Recently I led The Art of Professional Reinvention, a three-night online workshop for 40Plus of Greater Washington, which followed an in-person version of the workshop I led in February. I compiled and curated for the workshop participants an extended list of books about and related to reinventing yourself in the workplace, a topic that is more important now than ever.
This list is based on the one I sent to the participants:
Marci Alboher: The Encore Career Handbook: How to Make a Living and a Difference in the Second Half of Life
Paul Arden: It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be; Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite
Bill Barnett: The Strategic Career: Let Business Principles Guide You
Robbie Kellman Baxter: The Membership Economy: Find Your Super Users, Master the Forever Transaction, and Build Recurring Revenue
Warren Berger: The Book of Beautiful Questions: The Powerful Questions That Will Help You Decide, Create, Connect, and Lead
Ayse Birsel: Design the Life You Love: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Meaningful Future
Jenny Blake: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
Sara Bliss: Take the Leap: Change Your Career, Change Your Life
Andy Boynton and Bill Fischer: The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make them Happen
William Bridges and Susan Bridges: Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes
Po Bronson: What Should I Do with My Life? The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question
Tim Brown: Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, Revised and Updated
John Hope Bryant: Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World
Bob Buford: Drucker & Me: What a Texas Entrepreneur Learned from the Father of Modern Management; Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance, 20th anniversary edition
David Burkus: Friend of a Friend . . .: Understanding the Hidden Networks That Can Transform Your Life and Your Career
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans: Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life; Designing Your Work Life: How to Thrive and Change and Find Happiness at Work
Tom Butler-Bowdon: Never Too Late To Be Great: The Power of Thinking Long; 50 Classics (entire series of books; Psychology, Self-Help, Success, etc.)
Julia Cameron: The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, 25th Anniversary Edition; It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again: Discovering Creativity and Meaning at Midlife and Beyond
Ryder Carroll: The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future
Alexandra Cavoulacos and Kathryn Minshew: The New Rules of Work: The Modern Playbook for Navigating Your Career
Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon: How Will You Measure Your Life?
Robert Cialdini: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion; Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
Dorie Clark: Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future
Tim Clark and Alexander Osterwalder: Business Model You: A One-Page Method for Reinventing Your Career
Chip Conley: Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder; Emotional Equations: Simple Steps for Creating Happiness + Success in Business + Life
Mike Connell and Dr. Frank Jenio: Don’t Retire: Reinvent Yourself: Getting Up to Speed on a New Journey in Life
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life; Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Ray Dalio: Principles: Life and Work
Peter Drucker: Managing Oneself (Harvard Business Review Classics)
Peter Drucker, Frances Hesselbein, Joan Snyder Kuhl: Peter Drucker’s Five Most Important Questions: Enduring Wisdom for Today’s Leaders
David Epstein: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
Bruce Feiler: Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age
Bruce Frankel: What Should I Do with the Rest of My Life? True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half of Life
Marc Freedman: Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life; How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations
Carmine Gallo: Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great; The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don’t
Howard Gardner: Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People’s Minds; Five Minds for the Future
Michael J. Gelb: The Art of Connection: 7 Relationship-Building Skills Every Leader Needs Now; How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day
Daniel Goleman: Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence; The Emotionally Intelligent Leader
Dawn Graham: Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers — and Seize Success
Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott: The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity
(also see Scott and Gratton below)
Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler: Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Revised and Updated Second Edition
Barbara Bradley Hagerty: Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife
Charles Handy: The Second Curve: Thoughts on Reinventing Society
Kerry Hannon: Great Pajama Jobs: Your Complete Guide to Working from Home; Great Jobs for Everyone 50 +, Updated Edition: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy…and Pays the Bills; Never Too Old to Get Rich: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Starting a Business Mid-Life;
