Making Work Matter: How to Create Positive Change in Your Company and Meaning in Your Career
By Nancy McGaw, Royal Oak Press
Westchester-based writer Nancy McGaw, senior advisor at the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program, has penned a playbook about developing leadership and innovation. In 2009, McGaw founded the Aspen Institute First Movers Fellowship, a leadership development program that has mentored hundreds of innovators from some of the world’s largest businesses. In Making Work Matter, McGaw shares more than forty inspiring stories highlighting the best practices, mindsets, and advice to become what she calls an “intrapreneur,” or an internal agent for change. She shares how business managers and leaders from her fellowship—including Levi Strauss & Co.’s Paul Dillinger, LinkedIn’s Gyanda Sachdeva, and Walmart’s Rahul Raj—produced positive change, whether it was by increasing a company’s diversity or decreasing its environmental impact. This is an indispensable guide for building a career that delivers value to one’s company, society, and conscience.
Higher Ground: How Business Can do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World
By Alison Taylor, Harvard Business Review Press
Tapping into modern-day headlines about racial injustice, corporate surveillance, corruption, child labor, and the environment, Alison Taylor delves headfirst into the complex world of contemporary business ethics in Higher Ground. A New York University Stern ethics professor, Taylor argues that these considerations have transcended their prior roles as legal issues and reputational tools. She focuses on how leaders from the World Economic Forum at Davos and the Business Roundtable have recently ushered in a new era of corporate responsibility. Taylor explains why organizations struggle to implement innovative ideas and, using instructive stories and examples from her career in anti-corruption, breaks down how leaders can reshape their approach to ethics.
This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans
By Seth Godin, Authors Equity
With 22 bestselling business books to his name and the self-styled inventor of email marketing, Seth Godin is one of the most influential business thinkers. In This is Strategy, readers will find invaluable approaches to taking on a host of daunting corporate challenges. Godin, who founded two Internet-based companies, Squidoo (bought by HubPages) and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!), explains how to identify one’s audience and craft engaging work that won’t be ignored. Named a “Best Non-Fiction Book of 2024” from The Next Big Idea Book Club, This is Strategy delves into how individuals can prioritize long-term thinking over instant gratification while making intelligent, purposeful, and positive business choices.
Related: This Virtual Career Center Can Help Map Long-Term Job Goals
