Here are 100 books that The Middle Matters fans have personally recommended if you like
The Middle Matters.
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We often think creating a great work experience is the job of our manager, HR, or CEO. But those people are busy and imperfect. Waiting for someone else to fix your job is a setup for disappointment. My new book is about creating meaning, joy, and opportunities at work, even when your job isn’t perfect. I have an undergraduate degree in advertising and a Master’s in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and I am currently a fellow at the Institute of Coaching.
I love this book because it provides practical guidance (literally scripts!) for managing imperfect bosses.
Your boss often decides whether you get promoted, what your salary is, and whether your roadmap is inspiring or overloaded. Knowing how to lead up and get what you need is imperative for any position in any industry.
An indispensable guide to navigating power dynamics, building effective relationships with higher-ups, and earning more authority, freedom, and confidence at work—from one of today's “most innovative career coaches” (Insider).
“Outstanding. Wilding's scripts and strategies show us a better way to get ahead at work.”—Greg McKeown, New York Times bestselling author of Essentialism and Effortless
Do you feel vulnerable to the whims of your boss, peers, or internal politics, pushing through each day with a nagging undercurrent of anxiety? Maybe you're micromanaged, interrupted in meetings, saddled with busy work, or overlooked for career opportunities. But what if you could subtly teach…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
We often think creating a great work experience is the job of our manager, HR, or CEO. But those people are busy and imperfect. Waiting for someone else to fix your job is a setup for disappointment. My new book is about creating meaning, joy, and opportunities at work, even when your job isn’t perfect. I have an undergraduate degree in advertising and a Master’s in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and I am currently a fellow at the Institute of Coaching.
As someone who is disappointed in the state of the world but still needs to have a job that supports my family (Sorry—Peace Corps), I found this book an engaging path to making work more emotionally fulfilling. It is full of tips to get out of a transactional mindset, build relationships that matter, and make the most of your job.
If your job doesn't improve the world, improve your job. Here's the book that shows how to make work meaningful.
Most jobs lack a compelling purpose. This deficiency makes us sluggish, disengaged, careless, disloyal, unhappy and unhealthy. Fortunately, there's a way to free ourselves from the modern trap of meaningless labor without switching careers or quitting jobs. The scientifically validated practice of job purposing, which involves tilting everyday work toward meaningful contributions to others or societal causes, elevates ordinary work into a fulfilling venture. Do Good at Work weaves rigorous evidence, captivating stories, pen and ink illustrations and more than…
We often think creating a great work experience is the job of our manager, HR, or CEO. But those people are busy and imperfect. Waiting for someone else to fix your job is a setup for disappointment. My new book is about creating meaning, joy, and opportunities at work, even when your job isn’t perfect. I have an undergraduate degree in advertising and a Master’s in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and I am currently a fellow at the Institute of Coaching.
I love this book because it offers an empowering, instead of overwhelming, take on how technology will change all of our jobs. Instead of bracing for impact, this book inspires you to seize the moment.
If you’re building a team or looking to reinvent your career, this is a great resource.
With disruptive technologies on the horizon, traditional employment models are becoming outdated. How will your organization adapt to the evolving landscape of work?
Business is on the cusp of a profound transformation. Conventional work models are failing to adapt to the evolving needs and expectations of the modern workforce. Simultaneously, the emergence of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, coupled with web3 innovations, including the metaverse and decentralized work models, is unlocking a new realm of possibilities. It raises the question: Is the era of traditional employment over?
The tools of tomorrow will amplify human potential, from collaborating in virtual…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
We often think creating a great work experience is the job of our manager, HR, or CEO. But those people are busy and imperfect. Waiting for someone else to fix your job is a setup for disappointment. My new book is about creating meaning, joy, and opportunities at work, even when your job isn’t perfect. I have an undergraduate degree in advertising and a Master’s in Industrial & Organizational Psychology, and I am currently a fellow at the Institute of Coaching.
The word "networking" gives me the ick, but this book helped redefine what it means to build connections in the professional world. It offers many ideas about how to break out of your comfort zone authentically and move beyond awkward moments with grace.
I found this book to be the most authentic and relatable path to building a network.
