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)
Gregg Vanourek’s Newsletter
Join our community. Sign up now and get Gregg Vanourek’s monthly inspirations (new articles, opportunities, and resources). Welcome!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
- 1440 Multiversity
- Center for Courage and Renewal
- Crew
- Good Life Project
- HalfTime Institute
- Life Design Lab (Stanford)
- Modern Elder Academy
- Vail Alliance for Purposeful Living
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.
Blogs on Leadership
- How We Lead (Ken Blanchard)
- Jesse Lyn Stoner on Leadership
- John Maxwell
- Lolly Daskall
- Michael Hyatt
- *Triple Crown Leadership (Bob and Gregg Vanourek)
Books on Leadership
Company Culture Resources
Manifesto on Leadership Derailers
Organizations and Experts in Leadership
- Bill George
- Bob Whipple (Trust Ambassador)
- Center for Creative Leadership
- CoveyLink (Speed of Trust)
- Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership
- Leadership Challenge (Kouzes and Posner)
- *Triple Crown Leadership (Bob and Gregg Vanourek)
Podcasts on Leadership
- Coaching for Leaders (Dave Stachowiak)
- Fidelis Leadership (Mike Ettore)
- John Maxwell Leadership Podcast
- Leadership Biz Café (Tanveer Naseer)
- Lead to Win (Michael Hyatt & Megan Hyatt Miller)
Entrepreneurship Resources
Blogs on Entrepreneurship
- Lean Startup (Eric Ries)
- Paul Graham (Y Combinator), archives
- Steve Blank
Books on Entrepreneurship
- Steve Blank, The Startup Owner’s Manual / The Four Steps to the Epiphany
- *Matt Blumberg, Startup CEO
- Gary Erickson, Raising the Bar
- *Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek, LIFE Entrepreneurs
- Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing about Hard Things
- Tony Hsieh, Delivering Happiness
- *Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs / The Innovators
- *Steven Johnson, Where Good Ideas Come From
- Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start
- Derek Lidow, Startup Leadership
- Jessica Livingston, Founders at Work
- *Ash Maurya, Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan that Works
- *John Mullins and Randy Komisar, Getting to Plan B
- *Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation
- *Dan Pink, A Whole New Mind
- *Eric Ries, The Lean Startup
- Peter Sims, Little Bets
- Peter Thiel with Blake Masters, Zero to One
- Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk
Entrepreneurship Resources
Podcasts on Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurs on Fire (EOFire, John Lee Dumas)
- Stanford eCorner Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders
- Youpreneur FM
Social Entrepreneurship Resources
Sweden Startup and Social Enterprise Resources
Conscious Business & Social Impact Resources
Blogs on Conscious Business and Social Impact
- Acumen
- Pioneers Post
- Social Good Stuff
- *Stanford Social Innovation Review
- *Triple Crown Leadership (Bob and Gregg Vanourek)
- Triple Pundit
Books on Conscious Business and Social Impact
- Robert Ashton, How to Be a Social Entrepreneur
- Christine Bader, The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist
- Dominic Barton et al., Re-Imagining Capitalism
- Michael Beer et al., Higher Ambition
- Jeanne Bell, Jan Masaoka, and Steve Zimmerman, Nonprofit Sustainability / The Sustainability Mindset
- David Bornstein, How to Change the World
- Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing (Patagonia)
- Yvon Chouinard and Vincent Stanley, The Responsible Company
- Aron Cramer and Zachary Karabell, Sustainable Excellence
- Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant, Forces for Good
- J. Gergory Dees, Strategic Tools for Social Entrepreneurs
- *Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek, LIFE Entrepreneurs
- Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff, Mission in a Bottle (Honest Tea)
- Jason Haber, The Business of Good
- Jeffrey Hollender and Bill Breen, The Responsibility Revolution
- Ryan Honeyman and Tiffany Jana, The B Corp Handbook
- Aaron Hurst, The Purpose Economy
- Fred Kofman, Conscious Business
- Kevin Lynch and Julius Walls, Jr., Mission, Inc.
- *John Mackey & Raj Sisodia, Conscious Capitalism
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter, SuperCorp
- *Blake Mycoskie, Start Something that Matters
- Raj Sisodia and Sheth, Firms of Endearment
- *Lynn Stout, The Shareholder Value Myth
- *Bob and Gregg Vanourek, Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations
- Kyle Westaway, Profit & Purpose
- Muhammad Yunus, Building Social Business
Organizations in Conscious Business and Social Impact
- *80,000 Hours
- *AIESEC
- *Ashoka
- B:CIVIC
- CiviCO
- Common Future
- Conscious Capitalism
- Enactus
- *Global Social Venture Competition
- Hult Prize
- *Impact Hub
- Lean Impact
- Mission Measurement
- National Institute for Social Impact
- *Net Impact
- Nonprofit Sustainability
- PYMWYMIC (Put Your Money Where Your Meaning Is Community)
- Reach for Change
- Schwab Foundation
- SE Forum
- Skoll Foundation
- SoCap
- Social Entrepreneurship 101 course from Acumen
- Social Innovation Academy
- *Social Lean Canvas
- Social Really Lean Canvas
- Stanford Social Innovation Review
- StartSomeGood
- Toolbox for the Social Business
- *Triple Crown Leadership (Bob and Gregg Vanourek)
- Yunus Social Business
Podcasts on Conscious Business and Social Impact
Resources on Social Entrepreneurship
Sweden Startup and Social Enterprise Resources
Gregg Vanourek’s Newsletter
Join our community. Sign up now and get Gregg Vanourek’s monthly inspirations (new articles, opportunities, and resources). Welcome!———————————————————-
These resources are curated by Gregg Vanourek. Follow Gregg on Twitter (@gvanourek).