Resources

Listed here are the books, podcasts, services, and other resources that Bonni and I have used and recommend to help you lead and live better. Here's what the asterisks mean on affiliate links.

Career Growth

• Figure It Out Course* – FREE 8-day course from my friend Scott Anthony Barlow to help you discover what you're great at and narrow down what you should be doing
• How to Be Awesome at Your Job – super popular podcast hosted by my friend Pete Mockaitis
• The Ultimate Guide to Using Your Strengths to Get Hired* – if you are a fan of StrengthsFinder or CliftonStrengths, this guide from Scott Anthony Barlow will help you leverage your results for what's next
• Use Your Strengths To Fuel Your Leadership Journey – my friend Lisa Cummings interviewed me on this podcast episode on how I've used strengths to grow my own career
• What Color Is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles* – still the single best manual for job-hunters and career changers
• Your Career Path is Not a Straight Line – on this podcast episode, Scott Barlow interviewed me on the twists and turns on my career

Community

• Mighty Networks* – what Shopify does for creators selling physical products, a Mighty Network does for creators selling digital products or services (such as memberships, online courses, events, etc.) – it's the community platform for our Academy members

Entrepreneurship

• The Lean Startup by Eric Ries* – exceptionally popular book in entrepreneurial circles and what the concept of minimum viable product emerged, anyone involved in bringing new products to market will benefit
• Smart Passive Income – podcast hosted by Pat Flynn and way broader and better than the title suggests – good for folks working a side gig or small business
• Unemployable – excellent podcast for freelancers and entrepreneurs from Brian Clark, one of the pioneers in creating digital businesses

Feedback

• Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen* – best book I know of on how to receive feedback well

Finances (Personal)

• Jill on Money – excellent podcast on personal finances hosted by past guest Jill Schlesinger
• Betterment* – the robo-advisor where we hold all our investments
• Haven Life – recommended by past guest Jill Schlesinger for purchasing life insurance online, without a lot of the usual hassle from insurance companies
• You Need a Budget* – the service/app we use to track all of our personal finances

Finances (Professional)

• Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman and Joe Knight* – the best, single book you can read to understand most of the financial conversations happening in your organization
• Scaling Up by Verne Harnish* – if you're doing financial/strategic planning in your organization, this is absolutely the book to start with
• Gusto* – they run payroll for us and came highly recommended by our CPA. It's been smooth sailing ever since we started with Gusto.
• Sequoia Solutions – longtime listener Steve Chase's firm helps small businesses with systems and processes like bookkeeping, financial reporting, and Excel training

Global Culture

• The Culture Map by Erin Meyer* – this is the book to help you navigate the complexities of global business culture

Inspiration

• The Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela* – one of the greatest autobiographies of all time capturing one of the most amazing lives of the last century
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl* – a book I often recommend to Academy members when they are creating long-term visions
• What to Do When It's Your Turn by Seth Godin* – will get you started on whatever it is that you need to start

Leadership

• 4 Disciplines of Execution by Sean Covey, Chris McChesney, and Jim Huling* – if you need to move numbers, this is the model that will get you there
• 13 Crucial Books That Every Leader Should Know – my list of top reads for leaders in PDF format
• Good Authority by Jonathan Raymond* – excellent read with a practical model on how to hold people accountable
• The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner* – probably the best, single book on a full leadership framework that almost anybody can learn, backed by tons of research on everyday leaders
• The Look & Sound of Leadership – fabulous show airing the first Thursday of the month featuring a past coaching interaction, hosted by my pal Tom Henschel
• The Power Paradox by Dacher Keltner* – not all power is bad, and this book shows you how to use power well
• Radical Candor by Kim Scott* – one of the best, recent books on leadership, especially on how to balance caring for people personally while challenging them directly

Motivation

• Drive by Daniel Pink* – the single best book on motivation that we know of, a must read for leaders and managers who want to drive deep engagement, not just compliance

News

• Marketplace – the best, daily 30-minutes on what happened in the world of business and markets

Organizational Change

• Leading Change by John Kotter* – the world's leading authority on organizational change details his eight-step model that any leader can implement

Organizational Culture

• Turn the Ship Around! by David Marquet* – Dave is the best I know on teaching leaders to use the right language to make positive change
• Joy, Inc. by Richard Sheridan* – how to build a workplace people love

Parenting

• No Drama Discipline by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson* – game-changing book for you if you struggle with discipling kids from an incredibly well-respected (and research-based) child psychologist team
• Raising Cain by Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson* – how to cultivate emotional awareness and empathy in young men, a must-read if you have a son or an important influence in a boy's life
• Rooster Money* – a fantastic app with use with our kids to manage allowance, saving, spending, and giving
• The Secrets of Happy Families by Bruce Feiler* – just like the title says, lots of great ideas for families and kids on how to make the most of life and enjoy each other

Personal Mastery and Goal Setting

• 12-Week Year* – this book is the system I use for almost all of my personal and professional planning these days
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey* – the seminal book of personal mastery of the last generation, start here if you haven't read it before

Presenting

• The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie* – a quick, classic read by Carnegie on the essentials you need to speak well
• slide:ology by Nancy Duarte* – this is the book for great slide designs on Keynote or PowerPoint, you'll never look at slides the same way again

