Spring is a natural time to reset. Just as clutter accumulates in your home, it may also build up in your calendar, your priorities, and even manifest in your leadership approach within the corporate sphere. And while business leaders often can’t take extended time off, a simple shift in mindset can have a profound impact on professionalism.
Research shows that leaders make sharper decisions and handle stress better when they pause, reconsider, and reinvent structures, expectations, and habits. The right tools can help you accomplish all that and more.
Making a Change by Turning a Page
Leadership is an oversaturated topic in the book industry. However, the best leadership books don’t just motivate; they provide you with stable, action-oriented frameworks that guide you toward meaningful action.
As organizational demands on leaders shift, clarity, adaptability, and better decision-making have never been more critical. Maintaining a perspective that emphasizes intention rather than mere hustle is essential. The books below address this moment in different ways, with some eliciting improved daily habits and others challenging long-term strategies. Yet all share an actionable quality and are written for busy individuals with limited free time but a strong desire to grow their leadership style.
1. Whitnee Hawthorne — The Savvy Working Mom
Leading well as a mom doesn’t require doing everything. It’s about knowing what to let go of, what to prioritize, and how to protect your energy along the way.
In The Savvy Working Mom: A Guide to Prioritization, Delegation, and Making Time for Cocktails, Whitnee Hawthorne offers a straightforward pathway for leaders frustrated by the constant quest to achieve “balance.” She proposes a refreshing, real-life recipe for achieving personal and professional success while avoiding burnout.
The Savvy Working Mom is written specifically for working moms, but Hawthorne shares strategies that apply to any leader with competing demands. This book is brimming with ideas like the Shine | Manage | Surrender framework for prioritization, the 7 Ds of Strategic Delegation, and the important shift from time management to the management of energy. Hawthorne’s tools are tactical and empowering, emphasizing a culture where leaders can set boundaries that matter, reclaim time, and refocus on their preferred priorities.
2. Greg McKeown — Essentialism
Success does not come from doing more. It comes from doing what matters. The concept of essentialism offers a solution to help leaders cut through the noise, regain their focus, and protect their time from unnecessary distractions.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown, claims that success isn’t about doing more things; instead, it’s about achieving more by doing less, but doing those fewer things better. Essentialism embodies this mentality, prioritizing a “quality over quantity” mindset rather than the hustle-based approach many business leaders and managers utilize to drive profit. McKeown uses clear examples, research, and principles to demonstrate precisely how essentialism makes a difference in the workplace.
For leaders struggling to balance growth, clients, and everything in between, Essentialism is not just a collection of productivity advice—it’s a transformative improvement to your mindset. McKeown’s advice removes the pressure of doing it all, offering you and your team permission and a process for focusing on the vital parts of maintaining successful growth.
3. James Clear —Atomic Habits
Big changes don’t require big moves. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones shows how small, consistent shifts in behavior can lead to lasting transformation.
In his groundbreaking book on system-building over willpower, James Clear effectively makes the case that big transformation comes not from drastic changes, but continuous, consistent small changes over time. In his book, Atomic Habits, he breaks down the science of behavior change into straightforward, motivating concepts. Specifically, he recommends focusing on building systems rather than motivation and willpower, offering a valuable strategy for those juggling numerous ongoing priorities and unpredictable schedules. Whether you’re trying to develop a new morning routine, delegate more effectively, or simply make a life change, this book gives you a framework to do it.
4. M. Cather Miller — Pension Clarity
While habits and mindset shifts are essential, a reset in leadership thinking should also include revisiting the forward-thinking structures that support your team, especially when it comes to long-term financial well-being. That’s where this next read comes in.
M. Cather Miller’s work offers an innovative and pragmatic approach to the underutilized leadership tool of retirement benefits. Rather than giving the same financial advice as thousands of other books, Pension Clarity: The Leader’s Guide to Smarter Planning for Our Future provides a straightforward, actionable discussion about how modern pension systems can generate productive businesses while also protecting family wealth.
Miller’s logic aligns with business thinking: less financial stress for employees translates to better performance. When retirement systems are created with a long-term goal in mind, companies benefit from improved retention, management performance, and sustained operations. This thinking is especially salient for small business leaders who want to compete on culture, offering benefits beyond just salary. It allows them to thoughtfully address people strategies that benefit both their employees and the business’s bottom line.
5. Dorie Clarke — The Long Game
In a world filled with one-tap, instant gratification, it’s important to remember that lasting success takes time, intention, and patience.
Dori Clarke’s The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World challenges the general corporate pressure to focus on short-term goals with a compelling argument for long-term thinking. Her book highlights the need to break the habit of urgency and develop a plan for lasting, impactful growth. For busy executives and entrepreneurs, Clark gives a realistic pathway to step back, regain focus, and create space for what ultimately matters.
She starts by outlining a strategy for identifying high-leverage goals, what it means to schedule time for deep work, and ultimately advises on building a network that grows with you. The Long Game is a functional yet radical approach to thinking differently—one that offers a practical tool kit for those ready to engage in the slow, deliberate process of building a legacy.
6. Brené Brown — Dare to Lead
Great leadership should create space for trust, courage, and real conversation to thrive.
In Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts., Brené Brown uses her unique approach of research, storytelling, and keen insight to tackle one of the most confused and misunderstood leadership competencies: vulnerability. With years of data backing her claims, Brown argues that effective leadership is built on courage and clarity rather than control. And for leaders looking to develop strong, resilient teams, that means setting the tone when it comes to trust.
In her book, Brown provides practical support for forming and receiving feedback, holding space for sincere conversations, and cultivating an authentic workplace culture where individuals feel psychologically safe to take risks and show up openly. It is an empowering resource for anyone seeking to lead through change, uncertainty, or growth.
The Power of a Seasonal Reset
Spring is a natural time to take a breath, recalibrate, and lead with intention. Individuals often get swept up in the immediate demands of work habits, so much so that the default is to live in a constant whirlwind of stress and high pressure. Good leaders know from experience that meaningful progress and outcomes start with clearer thinking, not just faster acting.
Whether it’s the systems one aims to improve, the biases one seeks to shift, or the energy one invests in self-care, it all accumulates. Growth does not always mean doing more, but doing what matters with consistency and intention. Let that be your work this season.
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