If you plan to take a vacation or carve out some time to read this summer, here are some of my top picks:

1. The Anxious Organization, Jeffrey Miller – I regularly recommend this easy and insightful read to coaching clients. The chapters are short and summarized well. Miller’s thrust is that organizations and teams are emotional systems where behaviors become much more automatic and reactive than we might think. The author’s suggestions for managing “self-in-the-system” and taking “I-Positions” are extremely valuable and practical.
2. Focus, Daniel Goleman – From the same author and researcher who made “emotional intelligence” a household phrase, comes this new read linking deliberate mental focus and success. As the Amazon summary states: “Combining cutting-edge research with practical findings, Focus delves into the science of attention in all its varieties… In an era of unstoppable distractions, Goleman persuasively argues that now more than ever we must learn to sharpen focus if we are to survive in a complex world.”
3. Peter Drucker – Anything by this grandfather of leadership theory is worth reading. Drucker was ahead of his time and his insights are as fresh now as they ever were. Here are some suggestions: The Essential Drucker, The Effective Executive, The Daily Drucker,andManaging for Results.
4. From Good to Great, Jim Collins – I never tire of this recommendation. Collins is so spot-on with his discovery and description of the “Fifth-Level Leader.” Even if you just Google this chapter only, it’s worth refreshing your memory on this insightful, research-based view of high-functioning leaders.
5. Emotional Intelligence, HBR, OnPoint, Summer 2014 – Selected articles from Harvard Business Review. This was a great find at the airport the other day. These fourteen plus articles come from leading HBR authors including Goleman himself. Some other titles include: What Makes a Leader? Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions;Building Resilience; Negotiating with Emotion. Great reads in the simple and familiar, HBR article format.

Don’t miss the opportunity this summer to expand your leadership horizon, compliments of great thinkers!