Have you read any of these, my top favorite reads from 2023? Part one

Another year of learning, laughing, and leading has passed and with it, I’ve curated my favorite reads from 2023. 

This is a ritual of mine, to share my favorite books with you.  I’ve done so since 2018.

Books are a key part of my learning.  Since I was a kid I’ve escaped into worlds far away from my own.  Books have been instrumental in learning about ‘other’ – other ways to think, be, and do.

Let’s celebrate all things books!

I’ve divided my 2023 books into the following categories:

• Learning and Development
• DEI
• Personal Development
• Health and Wellness 
• Business Development
• My overall top 2022 reads

Take a whiff and inhale the learning.  And please feel free to share your favorites as well.

1. Learning and Development

Mindset, the New Psychology of Success; How we can learn to fulfill our potential by Carol Dweck.

• I.cannot.say.enough.about.this.book.  It’s a game-changer.
• Learning the difference between a fixed mindset (learning isn’t possible, things are literally set) and a growth mindset (learning, growth, and change are possible) makes a massive difference.
• The difference can affect your career, relationships, mental health, and more.
• I think about and use the learning from this book ALL the time, especially regarding how I react to failure and mistakes.
• In fact, I made a survey based on the book to help you measure your mindset.

Mistakes were made (but not by me); Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson

• I’ve always been fascinated by cognitive dissonance – when we sincerely and passionately believe something that, despite all things to the contrary, is simply not true.
• So I decided to dig in further and this book did not disappoint.
• Some of the most intriguing bits were accounts of people doubling down when presented with evidence to the contrary (including aliens about to carry us away!).
• One of many key takeaways is that we tend to believe others have cognitive dissonance and not ourselves (a form of dissonance itself!).

The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

• I heard about this book when the author was being interviewed on a podcast and scurried to get my hands on it.
• A famous record executive and record producer, Rick Rubin knows a thing or three about creativity.
• The book is divided into very short segments, which are illuminating and easy to digest.
• I often now open my training workshops with a quote from the book (see the above image).
• It’s a beautiful and thought-provoking book.

2. DEI

The Antiracist Business Book: An Equity-Centered Approach to Work, Wealth and Leadership by Trudi Lebron

• “You have to act as if it were possible to radically change the world.  And you have to do it all the time.” Angela Y. Davis (from the book opening).
• I went to a workshop at the World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon a couple of years ago, an event for changemakers and entrepreneurs, where I saw Trudi speak.
• She speaks her mind and packs a punch with powerful examples.
• She illuminates unearned privilege and its impacts and with a powerful message that division is not the answer.

Celebrating Mediocrity by Akarsh Nalawade 

• A  quick, fun read best described by the author.
• “What follows in these pages are some escapades of my life that actually happened in my seemingly eternal pursuit of the purest of all our traditions: an arranged marriage.”
• It was a fun romp through the world of relationships in a world different from my own.

The Seeker- a Novella by Ali Enow

• A beautiful and evocative book written by a Somali UN staff person about dreams, mystical travels, faith, and possibility.
• Ali paints pictures in words.
• It’s a wonderful window into the world of Somalia.

My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem 

• Resmaa deftly weaves the effects of trauma, many generations old (think Middle Ages), to the current day and the effects this has on ALL of us no matter what the colour of our bodies (or hands). 
• “White supremacy is in our blood—literally—and in our nervous systems.”
• “This process has little to do with ideology, politics, or public policy and everything to do with neuroscience and the body.”
• “To your thinking brain, there is past, present, and future, but to a traumatized body there is only now.”
• This book left me deeply reflective with lots of tools to move forward.

Do the Work! An Antiracist Activity Book by W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz. 

• The authors take hard-hitting, critically important antiracist content and deliver them with equal measures of gravity and humour. 
• Part puzzles, matching, stories, and challenges – you never know what the next page will be.
• The content is rare – difficult and hard yet delivered deftly with hope and optimism.
• It inspired me to make it my 2024 annual project.  Join me, won’t you?!

Stay tuned for next week’s Part Two post where I’ll share my favorite books from 2023 on personal development, health and wellness, business development and my absolute top reads from last year.

Now go on and learn, laugh, and lead

Learn

• Check out the books that call to you and settle in for a good read.

Learn some more

• Break out with a good book or three, like this wee baby elephant .

Lead

• Click on the books that call to you to find out more and check out other years’ top reads, including 2022 Part one and Part Two, 2021 Part one and Part two, 2020, 2019, and 2018.