Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Each year, after reviewing dozens of books about leadership, management, business and life skills, I select my pick for the best new leadership book of the year. During 2025, I reviewed on this blog 48 books, and I choose  Radical Listening: The Art Of True Connection  as the best new leadership book of 2025. To be an excellent leader you need to be an exceptional listener. Sadly, too many business leaders don't listen well or don't listen to a broad enough range of their employees. This great book will help leaders become better listeners  –  radical listeners. “For leaders, radical listening must start at the top of an organization,” state the authors  Prof. Christian Van Nieuwerburgh (PhD)  and  Dr.   Robert Biswas-Diener .    “Unless there is a clear and sustained commitment to radical listening from leaders, others are less likely to be fully engaged with the idea. This is, of course, easier said than done.”  “Most leaders woul...

Getting an MBA takes time and money, making it inaccessible to many people who want to take charge in the business world.  The 12-Week MBA  offers an alternative way to learn business essentials by focusing on the skills and knowledge required to succeed as both a manager and a business leader.   “This book is the result of what we have learned teaching leadership and business acumen classes to rising and senior leaders at  Fortune 500  companies for twenty years,” share authors  Nathan Kracklauer  and  Bjorn Billhardt . The 12-Week MBA ’s unique premise is that business leaders in any industry, any function, and at any level need the same core knowledge, skills, and attitudes to effectively manage and lead.    That core consists of working through and with other people to create value while using financial concepts and metrics to maximize the value created for all company stakeholders. The timeless essence of managing numbers and l...

In her new book, Selling Yourself , Dr. Cindy McGovern shows you how to step-by-step create a powerful personal brand. Using her five-step strategy, you’ll learn how to build an impressive, authentic brand, live your brand and sell your brand.  “Whether your brand has created itself, you’ve outgrown your original brand, you’re ready for the next level, or you’ve changed your passion or purpose, this book is for you,” shares McGovern.  You’ll learn how to showcase your brand to expand your opportunities, establish trust, build deeper connections, have more confidence to ask for what you want, leave lasting impressions, and finally to express gratitude.  One of my favorite parts of the book is where McGovern includes this quote from Mahatma Gandhi :  Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny. ...

 

No One Succeeds Alone  is the inspiring story of Compass Founder & CEO  Robert Reffkin , whose mother, mentors, and search for belonging taught him valuable lessons that anyone with a dream can put into action today to improve their own quality of life.   Each chapter in the book shares a part of Reffkin’s life story and  eight practical lessons , such as:   Love your customers more than your ideas. Find someone to give you the critical feedback others won’t. Collaborate without ego. If you help people, they will want to help you.   Prior to becoming CEO of Compass, a real estate company and technology platform, Reffkin completed a B.A. and M.B.A. from Columbia University and worked at McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and as a White House Fellow.   He has also run 50 marathons in 50 states to raise $1 million dollars for charities — including for America Needs You, the non-profit he founded to serve young people living below the poverty line who are the fi...

In the new book, The Confident Mind: A Battle-Tested Guide to Unshakable Performance ,  Dr. Nate Zinsser , Director of West Point’s influential Performance-Psychology Program, shares his secrets of mental toughness and how to build and master confidence.   In addition to training the minds of the U.S. Military Academy’s cadets, he has coached world-class athletes, a Super Bowl MVP, numerous Olympic medalists, professional ballerinas, NHL All-Stars, and college All-Americans – teaching them to overcome pressure and succeed on the world’s biggest stages.  Dr. Zinsser’s research shows that you perform best when your confidence overpowers your doubt. And, that confidence is a skill that can be taught , improved, and applied by anyone to enhance nearly every aspect of our lives and careers.  “ One trait above all others makes peak performance possible: confidence ,” explains Dr. Zinsser.   He defines confidence as:  “A sense of certainty about your abi...

No One Succeeds Alone  is the inspiring story of Compass Founder & CEO  Robert Reffkin , whose mother, mentors, and search for belonging taught him valuable lessons that anyone with a dream can put into action today to improve their own quality of life.   Each chapter in the book shares a part of Reffkin’s life story and  eight practical lessons , such as:   Love your customers more than your ideas. Find someone to give you the critical feedback others won’t. Collaborate without ego. If you help people, they will want to help you.   Prior to becoming CEO of Compass, a real estate company and technology platform, Reffkin completed a B.A. and M.B.A. from Columbia University and worked at McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and as a White House Fellow.   He has also run 50 marathons in 50 states to raise $1 million dollars for charities — including for America Needs You, the non-profit he founded to serve young people living below the poverty line who are the fi...

No One Succeeds Alone  is the inspiring story of Compass Founder & CEO  Robert Reffkin , whose mother, mentors, and search for belonging taught him valuable lessons that anyone with a dream can put into action today to improve their own quality of life.   Each chapter in the book shares a part of Reffkin’s life story and  eight practical lessons , such as:   Love your customers more than your ideas. Find someone to give you the critical feedback others won’t. Collaborate without ego. If you help people, they will want to help you.   Prior to becoming CEO of Compass, a real estate company and technology platform, Reffkin completed a B.A. and M.B.A. from Columbia University and worked at McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and as a White House Fellow.   He has also run 50 marathons in 50 states to raise $1 million dollars for charities — including for America Needs You, the non-profit he founded to serve young people living below the poverty line who are the fi...

Some of my favorite parts of  Douglas Conant 's and  Mette Norgaard 's book,  TouchPoints , are these lessons for leaders: You need to have dual vision. You need to be able to address the most pressing need and do it in a way that makes your employees more capable and ready to take on the next issue. No leader can succeed by being only tough-minded or only tender-hearted . The perfect balance is to be both tough-minded on the issue and tender-hearted with people. Leading with heart doesn't mean you always decide in favor of the individual. It just means that when you need to make a tough-minded decision, you are acutely aware of how it will affect the people involved. The people who are the most committed to mastering their craft are often the most humble . That is because, instead of comparing themselves to others, they are moved by an inner vision of what they might achieve. Ask often, "How can I help?"  Doing so at the start of an interaction opens up space for...