Must Have Books and Podcasts on Leadership for 2023
My final list of recommended books and podcasts to help you kickstart the year
My fourth and final list of recommended books and podcasts for 2023 deals with leadership traits, knowledge qualities and expertise. Unfortunately, it is a sad part of our daily reality that there is no shortage of uninspiring leaders out there. As I write this, I like many am following the news that anti-democratic protestors have today stormed the Brazilian Congress in an imitation of the January 6th US insurrection two years ago. Yet, despite the gloom, there remain some real examples of heroic leadership we can look to for hope. You’ll find some examples below as well as more more reflective books that may help with personal development as well as professional growth. I hope you find them as inspiring as I did.
Please keep me posted on what you think and if you have any suggestions of your own. If I get enough responses I will post some of them here over the coming weeks.
As always, if you are enjoying this newsletter I would be grateful if you might consider subscribing or sharing it with others in your network.
Warmly
Mick
A Message from Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Zelensky tops the list. I was given A Message from Ukraine as a Christmas present. It captures some of Zelensy’s most compelling speeches from when he was first elected President of Ukraine in 2019 up to his Independence Day address on August 24th, 2022 (which incidentally was also the day I got married so I’ll forever remember that date!).
If Zelensky doesn’t epitomize some of the best qualities of a leader, then I do not know who does. As the forward notes, Zelensky’s addresses have given him “a singular ability to shape how the world things about Ukraine.” This in turn has driven unity amongst his supporters and continued momentum where fatigue might otherwise set in. For this reason, compare Zelensky’s oratorial wartime skills are often compared to that of Churchill himself (which while cliched is arguably fair).
Understandably the introduction by Zelensky is, in his own words, “abrupt, intense, jarring.” Yet, the speeches reveal a compelling vision “about how we can build the future” the world so desperately needs. I’ve written before about the overton window, how moments in time suddenly and urgently alter the previously thought parameters of what is achievable. The impossible suddenly becomes possible. I remain convinced we are in such a moment. Call me a dreamer but should Zelensky and his nation continue to prevail in 2023, then everything is possible, including as Zelensky said in his 2019 speech to the UN General Assembly, “a world in which you do not need to have a nuclear weapon to be heard. A world in which you are respected not for the number of weapons you hold, but for your actions.”
The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig
If you’re someone who lies in bed at night fretting about life’s regrets and roads not traveled, then this book might relieve some of those anxieties. I read The Midnight Library during the week I took off for my wedding. I wanted something light, short and easy to read for the flight but that also wasn’t too close to work. The Midnight Library was perfect and what a book! The central premise is about a young woman Nora who, after seemingly dying, has found herself in a type of purgatory, which takes the form of the so-called midnight library (hence the title’s name). Here Nora has a chance to revisit her biggest (and smallest) regrets and find out what her life might have been like had she made different life choices. Nora’s potential life pathways are numerous (or even infinite) and include moving to Australia, staying with her ex boyfriend, not quitting her brother’s band, and sticking to her budding swimming career. Inevitably as Nora visits each potential lifetime she realizes the accuracy of the old adage that the grass is always greener on the other side.
Whether you’re someone who is constantly stressed about what might have been (or what could have been) had you made a different choice in life, or you just want a great and satisfying book to read, I highly recommend this book. Warm, sentimental, and above all, reassuring, it may help with putting to rest any regrets that might be lingering in the back of your mind.
Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential, by Matt Higgins
This hits the shelves in February, 2023 and is definitely one to pre-order. Entrepreneur, philanthropist, innovator, guest Shark, and Harvard fellow, Matt is a larger than life character who I first met about 18 months ago when he made a commitment on the Global Citizen stage on behalf of the Global Solidarity Fund.
Invoking the likes of Sun Tzu, Julius Caesar, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and his own personal rag to riches story, Higgins message is simple: “forget Plan B and burn the boats.” The premise is that having a plan B ultimately weakens one’s resolve and makes it less certain that success of any scale will be achieved. This is a phenomenon I’ve witnessed in my own international advocacy work time and time again. Campaigners, even before they’ve launched a new campaign, negotiate against themselves and set less than inspiring back up goals. Higgins’ message, experience and toolkit will give us all newfound inspiration for achieving our dreams and pushing past who is all too often the biggest naysayers of them all: ourselves.
The Rest Is Politics (Podcast), featuring Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell
I found this podcast essential to staying up to date and making sense of the fast turning and chaotic nature of British politics this year. It’s a fun, light, entertaining but also information packed frequently published podcast that is usually posted several times a week (sometimes more when a government begins collapsing at speed). While from different political backgrounds Rory and Alastair bring a fun nature to each subject they dissect. And if you like nuance and depth then this is a podcast for you. Now one of the top ranked podcasts in the UK, the series highlights that there is a huge market and audience for long form, intelligent and insightful analysis.
Personally, I’ve long been a fan of Rory from his earlier writings and his time as a DFID minister. And I devoured Alastair’s diaries chronicling his time at No. 10 when the first volume came out almost 20 years ago (yes I was as nerdy at high school as I am now).
If you want to go back through this year, the duo’s interviews with leading current and former politicians are extraordinarily well done. My favorite interviews have to be those featuring former British foreign secretary, William Hague (whose epic biography of the abolitionist, William Wilberforce is a must read), the current Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and former NZ prime minister Helen Clark. I’ve already written in to recommend they interview Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados.
Empire Podcast, featuring William Dalrymple and Anita Anand
Most leaders understand that in order to chart a bold vision for the future you have to understand where we’ve come from. This is not just to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. Leadership is above all about building bridges and bringing people together around a shared vision. Having a good grip on the past, especially of those unreconciled conflicts, can help set leaders up for success.
I discovered Empire while listening to The Rest Is Politics and the first series deals with the British empire in India. I’ve long wanted to read Dalrymple’s books on the history of the British East India Company but have just never gotten around to it (shame on me!). After listening to his and Anita’s excellent overview of the British imperial experience in India however, I’ll definitely be adding it to my reading list now. I hope in time too, this chapter of British history makes it into public dialogue more broadly. As has been noted, for better or worse, the British Empire probably had a larger impact on global affairs than any other chapter in British history and yet it receives so little attention in popular culture and history.
A particularly insightful episode in the series thus far involved a guest interview with British historian, David Olusoga, to reflect on both the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II and more broadly the mixed legacy of the British Empire. I was in Ghana for the whole of September at the time and listening to this conversation prompted me to pay a visit to the country’s Cape Coast Castle. There I learnt about its brutal past as what was essentially a prison run by the British to hold and then export people as slaves. A horrendous chapter in British history.
The second season of Empire deals with the Ottoman Empire. I’m not sure what will come next. Personally, and selfishly as an Australian, I hope they at some stage look at the Australian experience with colonialism and empire and return to other chapters of the British Empire.