It takes mentorship, time and experience to grow into a people manager or UX design leader. You don’t always need a mentor; books are a great option for efficient self-mentorship. The right pick at the right time can sometimes provide 10x the value of an actual mentor-mentee relationship.

Think about it – a book can summarise someone’s decades of life experience in a way you can consume in days.

In this video, I share 10+ that have been transformative for my own development into a UX design leader. Many of these picks might surprise you–they’re not the typical ‘bubblegum’ recommendations that designers call out.

Leadership books mentioned

For full disclosure: I’ll receive a cent or two from each of the books purchased.

1. 1:06 James Altucher’s Choose Yourself – https://amzn.to/2RoRyih
2. 1:46 Jocko Willink’s Extreme Ownership – https://amzn.to/3wJYAhL Discipline Equals Freedom – https://amzn.to/3dP2bT7
   Leadership Tactics and Strategy – https://amzn.to/3d5KTSx
   The dichotomy of leadership – https://amzn.to/3wGICoy
3. 4:33 Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way – https://amzn.to/3uDlFAP
   Ego is the enemy – https://amzn.to/3mCy45q
4. 5:32 Ian Robertson’s The Winner’s Effect – https://amzn.to/2RgtnCs
5. 6:28 Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game – https://amzn.to/2QdoXf0
6. 7:46 Simon Sinek’s Start with Why – https://amzn.to/3uJPtvL
7. 9:18 Karen Pryor’s Don’t Shoot the Dog – https://amzn.to/2RjERoJ
8. 10:51 Seth Godin’s What to do when it’s your turn (and it’s always your turn) – https://amzn.to/3g0EI3N
9. 11:36 Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power – https://amzn.to/2RsOVMx
10. 13:31 Nassim Taleb’s Skin in the Game – https://amzn.to/2PQndZv
    Antifragile – https://amzn.to/3wFhcj3

As always, not all of these books might be useful to you. I believe that our context and needs at the time shape what we get out of each book, so your mileage may vary with each of these recommendations. That said, most of the picks in this particular video are evergreen recommendations that can apply to any time in your life.