Lead With We: The Business Revolution That Will Save Our Future
By Simon Mainwaring
Simon Mainwaring is the founder and CEO of We First, a branding agency that helps businesses define their purpose and share it with the world. We First has worked with myriad big companies, from Sony and TOMS Shoes to the XPRIZE Foundation and Virgin Unite. Mainwaring’s third book (previous titles include We First and Mark, Mutuality and Mental Health) explores how companies should begin leading with we, or putting the collective above the individual.
Lead With We is broken into three easy-to-digest sections about how businesses can become true leaders and create lasting changes that will help others and the planet at large. You’ll come away from the book with keen insight into how your company can be both profitable and philanthropic.
“We must all lead (proactively decide to do something meaningful, to affect change) with (accumulate like-minded collaborators along the way) we (aim toward a collective, positive future, encompassing all),” Mainwaring writes. “A leadership opportunity awaits for companies that seize this moment most fully and execute accordingly.” (November; Matt Holt Books; $26).
Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies
By Ranjay Gulati
Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati is the best-selling author of six books about business leadership and management. His latest book, Deep Purpose, looks at how businesses can connect more deeply to their purpose and, in doing so, achieve benefits that extend both to them and their customers.
Gulati argues that some of today’s businesses use the idea of purpose to look virtuous on the outside when in reality their behavior is often superficial and half-hearted. But authentically connecting to one’s purpose can lead to myriad far-reaching benefits.
Deep Purpose is a guide for how companies can do just that: connect to their purpose. Where Gulati’s book shines is in its emphasis on putting people and the health of the planet first. Doing so isn’t naïve, he says, but rather brave and necessary in today’s rapidly changing world.
My Money My Way: Taking Back Control of Your Financial Life
By Kumiko Love
Also known as “The Budget Mom,” Kumiko Love helps women across the globe take charge of their finances. My Money My Way offers unique strategies that can help anyone create a budget that works for them.
What sets this book apart from others in the personal finance genre is that it addresses our emotional relationship with money. Love’s strategies include advice for how you can remove guilt from your financial decisions, banish self-doubt, spend more authentically and create a motivational plan that works based on your personal lifestyle.
Wondering why you should trust Love for financial advice? The single mom managed to pay off $77,000 in debt while only making $24,000 per year. On top of that, she bought her current home in cash—no mortgage necessary. We’d say she has an eye for what works financially. (February; Portfolio; $26)
This article originally appeared in the January/February 2022 Issue of SUCCESS magazine. Photo by @crystalmariesing/Twenty20
