Corsini’s Top Read, Watch or Listen List: Summer Edition, Part 1

by | May 18, 2021 | Uncategorized

Part 1 of 2

It is time again to offer my top reading (and watching or listening) suggestions for 2021. We do this every May in anticipation of summer vacations. Last year, many of us were limited to “staycations,” but now we’re anticipating getting out and going somewhere—maybe to a favorite vacation spot or perhaps even somewhere new.  

Whatever you do, wherever you go, remember that summer is about finding time to focus on Family (and friends), Fitness and Fun—three of our 7 F’s of True Success.

These suggestions of things to read, watch or listen to will come in two parts—the first part this week, the rest will be in our next blog post.

Enjoy!

Corsini’s Top Read, Watch or Listen List (especially for leaders and listed by topic):

  1. Change. Disrupt Yourself: Master Relentless Change and Speed Up Your Learning Curve by Whitney Johnson. This latest, updated edition starts with a new introduction, but, in our world of unimaginable disruptive change, the advice here remains timeless. This book is aimed at high-growth individuals (and those working to attain that status) with ideas (and tools) for embracing meaningful change to not only keep up but also set the pace for others. Check out this TED Talk to see how Johnson started out in a sales administration position before disrupting her own day-to-day to become a successful investment banking research analyst.
  2. Positive self-talk & mental toughness. Chop Wood Carry Water: How to Fall in Love with the Process of Becoming Great by Joshua Medcalf. I’ve listened to this book three times in the past 12 months. For those of you who follow Coach Nick Saban, a lot of what Medcalf says will sound familiar. (“Surrender the outcome, and commit to the process.”) The book is a powerful story of one boy’s journey to achieve his life goal of becoming a samurai warrior, but it’s ultimately about overcoming obstacles and self-doubt.
  3. Entrepreneurship. BE 2.0 (Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0): Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company by Jim Collins & William Lazier. I have been a “Collins disciple” for years. This is an updated version of his classic Beyond Entrepreneurship. You’ll find new content and insights that expand upon the original bestselling and influential text with an important 2020 perspective. There are four new chapters here as well as 15 new essays to pull together more than three decades of research. Collins wrote Beyond Entrepreneurship with Lazier, who passed away in 2005, and in this new version, he pays homage to his “greatest mentor.”
  4. Biography. The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger. In this memoir of leadership and success, Iger, who is credited with reinventing Disney, offers 10 principles that are necessary for true leadership. These include optimism, courage, decisiveness and fairness. His own leadership (always with an eye to the future) has been beyond impressive. Today, the Disney company counts Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox among its properties. There’s a Disneyland in China now, and the company’s ESPN + and Disney + and Hulu subscription services were ideally situated to make pandemic quarantine easier to endure (while making Disney even more profitable).
  5. Overcoming limiting beliefs. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz with Janet Mills. I have no idea where I found this book—but I’m glad I did. The agreements are simple—that’s why they are so powerful. I’ll go ahead and share a couple.  First, be impeccable with your word. (I like to call this “speaking authentically” to everyone.) Second, don’t take anything personally. We live in a world where everyone seems to take offense at the slightest slights. Think how much more peaceful it would be if every time we heard someone say something hurtful or contrary to our own beliefs, we thought: “That’s their reality, not mine.” You can listen to the entire audiobook on YouTube.

The rest of the list will be in our next blog post on Tuesday, May 25. Until then, keep doing what you do better!