs of its customers. Successful digital transformation will allow you to stay ahead on digital trends and gain a competitive edge over your competitors.

Leadership U by Gary Burnison
The consulting firm Korn Ferry has conducted millions of assessments to discover what great executives have in common. Of the top four predictive qualities, the trait we give the least attention when we discuss successful leadership habits is especially critical for leaders working to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic. In Leadership U, Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison approaches crisis management as a defining test of a leader’s ability to guide an organization through the present and set precedents to keep his or her company competitive when change strikes in the future.

Accel5 features hundreds of business book summaries, videos and articles from top authors and publishers, covering a wide range of business topics to help enhance both personal and professional soft skills.