Edward D. Hess: Hyper-Learning: How to Adapt to the Speed of Change
Edward D. Hess and Katherine Ludwig: Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age
Frances Hesselbein: My Life in Leadership: The Journey and Lessons Learned Along the Way
Rasmus Hougaard, Jacqueline Carter, and Gillian Coutts: One Second Ahead: Enhance Your Performance at Work with Mindfulness
Herminia Ibarra: Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader; Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career
Amantha Imber: The Innovation Formula: The 14 Science-Based Keys for Creating a Culture Where Innovation Thrives
Jo Ann Jenkins: Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age
Ravin Jesuthasan and John W. Boudreau: Reinventing Jobs: A 4-Step Approach for Applying Automation to Work
Bernadette Jiwa: Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights Into The Next Big Thing
Bob Johansen: Full-Spectrum Thinking: How to Escape Boxes in a Post-Categorical Future; The New Leadership Literacies: Thriving in a Future of Extreme Disruption and Distributed Everything
Whitney Johnson: Disrupt Yourself: Master Relentless Change and Speed Up Your Learning Curve
Rob Jolles: Why People Don’t Believe You…: Building Credibility from the Inside Out
Jon Kabat-Zinn: Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life; 10th anniversary edition
Jennifer B. Kahnweiler: Quiet Influence: The Introvert’s Guide to Making a Difference
Rich Karlgaard: Late Bloomers: The Power of Patience in a World Obsessed with Early Achievement
Judith H. Katz and Frederick A. Miller: Opening Doors to Teamwork and Collaboration: 4 Keys That Change Everything
Guy Kawasaki: The Art of the Start 2.0: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
Tom Kelley and David Kelley: Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All
Austin Kleon: Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad
Richard J. Leider and Alan M. Webber: Life Reimagined: Discovering Your New Life Possibilities
Mark Levy: Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content
Mike Lewis: When to Jump: If the Job You Have Isn’t the Life You Want
Matthew E. May: The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules for Winning in the Age of Excess Everything
Annie McKee: How to Be Happy at Work: The Power of Purpose, Hope, and Friendship
Jacob Morgan: The Future of Work: Attract New Talent, Build Better Leaders, and Create a Competitive Organization
Maria Leonard Olsen: 50 After 50: Reframing the Next Chapter of Your Life
Parker J. Palmer: On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old
Natalia Peart: Future Proofed: The New Rules of Success in WORK & LIFE for our Modern World
Daniel H. Pink: Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us; A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future
Shonda Rhimes: Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
Joyce M. Roché with Alexander Kopelman: The Empress Has No Clothes: Conquering Self-Doubt to Embrace Success
Bruce Rosenstein: Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way: Developing and Applying a Forward-Focused Mindset; Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life
Liz Ryan: Reinvention Roadmap: Break the Rules to Get the Job You Want and Career You Deserve
John P. Schuster: Answering Your Call: A Guide for Living Your Deepest Purpose
Andrew J. Scott and Lynda Gratton: The New Long Life: A Framework for Flourishing in a Changing World (published 12-1-20); also see Gratton and Scott above
Tina Seelig: Creativity Rules: Get Ideas Out of Your Head and into the World
Martin Seligman: Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being
G. Richard Shell: The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas (with Mario Moussa); Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success
Cecily Sommers: Think Like a Futurist: Know What Changes, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next
Mike Steib: The Career Manifesto: Discover Your Calling and Create an Extraordinary Life
Gretchen Ki Steidle: Leading from Within: Conscious Social Change and Mindfulness for Social Innovation
Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind: The Future of the Professions: How Technology Will Transform the Work of Human Experts
John Tarnoff: Boomer Reinvention: How to Create Your Dream Career Over 50
Clifton L. Taulbert and Gary Schoeniger: Who Owns the Ice House? Eight Life Lessons From an Unlikely Entrepreneur
George E. Vaillant: Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development
Tess Vigeland: Leap: Leaving a Job with No Plan B to Find the Career and Life You Really Want
Rick Wartzman: The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America
Elizabeth White: 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal: Your Guide to a Better Life
Jason W. Womack: Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Achieve More
Devora Zack: Networking for People Who Hate Networking, Second Edition: A Field Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed, and the Underconnected, 2nd edition; Singletasking: Get More Done-One Thing at a Time
As with other book lists I’ve recently curated, this is not meant to be exhaustive or definitive, though it’s extensive enough that it is unlikely you can work through all of these books within the next year. If any make an impression on you, or turn out to be influential and useful in your reinvention, please let me know!