Last year I got into an argument with a white, cis, male business “influencer” about the booklist he released that, amongst the over 100 titles, included almost no women or BIPOC authors. Of course, his response to me pointing this out to him were defensive and along the lines of “I read what comes across my desk.” Agh.
So, I thought it was time to publish and promote a new booklist – a collective, curated booklist from “the rest of us,” so that this guy and others like him might have some more representative titles come across their desks.
To match the list he and others like him produce, I asked contributors to focus on books that support running successful businesses and organizations.
I also asked that all of the suggested titles to be written by folks who are not well-represented in the canon, (e.g. womxn, BIPOC, trans-identified authors, etc.).
In the request, I asked contributors to consider:
- What have you read that you think anyone running an organization or business would benefit from reading?
- What has pushed your thinking?
- What has inspired you?
- What books do you gift to new managers?
- What books do you often pull from the shelf to refer to?
- What books do you find yourself quoting from?
I want to thank all of the contributors from the bottom of my heart for their suggestions! You can read about the contributors here. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am excited to read all of these books myself!
To access the booklist, click here. The titles are all hyperlinked, so you can easily buy a copy if you feel inspired.
I look forward to emailing this list back out to the influencer, so he, too, can have a more inclusive list of books to read in 2023.