Transform your networking experience with No Fear Networking
Embark on a transformative journey with No Fear Networking: A Guide to Building Connections for the Socially Anxious Professional, tailored for anyone who's ever felt overwhelmed by traditional networking. Crafted by a formerly agoraphobic LinkedIn guru who became a viral sensation at 30, this guide is an essential toolkit for fostering genuine connections and opening doors to new opportunities.
No Fear Networking offers a compassionate approach to networking, addressing the challenges faced by socially anxious professionals through practical, actionable strategies. From understanding the nuances of social anxiety to mastering the art of…
I am a physician with over 30 years as a healthcare executive recruiter and consultant. I have been responsible for launching the careers of future leaders—many are women who have defied the odds to become senior executives In every area of healthcare. Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leadersis actually the third iteration of a project that has followed the careers of women physician leaders over almost 3 decades. In the version, 33 women share the lessons they have learned along the way.
While some of the ideas in this book may seem dated (e.g. women sometimes should let the boss believe that their ideas are his to get them implemented), I still like the overall advice to women who aspire to leadership roles. For example, despite old stereotypes, being assertive and showing confidence are every bit as acceptable traits in female as in male leaders. Just as with some of my other book recommendations, the authors use real-life examples to make their points which I think is very effective.
The bestselling guide fully updated for the post-Lean In era
For nearly two decades, Hardball for Women has shown women how to get ahead in the business world. Whether the arena is a law firm, a medical group, a tech company, or any other work environment, Hardball for Women decodes male business culture and shows women how to break patterns of behavior that put them at a disadvantage. It explains how to get results when you "lean in" without being thrown off balance. Illustrated with real-life examples Hardball for Women teaches women how to:
Successfully navigate middle management to become…
I have always been fascinated by psychology and the science behind why people are the way they are. This is probably why as a journalist, I’ve always been drawn to writing personal profiles of fascinating people, digging deeper into how they overcame various obstacles and setbacks. I have read so many leadership books that focus on success, but really found a gap when it came to those in-depth stories, which is why I wrote The Setback Cycle, a career advice book that focuses specifically on that messy middle part of leadership. My goal was to share the stories of people who overcame setbacks while offering an actionable framework that guides us through our own.
Like so many people, I feel icky when I see the term “personal brand.” But this book reads as a step-by-step guide for folks who want to succeed in some area—as a founder, a thought leader, or to look ahead to their next promotion or career role.
It teaches you how to strategically position yourself as you chart your path forward (and is actually a great book to read right after you finish my book) I really liked how she broke down each concept into actionable steps and left space for readers to not only enjoy the stories and concepts but to turn parts of it into a workbook to fill out.
As seen on GOOD MORNING AMERICA and in HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
BEST BOOK of 2023: Awarded by American Book Fest in Business: Marketing and Advertising
Your job title isn’t your brand, nor is the name of your company. You are your brand—because what you do today may not be what you do tomorrow.
When you give meaning to your own name, it secures your professional longevity. If you don’t do the work to communicate your value, other people will happily make up their own version of your story—or worse, forget about you. When your personal brand is strong, your name…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
Having begun my career in publishing, I worked for many years as a management consultant and trainer; alongside that, I have written and published many books offering advice on management, marketing, and job skills, like the time management book shown above, a bestseller now in its sixth edition. I have always thought management often fails by overlooking the importance of issues rather than finding things difficult; I hope my business writing helps identify priorities and shows that the deployment of various techniques and skills can be manageable–and useful.
This was perhaps the first bestselling business book and became a classic. Drucker coined many maxims, for example, saying that if you don’t know where you are going, any road will do. This is obvious, but how many flounder for lack of clear objectives?
Good, sound common sense is here that stands a new look in the present day, even if it comes from a time when legislation and political correctness made things more straightforward while leaving some current issues unaddressed.
The measure of the executive, Peter F. Drucker reminds us, is the ability to "get the right things done." This usually involves doing what other people have overlooked as well as avoiding what is unproductive. Intelligence, imagination, and knowledge may all be wasted in an executive job without the acquired habits of mind that mold them into results.
