Following are books recommendation for people who want to improve their well-being and lead a more fulfilling life.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable — This book has been widely recommended by many leaders whom I respect. I gained lot of insights and learning from this book. The best part is that it is written in a story format that makes it interesting and catchy. It has become a habit for me to re-read the book every year so to “re-sharpen my axe” and gain new insights…many of us learn and absorb different message at different time 🙂 .

You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere, Can Make a Positive Difference — I like how the numerous inspiring stories are used to highlight how each of us can be a leader in our daily lives and make a positive difference, whatever our title or position. Genuine leadership – leadership with a “little l”, as the author has put it, is not conferred by a title, or limited to the executive suite. Rather, it is shown through our everyday actions and the way we influence the lives of those around us. All of us is a leader!

How to Say It For Women: Communicating with Confidence and Power Using the Language of Success — Take a poll, how many times you have heard people prefixing their messages with “I believe…” or “I think…”? How did you feel when you heard that? Did you take the message seriously? — I don’t since the prefix “I believe or I think” has discounted the message and has made it sound like it is a subjective view with no solid data to back it up. — Now, take a pause and reflect whether your messaging have that prefixes too? — I confessed that I did in the past as I thought that was the way to sound polite. I was wrong, and people pay little attention to my message. The moment I started to put conscious effort to strike out the “I think”, I noticed my messages became more confidence and my proposals received much greater acceptance rate.  This book has definitely helped me in communicating with confidence and get greater success in my life.

Peaks and Valleys: Making Good And Bad Times Work For You–At Work And In Life — I came across this book after a hiking trip. The book resonated with me immediately, as I just gone through the peaks and valleys both physically and mentally. This book boosted up my energy level and moved me out of the mental valley state. Since then, I can do better in managing my Good and Bad times by asking “What is the truth in this situation?”. I’m also more appreciative and grateful of what I have, keep making things better and do more for others.

The Art of Explanation: Making your Ideas, Products, and Services Easier to Understand — Like how to make complex ideas and information simple for anyone, including my niece who was 7-years old when she first watched the video and managed to learn the concept of computer viruses and worms: http://www.commoncraft.com/videolist . The book is a simple and enjoyable read (live up to the expectation). Takeaway tip: Telling the story effectively: 1) Set the context, 2) Articulate the pain point, 3) Convey the ideal state and get the audience motivated, 4) Go to few topics, explain in layman term, 5) Conclude with simple go to do actions.

The Leader, the Teacher & You : Leadership through the Third Generation — This book has great insights and fun to read. It gives opportunities for self-reflections and tips to get ahead. I especially like and connect to this extract from the challenge: Be the best that you can be: “Making it a priority to realise your potential” means taking every opportunity to improve yourself. It is a willingness to learn, a willingness to accept criticism, a willingness to listen, and a willingness to try new things. I am saddened when I hear someone say, “I don’t see why I should do this when they are not paying me more.” That is how we miss opportunities to become better, stretch our abilities, and learn how much more capable we can be. You are being paid with opportunity, if not with money. Separate the matter of pay from the willingness to do more. If you are not prepared to do more, you will miss the chance to establish your credentials to be entrusted with more. And if you do more but do not get the promotion or recognition in due time, you always have a choice to go somewhere else where your skill and experience will be given adequate recognition.”

Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life — Insightful learning from two mice which normally appear in Children book. This means this book can be easily read and learning gained in just few hours. Like the fun way of learning from two mice in their way of adjusting to the environmental changes. This book takes the fear and anxiety out of managing the future and shows us a simple way to successfully deal with the changing times, providing us with a method for moving ahead with our work and lives safely and effectively.

Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life — Nonviolent Communication is a very good book that gives a lot of insights into our way of communication to ourselves and others. Yes, we talk to ourselves (in our head) so much that we do not even aware of the impact it do to our feelings and behaviors. This book share simple examples and tips in how we can use Nonviolent Communication to enhance inner communication. It helps us to translate negative internal messages into feelings and needs, focus on what we truly want rather than what is wrong with others or ourselves. Nonviolent Communication gives us the tools and understanding to create a more peaceful state of mind.

The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be — I bought both  The Success Principles audio book and the hardcopy. I especially like the audio book as I can listen to it while doing my long morning walk. It has become an educational companion. I enjoy listening to the audio books repetitively so to integrate the learning. This book started with a very powerful first principle: “Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life”. We are responsible for every decision we made. It is up to us to make the change and to do something different. One interesting example shared in the book: “Have you ever noticed that people almost always complain to the wrong people—to people who can’t do anything about their complaint? They go to work and complain about their spouse; then they come home and complain to their spouse about the people at work. Why? Because it’s easier; it’s less risky. It takes courage to tell your spouse that you are not happy with the way things are at home. It takes courage to ask for a behavioral change. It also takes courage to ask your boss to plan better so that you don’t end up working every weekend. But only your boss can do anything about that. Your spouse can’t.” The world doesn’t owe us anything. We have to create it.

The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do — Another easy to read book that uses a business story to share leadership principles. A good reminder to all leaders (can be anyone, even those who do not have the title), leadership is about embracing an attitude of service to others. This book also shares thought-evoking questions that are useful to re-centre ourselves. A good takeaway acronym: SERVE: See the Future; Engage and Develop Others; Reinvent Continuously; Value Results and Relationships; Embody the Values. Finally, ask a question to ourselves: “Am I a serving leader or a self-serving leader?”

The Truth About Employee Engagement: A Fable About Addressing The Three Root Causes Of Job Misery — Another good book that is easy to read and connect to the learning principles. This book talks about why some people are not engaged at work and felt miserable coming to work.  It boils down to 3 root causes: Anonymity, Irrelevance, Immeasurement. The book uses a story to bring out the scenarios/examples and shares some simple techniques to overcome the issues. Recommend this book to all managers who want to become a better manager with more self-fulfilment and engagement at work. The better manager will in turn improve the team morale and reduce job misery of his/her team.