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

Add these summaries of leading business books to your April reading list.

This month’s collection covers a variety of topics, including women in leadership, personal development, working remotely, management and more, all briefed to be enjoyed in minutes!

Yes, You Can Do This! by Claudia Reuter
The numbers are intimidating: Female entrepreneurs received a mere 2.2 percent of venture capital in the United States in 2019. Women hold fewer than one-fifth of corporate board seats and make up only five percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. In Yes, You Can Do This!, Claudia Reuter argues that the key to encouraging change in the business landscape is encouraging women to start companies.

Firefighter Zen by Hersch Wilson
Fire departments prepare “field guides” for specific emergencies, loaded with tips and procedures firefighters can review en route to a scene. For most of life’s challenges, there’s no such field guide. In Firefighter Zen, however, Hersch Wilson adapts lessons learned in the most intense disasters into broad advice for navigating life. A firefighter for 30-plus years, Wilson draws from his emergency response experiences to share how you can gain more universal insights for managing the stresses and crises you encounter.

The Power of Agency by Anthony Rao and Paul Napper
Pressures can mount at home, in life, and at work, leading to feelings of overwhelm and worry. Instead of allowing those feelings to direct your decisions, you can apply a series of research-based principles and gain greater control of your life. In The Power of Agency, Drs. Paul Napper and Anthony Rao explain how you can access your personal agency to manage demands, find creative choices, and construct a meaningful life that allows you to live your version of success.

Stand Out by Carol Kinsey Goman
You may already possess the attributes you need to succeed as a professional. However, until you learn to manifest them, you could have trouble advancing in your organization and earning high-ranking roles and assignments. In Stand Out, executive coach Carol Kinsey Goman explains how you can demonstrate leadership presence by communicating with credibility, confidence, composure, connection, and charisma to overcome the obstacles you face in your path to success. Her strategies and actionable advice can help you stand out as a talented leader and become more effective in the opportunities you’re given to impact and influence those around you.

Inclusive Conversations by Mary-Frances Winters
To confront the polarization around racial, ethnic, gender, religious, political, and socioeconomic differences prevalent in our global society, we need to communicate differently. In Inclusive Conversations, Mary-Frances Winters explains the social psychology behind why these conversations are difficult but necessary if we want to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). She offers practical strategies to cultivate inclusion and belonging, such as creating safe spaces, confronting fear, acknowledging guilt, and extending forgiveness in the workplace, classroom, and society at large.

Alignment Strong by John E. Quinlan
Leaders are inundated with information on leadership, strategy, cultural assessments, and performance management. What’s lacking is a single, unified framework that helps them align their efforts and work both holistically and pragmatically to effect meaningful change. In Alignment Strong, John E. Quinlan outlines the steps leaders can take to find alignment, balance, and opportunities for integration. His approach can help leaders in every industry position themselves for lasting competitive advantage.

Working from Home by Karen Mangia
Work is undergoing a mass reinvention in the face of COVID-19. Teams that learned to work remotely on the fly are now identifying the innovations and best practices that will shape people’s work lives well into the future. In Working from Home, Karen Mangia looks at the tools, structures, and skillsets that support successful remote work — from hosting productive video meetings and virtual events to sharing a household with remote-learning kids. Remote workers, managers, and teams will find practical advice for meeting the challenges of the pandemic and creating sustainable work-from-home models for the post-pandemic world.

The Holy Sh!t Moment  by James Fell
Many people want to change their lives. Some want to lose weight, while others hope to overcome addiction, create healthier exercise regimes, improve their mental health, and more. In some cases, people successfully achieve their goals after experiencing an epiphany. In The Holy Sh!t Moment, James Fell explores the research around this phenomenon and offers suggestions for cultivating an environment that’s conducive to these sudden insights.

Leading Meaningful Change by Beverley Patwell
Change, transformation, and transition are commonplace, if not permanent, in most modern businesses. Despite their constant presence, few leaders have mastered their management or have the tools they need to support their teams or businesses through them. In Leading Meaningful Change, Beverley Patwell offers a framework of principles and a four-step process that can help you with these objectives. Her approach can help you strategize, develop plans, and organize experiences that will allow you to attain the buy-in you need from your team and others to make each initiative a success.

Becoming Bulletproof by Evy Poumpouras
Few people admit to their fears in the workplace, but feelings of intimidation, immobilization, and overwhelm are a common part of the world of work. Evy Poumpouras knows these fears well. Through her work as a secret agent, she learned how to manage her mental and physical responses to fear and thrive through even the most dire circumstances. In Becoming Bulletproof, Poumpouras shares actionable techniques you can use to identify emerging fears, control your responses, and leverage your feelings so you can make empowered choices through any type of adversity.

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