Some people like to read. Some people like to read a lot. Then, there’s people like Doug Hensch who are not happy if they aren’t consuming research-backed literature on wellbeing, resilience, leadership and decision-making.

The good news for the rest of us is that Doug has decided to post a handful of summaries of some of the most important books of the last several years. Check out the summaries below to learn more about change, motivation, stress, decision-making and what makes some people great.

1. The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How.

By Daniel Coyle

I grew up absolutely loving sports and I was lucky enough to have two parents that helped foster this love by carting me to and from practices, sending me to camps and encouraging me every step of the way. One thing always stuck out for me – when I would play catch with my dad and I made a good throw or a nice catch, I would hear, “Thaaaaaat’s it!” His praise and approval meant everything. With some luck, a couple of great coaches along the way and (of course) my wonderful parents, I had the opportunity to play football in college and I enjoyed every minute of it. What I didn’t realize, however, was that the seeds of excellence were being sewn in all aspects of my life, not just sports.

Daniel Coyle has identified three elements that lead to high levels of competence across many disciplines in his impressive book The Talent Code.

Read about those three elements and they help us achieve excellence here.

2. Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work

By Chip Heath

I have been fascinated by decision-making for some time. Mostly, because I have made my share of bad decisions. The good news, however, is that I’m not alone. Consider the following statistics regarding the choices we make:

• 44% of current lawyers would recommend against being a lawyer to young people
• More than 50% of teachers quit teaching within four years of starting their careers
• A survey of 20,000 executive coaches found that 40% of senior level new hires had left their respective employers within 18 months of being hired
• In Philadelphia, PA, a teacher is almost twice as likely to “drop out” than a student
• 88% of New Year’s resolutions are broken – 68% of which are to “enjoy life more!”

According to Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Decisive – How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, there are four “villains” that distract us from making the best decisions possible.

Learn about those villains in Doug’s full review here.

3. Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time

By Brigid Schulte

I have been fascinated by decision-making for some time. Mostly, because I have made my share of bad decisions. The good news, however, is that I’m not alone. Consider the following statistics regarding the choices we make:

• 44% of current lawyers would recommend against being a lawyer to young people
• More than 50% of teachers quit teaching within four years of starting their careers
• A survey of 20,000 executive coaches found that 40% of senior level new hires had left their respective employers within 18 months of being hired
• In Philadelphia, PA, a teacher is almost twice as likely to “drop out” than a student
• 88% of New Year’s resolutions are broken – 68% of which are to “enjoy life more!”

According to Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Decisive – How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work, there are four “villains” that distract us from making the best decisions possible.

Learn about those villains in Doug’s full review here.

4. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

By Brigid Schulte

“Things like that don’t trick me,” commented one person who participated in a research study in 2000. Another said, “I’m pretty good at knowing when I’m full.” These people were part of a study where a random group of moviegoers were given free popcorn in a medium or large-sized bucket where the goal was to test if the portion size influenced how much people ate.

The results: People with the larger buckets ate a whopping 53% more than their medium-sized counterparts. (By the way, the popcorn was ‘engineered’ to taste pretty bad. It was five days old and “squeaked” when it was eaten.) Other popcorn eating studies have been run, but the results are always the same. If you get a big container, you eat more, a lot more.

Imagine, for a second, that you are a public health expert and you are given the results of this study, except there is no mention of the bucket sizes. You only know that some people ate a lot and some ate less. You might say, “We’ve got to motivate people to eat less. Let’s create a marketing campaign that promotes healthier snacks and show the hazards of eating too much!” Not so fast…

Motivating people to completely changing their movie eating habits is really hard. Changing the size of the buckets…well, that’s pretty easy. Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Switch – How to Change Things When Change is Hard use this story to illustrate that making a change in a person’s behavior or thinking patterns is not always straightforward. They created a simple, three-part framework for successful change that includes 1) Direct the rider, 2) Motivate the elephant, and 3) Shape the path.

Learn what these three elements mean and how they can help us be successful here.

5. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

By Daniel H. Pink

For years, I have heard many definitions of both management and leadership. Most of the definitions of management include the following: control, plan, organize, and direct. Definitions of leadership include listen, observe, dialogue, and support. Well, after reading Daniel Pink’s informative book, Drive – The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, I have come to the conclusion that we should all aspire to be leaders and that traditional management is no longer relevant.

“There is a gap between what the science knows and what business does,” writes Pink. And, this gap is fairly wide. Study after study has concluded that when people are intrinsically motivated for non-routine tasks, they outperform those who are motivated through ‘carrots and sticks.’

In one study conducted by scholars at the London School of Economics in 2009, they concluded, “We find that financial incentives…can result in a negative impact on overall performance.” Another study conducted by economists from MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Chicago that was funded by the Federal Reserve System found that extrinsic rewards do not seem to work.

Pink rails against our unwillingness to implement these findings, and, to his credit, offers a way out. His own research concludes that there are three simple ‘ingredients’ for genuine motivation.

Find out what those three ingredients are and how they can motivate you here.

Thank you so much Doug for sharing these fantastic book reviews. Can’t wait to read what’s next on your list!

What is your most recent favorite business culture book? We’d all love a recommendation!

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