Productivity

• The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande* – sounds like a boring book, but actually a gripping read on the importance of process and checklists in organizations, plus amazing storytelling
• Getting Things Done by David Allen* – the best single book on personal and professional productivity
• Holistic Productivity Online Course* – comprehensive, interactive course helping you achieve your most important goals, instructed by my friend Tim Stringer
• Learn OmniFocus* – fabulous membership community to learn and get support for OmniFocus, founded by friend Tim Stringer
• OmniFocus – used by both of us and supports the Getting Things Done methodology
• TextExpander – allows you to shorten repetitive typing into short snippets on your keyboard
• Todoist – fantastic option for PC users or those want the most flexibility across platforms/devices

Reading

• Audible* – how I read on the road – the iPhone app is great too (30-day free trial AND two free audio books with this link*)
• FeedBin – the backend service I use for managing RSS subscriptions – also helpful for redirecting most email newsletters into my RSS app
• Instapaper – read-it-later service I use that creates a list of articles saved via browser or email, excellent typography and link-handling
• Kindle* – we both use Kindles for a lot of our reading
• Kindle app – the easiest way to read in the Amazon ecosystem if you don't have a Kindle
• Unread – the best RSS reader on the iPhone and iPad

Recruiting and Hiring

• The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni* – great book on the values to search for in employees and have to practically find the right people

Relationships (Personal)

• If Love Is a Game, These Are the Rules by Cherie Carter-Scott* – I'm so glad I read this book years ago before I met Bonni – it helped in so many ways at the time

Relationships (Professional)

• Conversational Intelligence by Judith Glaser* – this book will provide you with the foundation for great dialogue with others
• Give and Take by Adam Grant* – one of the most popular business books of the past few years – Grant teaches you why helping others will drive success
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie* – if you haven't read this, go get it now – perhaps the most popular business book of the past century, the audio version is great too
• Love Is the Killer App by Tim Sanders* – one of my all-time favorite books on how to treat people right

Sales and Marketing

• Blubrry* – the leading podcast media hosting company that Bonni and I both use to host our shows
• ConvertKit* – the service that powers all our email marketing – and provides lots more choices for our audience on what emails they get than MailChimp used to
• Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play by Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig* – the best book we know of on relationship selling
• Negotiate Anything – a podcast by my friend Kwame Christian on how to learn and apply the skill of negotiation in work and life (CFL311)
• Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss* – fascinating book on negotiation tactics from the former chief international kidnapping negotiator for the FBI
• Pipedrive* – the customer relationship manager that Bonni and I use to handle client notes and follow-up.
• SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham* – a simple, powerful model for discovering how you can truly help your customer
• To Sell Is Human by Daniel Pink* – these days, everyone is in sales and this book will show you how to influence better
• Ultimate Guide to Building a Coaching Business* – if you are growing a coaching business, this guide from Scott Anthony Barlow will help
• Youtility by Jay Baer* – excellent overview for businesses on the strategy and practical steps for effective content marketing

Talent Development

• The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier* – hands down, the best book on how to coach people well for every kind of leader
• Lead Through Strengths – excellent podcast from my friend Lisa Cummings on how to lead people by focusing on what they do best
• StrengthsFinder Training* – the best “done for you” individual and team training program to help you maximize the benefits of StrengthsFinder – use coupon code CFL10 for a 10% discount

Teams

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni* – probably the best book of all time on team leadership
• GO Team – fabulous set of 18 training modules for creating and maintaining outstanding teams by master trainers Susan Gerke and David Hutchens

Technology

• 1Password – the best password management software and a must-have in an age of increasing hacks, both Bonni and I run this for all passwords
• Backblaze* – please tell me you backup your computer somewhere safe – if you don't, this is the service we use to make is simple and secure
• Dropbox – store and sync all your documents between all devices, we use Dropbox to share everything inside our company and with others
• Encrypt.me* – the service Bonni and I use to secure our internet connection when on free public WiFi or during travel. Works on virtually any device (free, 14 day trial with this link).
• Fastmail* – the email service provider Bonni and I use to power our small business. Tons of options to set server rules, provide automatic filtering, and establish strong security protections.
• Logitech HD Pro Webcam* – a great way to build better relationships online is to use video. I use this webcam and its the best on the market right now for most people.
• Mac Power Users – a weekly show teaching people how to get the most out of their Macs and iPhones/iPads – we are regular listeners and Bonni is a past guest
• Optimole* – an image optimization service to help WordPress sites be super speedy – used on both our sites with great results
• Paperless by David Sparks* – the single, best course anywhere on how to go paperless in your life
• Sanebox* – email management service we both use to hugely help prioritize what's most important (free trial and $15 off a paid plan with this link*)
• ScanSnap iX500* – the best paper scanner out there for most households – we use it to digitize visually all paper that comes into our lives
• Setapp* – Bonni and I both subscribe to Setapp for access to an entire desktop suite of Mac apps. Ulysses and Clean My Mac are my two favorites of many.
• WP Engine* – the leading WordPress managing hosting company that powers our websites (20% off their standard plans with this link*)

Writing

• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott* – blockbuster bestseller on how to write, aimed at fiction writers but powerful for anyone doing lots of writing
• Breakthrough Copywriting by David Garfinkel* – if you write to sell products or services…or otherwise influence people to take action in writing, this is your book
• Practical Typography by Matthew Butterick – free online book with everything you need to know about typography in the modern era, without the maddening complexity of traditional style guides
• TextExpander – a key utility that saves me hours a week on repeatable typing (20% off with this link*)
• Ulysses – if you own a Mac and you write a lot, this should be your top consideration, both of us it for most of our writing