Resources

Click on the links below for valuable resources on personal development, leadership, entrepreneurship, and conscious business/social impact. I curate these resources to help you lead yourself, lead others, and lead change in your organization, community, or our world. I hope you find value in them!

–Gregg Vanourek

Personal Development & Life Design Resources

Assessments on Personal Development

Take the Traps Test

We all fall into traps in life. Sometimes we’re not even aware of it, and we can’t get out of traps we don’t know we’re in. Evaluate yourself with our Traps Test.

Books on Personal Development and Life Design

Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage
Mark Albion, Making a Life, Making a Living
*Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?
Arthur Brooks, From Strength to Strength
*David Brooks, The Road to Character / The Second Mountain
*Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection / Daring Greatly
Bob Buford, HalfTime: From Success to Significance
*Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Designing Your Life
*Kevin Cashman, Leadership from the Inside Out
*Shirzad Chamine, Positive Intelligence
*Clayton Christensen, How Will You Measure Your Life?
Jerry Colonna, Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up
*Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
*Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
*Hal Elrod, The Morning Miracle
Bruce Feiler, Life Is in the Transitions
*Jonathan Fields, How to Live a Good Life / Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive
*Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning
Steward Friedman, Leading the Life You Want
John W. Gardner, Self-Renewal
Bill George and Peter Sims, True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership
*Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek, LIFE Entrepreneurs: Ordinary People Creating Extraordinary Lives
Chris Guillebeau, The Happiness of Pursuit
Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis
*Arianna Huffington, Thrive
*Richard Leider, The Power of Purpose / Repacking Your Bags / Something to Live For / Life Reimagined
*Sonja Lyubomirsky, The How of Happiness
*Greg McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
*James O’Toole, Creating the Good Life
*Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak / A Hidden Wholeness
*Daniel Pink, The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward
Jerry Porras et al., Success Built to Last
Jonathan Rauch, The Happiness Curve
*Martin Seligman, Authentic Happiness
*Emily Esfahani Smith, The Power of Meaning: Crafting a Life that Matters
*Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now
*Bob Vanourek, Leadership Wisdom: Lessons from Poetry, Prose, and Curious Verse
Bronnie Ware, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying
David Whyte, The Three Marriages

Blogs on Personal Development and Life Design

Art of Nonconformity (Chris Guillebeau)
Barrett Values Centre
Brain Pickings (Maria Popova)
*Center for Courage and Renewal
Designing Your Life (Evans and Burnett)
*Gregg Vanourek (crafting your life and work)
Gretchen Rubin
Hudson Institute Insights
Marie Forleo
Mark Manson
Personal Excellence
*Ryan Holiday (Daily Stoic)
Science of People (Vanessa Van Edwards)
Thrive Leadership
Total Leadership (Stew Friedman)
What Matters Most? (Psychology Today)

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Books on Careers and Career Change

*Jenny Blake, Pivot
*Po Bronson, What Should I Do with My Life?
Bob Buford, HalfTime: From Success to Significance
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Designing Your Work Life
*Jonathan Fields, Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive
*Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek, LIFE Entrepreneurs
Jeff Goins, The Art of Work
Chris Guillebeau, Born for This
Herminia Ibarra, Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career
Paul D. Tieger, Barbara Barron, Kelly Tieger, Do What You Are

Other Resources on Personal Development

Happiness Series (best articles on happiness)
Manifesto on the Common Traps of Living
*Personal Values Exercise
*Quality of Life Assessment
*Traps Test (Common Traps of Living)

Quality of Life Assessment

Evaluate your quality of life in ten key areas by taking our assessment. Discover your strongest areas, and the areas that need work, then act accordingly.

Organizations Working with Personal Development

Podcasts on Personal Development

*Daily Stoic podcast (Ryan Holiday)
*Good Life Project (Jonathan Fields)
*Greater Good (Berkeley)
Minimalists
On Purpose (Jay Shetty)
Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
*Pivot Podcast (Jenny Blake)
Reboot Podcast
*Rich Roll Podcast
Tim Ferriss Show
The Unyielded Show: Thriving No Matter What (Bobbi Kahler)
Work Life Play (Aaron McHugh)

Resources on Personal Development

Values: Personal Values Exercise

Personal Values Exercise

Complete this exercise to identify your personal values. It will help you develop self-awareness, including clarity about what’s most important to you in life and work, and serve as a safe harbor for you to return to when things are tough.

Leadership Resources

Assessments on Leadership

Alignment Scorecard (from Triple Crown Leadership)

Alignment Scorecard

When organizations aren’t aligned, it can reduce performance dramatically and cause frustration and even dysfunction. With this Alignment Scorecard, you can assess your organization’s level of alignment and make
plans for improving it.

Leadership Derailers Assessment (from Gregg Vanourek)

Leadership Derailers Assessment

Take this assessment to identify what’s inhibiting your leadership effectiveness. A critical and often overlooked tool for your leadership development.