The 23 Things All Leaders Need to be Doing in 2023
Former U.S. President Harry Truman once said, “Not all readers become leaders, but all leaders must be readers.” As a leader, reading is one of the most powerful ways to learn new things, expose yourself to new ideas, and stay up to date on important topics and skills. The best leaders are always learning and improving – whether it’s about management techniques, marketing, communication, or time management, growth is always on their radar.
“Blinkist is spoiling us and I am 100% here for it – 2023 is going to be the year of the Bite-Sized Book Club for sure! #LeadershipDevelopment”
The good news is, growth doesn’t need to take a lot of time! Blinkist is an app that helps people quickly discover powerful ideas – in just 15 minutes.
Blinkist gathers insights from nonfiction books and shares them in 15-minute reads and listens. There are 5,000 books to choose from across 27 categories like leadership, psychology, and productivity.
– Steven Renwick, CPO of Regis24
These bite-sized explainers, called Blinks, help busy leaders learn everything they need to know to help themselves—and their team—succeed.
Want to upgrade your leadership skills in 2023? Here are a few lessons from our favorite leadership Blinks. Discover all of the powerful ideas from the 23 Blinks in the Blinkist app.
1. Give Honest Feedback
In Radical Candor, Kim Scott shares how her boss at Google once gave her honest and direct feedback on a presentation.
Radical Candor
- 15 min reading time
- audio version available
Scott advises that instead of sugar-coating feedback, you as a leader should clearly state how a team member can improve something. It may sound blunt, but most people actually appreciate clear communication. This candid approach ensures the feedback isn’t lost, and team members know exactly what they need to do to improve.
2. Add Humor to Your Leadership
Leading with Love and Laughter by Zina Sutch and Patrick Malone dives into how laughter in a team can boost engagement, social connection, and even productivity. Humor can also help leaders be more approachable and relatable to their team.
Leading with Love and Laughter
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
How do you bring humor into your management style? Sutch and Malone suggest not taking yourself too seriously, but not scripting humor either. Instead, be yourself and slip a joke or light-hearted comment into everything from a Zoom meeting to an end-of-year budget analysis.
3. Grow Trust
A key insight from Dare to Lead by Brené Brown is that most people consider themselves to be trustworthy, but only trust a select few colleagues. As a leader, it’s important to nurture trust in your team.
Dare to Lead
- 17 min reading time
- audio version available
Brown and her researchers came up with BRAVING to help leaders do exactly this. BRAVING are the seven behaviors that encourage trust:
Reliability
Accountability
Vault — or not sharing private information about others
Integrity
Non-judgement
Generosity
4. Win Over Key Players on Your Team
The Making of a Leader by Tom Young explores the idea of “cultural architects,” or the most-respected team members who others look to for guidance. Once you’ve identified your team’s cultural architects, you should work to build a strong relationship with them through open communication.
The Making of a Leader
- 13 min reading time
- audio version available
Focus on winning these people over, and they’ll help you implement changes, boost your credibility within the team, and eventually win over everyone else, too.
5. Be a Leader and a Coach
If coaching junior colleagues sounds like yet another thing on your to-do list, think again. Lead Like a Coach by Karen Morley explains how a coaching approach to leadership helps the team and the leader grow.
Morley argues that leaders who coach actually have less to stress about because they delegate the small day-to-day tasks to focus on the big picture. Instead of hoarding power, coaches share power with their team and give them responsibilities and autonomy on projects, which also boosts morale.
Thousands of Other Topics
Blinkist’s library of 5,000 titles covers endless ideas for how leaders can up their game. The library is always growing, too, as the team adds 40 new books each week.
@blinkist is my now favorite thing to read. Such an amazing way to consume information. Reading books I’m interested in but too far down the list to get to any time soon, are now super easy to consume. Thank you!!
— ♟Benjamin Montrose (@rebelliousBen) April 28, 2020
A Book Explained in 15 Minutes
Want to discover ideas like this even with a busy schedule? Blinkist shares only the most important parts of a book — think fresh insights, helpful hacks, and memorable anecdotes — in just 15 minutes.
Explainers are available in audio form, too, so you can listen while on your commute, lunch break walk, or doing chores around the house.
— 5-star review.
