The Teachers’ Christmas Book Wish List
One of my favourite plot lines in Ted Lasso is when he buys books for each of the players and we see the impact of the lessons learned later in the series. I am known as the ‘book buying auntie’ amongst my circle. When in doubt, buy a book - that’s what I say! I buy board books for babies, box sets for tweens and both fact and fiction for family members at Christmas (spoiler if you’re reading this, Mum!).
There is no denying that each book contains multiple gifts: knowledge, entertainment, understanding, escape, explanations, relaxation, lessons to be learned. This is why I am recommending books this year as the ideal gift for your teachers - whether you are a parent looking for something simple this year for your child’s class teacher, or a school leader looking for something for your team.
You may even decide that you want to give a few people the same book - therefore also giving them the gift of a common experience and an opportunity to discuss and action the lessons they learn. Staff Room Book Clubs are increasingly popular as they provide gateways to more challenging conversations, with leaders using the book as a prompt and then asking questions to elicit thoughts, such as:
What messages stood out for you?
What do you think we are already doing?
How could we do it better?
What might be a learning we can implement?
What could we hope to achieve?
Where might we start?
How could we measure the impact?
How might we hold ourselves accountable? etc
Knowing which book to pick, of course, can be tricky and so I would like to share some of my recommendations here for you under general themes. For reviews of each book, you can visit my website by clicking here.
Finding Purpose
Start With Why by Simon Sinek
Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson
Ikigai by Hector Garcia
Drive by Daniel Pink
Happy Sexy Millionaire by Steven Bartlett
Creating Vision
Shoedog by Phil Knight
Work Like A Woman by Mary Portas
The Elephant and the Flea by Charles Handy
Exploring Values
Dare To Lead by Brené Brown
The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann
The Intelligence Trap by David Robson
Exploration of Self
Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before? By Julie Smith
The Road Back to You by Cron and Stable
Changing on the Job by Jennifer Garvey Berger
Self Improvement
Revolution From Within by Gloria Steinem
Multipliers by Liz Wiseman
Principled by Gill Kelly and Matt Hall
Ted Talks by Chris Anderson
Improving Relationships
Listen by Kathryn Mannix
Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown
Quiet by Susan Cain
When the Adults Change by Paul Hix
Increasing Efficiency
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The One Thing by Gary Keller
Getting Things Done by David Allen
The Seven Habits of Highly Efficient People by Steven Covey
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
The Earned Life by Marshall Goldsmith
Building Teams
The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
Impact Players by Liz Wiseman
Turn the Ship Around by L. David Marquet
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
The One Minute Manager by Ken Robinson and Spencer Johnson
Developing Mindset
You’ve Got This! By Margie Warrell
The Five Steps to a Winning Mindset by Damian Hughes
Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed
The Intelligence Trap by David Robson
Thinking Differently
Originals by Adam Grant
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
The Infinite Leader by Chris Lewis & Pippa Malmgren
Think Again by Adam Grant
General Leadership
101 Days to Make a Change by Roy Leighton
Leadership Plain and Simple by Steve Radcliffe
Simple Rules of Leadership by Ken Blanchard
Ripple by Jez Groom and April Vellacott
Maybe these could even be books you add to your own Christmas wishlist. After all, as I used to tell my students in assemblies: Santa always loves giving books! At least he does in my house!
