Reading has saved me from myself more times than I can count.
When I feel stuck at work, I can pick up a business, self-help or mindset book and pull myself out of it pretty fast. When my brain needs a break (most days), fiction allows me to live in a world that doesn’t exist, with unlimited possibilities, characters and lessons to learn.
These are three books that have shaped my views on leadership, power and strength. I hate long book reviews, so I won’t write them. But here are some of my thoughts on these three favorites, as well as one of my favorite quotes.
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl
This should be required reading for every business owner and/or adult human. Victor Frankl was a Nazi concentration camp prisoner during WWII. His wife was killed, his life’s work was destroyed (he was a prominent psychologist working on his first manuscript), and he was imprisoned and forced to work in incredibly degrading, disgusting conditions.
What Frankl learns, and what he teaches us, is that the world can take everything from us, except our mind. No matter what they did to him, if he was able to stay strong and free in his mind, he was free.
“What is demanded of man is not, as some existential philosophers teach, to endure the meaninglessness of life, but rather to bear his incapacity to grasp its unconditional meaningfulness in rational terms.”
The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver
This is a book I think you’ll rarely see recommended in the business world, but it’s a book that has haunted me since I read it the first time, and I think carries some very important lessons for us all.
Nathan Price is a preacher from the US, who takes his whole family (wife and four daughters) to Africa, on a mission to bring converts to the Christian church.
Nathan’s hubris knows no bounds. It’s toxic and ultimately lethal.
This book taught me to look out for people who are so convinced of their own narrative that they are willing to put others in harm’s way, emotionally and physically.
As I was searching for my favorite quote to feature here, I teared up no less than three times. This book is hauntingly beautiful. One of the most (possibly the most) well-written books I have ever read.
“But which one among us is without sin? I can hardly think where to cast my stones, so I just go on keening for my own losses, trying to wear the marks of the boot on my back as gracefully as the Congo wears hers.”
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
It was almost impossible to choose my favorite quote for this one, I counted over 30 sticky tags throughout the book, each one a quote that moved me.
Atlas Shrugged catches some hate. Ayn Rand was a controversial person with pretty extreme beliefs about capitalism and the evils of communism. I can admit, I don’t see eye to eye with everything she believed.
However, this book is an extremely important look at what happens when leaders get too much power. What happens when people allow themselves to become weaker and weaker, more and more dependent on the government, and less and less able to think for themselves.
It’s a long one, which scares a lot of people away. You’ve also probably never read this much about trains, train tracks and metal. But if you can get through it, you automatically become someone I want to have a coffee (or beer) with. We could talk for hours, days, probably years about this book. I’ve had two employees finish over the years, and we still chat about it from time to time.
“What do we care about people like him? We’re driving an express, and they’re riding on the roof, making a lot of noise about being leaders. Why should we care? We have enough power to carry them along — haven’t we?”