Read One Of These Books On Your Summer Vacation: Become A More Hopeful And Compassionate Leader
Trade out one trashy novel for learning about leadership.
Compassionate Leadership is using your head and heart to inspire and influence others, so they can, in turn, inspire and influence others. This approach to leadership has proven to improve ROI, morale, innovation and retention.
As a contributor focused on compassionate leadership, I continually scan the media for positive and hopeful stories featuring inspiring leaders. In the current swirl of war, political unrest, violence, and economic uncertainty, it can be difficult to find hope in the news media. Therefore, I have turned to books that focus on solving problems through analysis and innovation, to keep hope alive.
I love nonfiction books and years ago, I read a book that spurred me on by Tom Corley, in his book Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits of Wealthy Individuals (2010), found in his five-year study of 177 self-made millionaires that:
I have been striving to read one nonfiction book a month since and I may meet my goal this year, thanks to my efforts to reduce my news consumption. Here are three of the six I have read so far that I highly recommend, for people wanting to become better global citizens and leaders:
Book #1
Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference By Rutger Bregman (2025): The author is a Dutch Philospher who argues that many bright, capable individuals—especially in fields like finance and consulting, the so-called 'Bermuda Triangle of talent'—are squandering their potential on high‑paying but low‐impact roles. He urges readers to embrace 'moral ambition', a mindset that defines success by societal impact rather than salary or prestige. It may sound boring, but he expertly makes the argument for a new professional path as the answer to many problems using historical references and present-day heroes. He has even created a school to help people transition into careers that make a difference called The School of Morale Ambition, which offers fellowships to professionals ready to work on world problems, such as food scarcity.
Book #2: A Different Kind of Power: A Memoir by Jacinda Ardern (2025):
Read this raw and raw book, a master class in compassionate leadership. Travel with the author as she tells her life story from her small-town upbringing to global leadership as New Zealand's Prime Minister (2017–2023), all while raising her daughter as the second-ever elected head of government to give birth in office The memoir highlights how empathy and kindness shaped her leadership style and include her experience leading through the worst mass shooting in her country as well as her response to the the COVID‑19 pandemic. It also chronicles the story of what led her to leave public life after dealing with personal and political challenges that left her 'having nothing left in her tank'. For those of you who prefer biographies told through documentary, you can soon watch her story on Apple TV.
Book #3:Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant (2023)
In the introduction of his brilliant book, Grant reminds us that 'all talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not'. I read this book during our government's overzealous DEI reforms, and it gave me hope that we will return to common-sense policies that provide all our citizens with a chance at education and professional equity. He challenges the myth that talent alone determines success. Instead, he argues that growth, character, and opportunity play an even more significant role in realizing our potential. He emphasizes that:
The book weaves together stories of unsung achievers, research studies, and insights from psychology and education to demonstrate that the most successful people often started from behind—and achieved success not by raw talent, but by capitalizing on overlooked opportunities. This book reveals how anyone can rise to achieve greater things and offers compassionate leaders a thoughtful roadmap for helping everyone reach their potential.
I hope this helps you to escape the grind of the news cycle and find more inspiration through reading. You can find more resources about Compassionate Leadership here.
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