Drucker identifies five practices essential to business effectiveness that can, and must, be learned:
Managing time
Choosing what to contribute to the organization
Knowing where and how to mobilize strength for best effect
Setting the right priorities…
After a career that took me from designer to design professor, I’ve spent the past decade leading user research practices for growing product organizations. I’m excited about user research because it positions us closer to the people we design for, and challenges us to capture and explain complex scenarios in service to them. Though there are many books that teach user research, my list of recommendations is meant to demonstrate why we research, how we make sense of what we learn, and where research might take us.
Authors Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen run consulting company ReD, where they put anthropologists, sociologists, economists, journalists, and designers together to deeply understand humans in service of their clients. In The Moment of Clarity, the authors share their methods and approach via rich case studies, including their impactful work supporting LEGO in better aligning its products to its customers.
Businesses need a new type of problem solving. Why? Because they are getting people wrong. Traditional problem-solving methods taught in business schools serve us well for some of the everyday challenges of business, but they tend to be ineffective with problems involving a high degree of uncertainty. Why? Because, more often than not, these tools are based on a flawed model of human behavior. And that flawed model is the invisible scaffolding that supports our surveys, our focus groups, our R&D, and much of our long-term strategic planning. In The Moment of Clarity, Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel Rasmussen examine the…
Everyone survives by selling something whether we wear the title or not. Selling has been my career, even before I was a salesperson. I started my career in engineering but quickly realised my passion was in developing business, not designing industrial ventilation systems. Helped by a boss who also saw I was better suited to roles other than engineering (he wasn’t so polite) I went on to enjoy a successful career spanning 4 decades working in Australian, Asian, and European markets that embraced all facets of sales and business development. Helped by great mentors and learning from the experience of others, I have endeavoured to give back by mentoring business owners, salespeople, and writing.
The internet delivers us a tsunami of information. Approximately 328.77 million terabytes of data are created each day – 60 times more than in 2010 and estimated to grow at 20% per year.
How can we make sense of this? What is valuable and what is not? What is real, what is fake?
Mardsbjerg argues that our fixation with data makes us lose touch with reality and that we need to be making sense of the world through deep, nuanced engagement with culture, language, and history.
A FINANCIAL TIMES BUSINESS BOOK OF THE MONTH (APRIL 2017) Humans have become subservient to algorithms. Every day brings a new Moneyball fix - a maths whiz who will crack open an industry with clean fact-based analysis rather than human intuition and experience. As a result, we have stopped thinking. Machines do it for us. Christian Madsbjerg argues that our fixation with data often masks stunning deficiencies, and the risks for humankind are enormous. Blind devotion to number crunching imperils our businesses, our educations, our governments, and our life savings. Too many companies have lost touch with the humanity of…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
Also known as “Margaret Mead among the Starfleet,” I’m a Princeton professor who has been embedded with NASA missions for two decades as a social scientist. I’ve observed missions to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto, and beyond; consulted with NASA as a sociological expert; and written two books, with a third on the way. Growing up, I always loved science and technology, but not just for the ideas: for the people behind the findings, the passion they bring to their work, and the ways in which culture and politics play a role in how science gets done. Writing about this, I hope to humanize science and make it accessible for everyday readers.
What happens when a sociologist who studies white-collar crime and deviant behavior in corporations turns to one of the biggest technological catastrophes of the twentieth century?
Hauntingly, Vaughan finds that there were no evil masterminds, greedy administrators, or risk-taking rebels behind the Challenger launch after all—just a group of highly talented engineers doing their jobs.
I enjoyed her thick description of the routine checks, risk analyses, and exacting reviews that go into engineering a space shuttle, but they’re also deeply unsettling: because she shows us that the certainty that comes from our everyday activities can lead us all astray.
A masterpiece of historical sociology, rigorously documented down to the last detail, this classic changed how I think about the role organizations can easily play in producing disasters.
When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, millions of Americans became bound together in a single, historic moment. Many still vividly remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the tragedy. Diane Vaughan recreates the steps leading up to that fateful decision, contradicting conventional interpretations to prove that what occurred at NASA was not skullduggery or misconduct but a disastrous mistake. Why did NASA managers, who not only had all the information prior to the launch but also were warned against it, decide to proceed? In retelling how the decision unfolded…
