Tag Archives: Management and Leadership

Audiobooks on the Future of Work

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As technology advances and a new generation moves into leadership positions, work practices and trends inevitably begin to shift. These changes, along with the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic, can make thinking about the future of work feel overwhelming and unpredictable.

Luckily, there is no shortage of content to help us prepare for the workplace of tomorrow. We’re here to help by sharing audiobooks from Silicon Valley’s top leadership trainers, the Harvard Business Review, and more.

So whether you’re worried that robots will take your job or you’re simply trying to keep up with the workplace trends of companies like Google, we’ve got you covered.

Read on to learn about the future of work in three important categories: Remote Work, Management and Leadership, and Technology.

Audiobooks on Remote Work

Work Together Anywhere by Kirsten Janene-Nelson and Lisette Sutherland, narrated by Megan Tusing

Book cover for Work Together Anywhere, an audiobook about remote work.

In Work Together Anywhere, Lisette Sutherland, an international champion of virtual-team strategies, offers a complete blueprint for optimizing team success by supporting every member of every team.

Packed with actionable advice for cultivating agility, camaraderie, and collaboration, Work Together Anywhere is a thorough and inspiring must-have guide for getting ahead in today’s remote-working world.

Read more and sample the audio →

Remote: Office Not Required by David Heinemeier Hansson and Jason Fried, narrated by Rebecca Lowman

Book cover for Remote, an audiobook about remote work.

The classic guide to working from home and why we should embrace a virtual office, from the bestselling authors of Rework.

Does working from home—or anywhere else but the office—make sense? In Remote, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of Basecamp, bring new insight to the hotly debated argument. While providing a complete overview of remote work’s challenges, Jason and David persuasively argue that, often, the advantages of working “off-site” far outweigh the drawbacks.

Read more and sample the audio →

The Long-Distance Teammate by Wayne Turmel and Kevin Eikenberry, narrated by Tom Dheere

Book cover for The Long Distanced Teammate, an audiobook about remote work.

What does it mean to “go to work” when you don’t actually leave the house? This is the ultimate guide for remote workers who want to stay engaged as team members, maintain robust work relationships, and keep an eye on their long-term career goals.

Even before the coronavirus hit, remote work was growing at nearly 30 percent per year, and now it’s just a fact of life. The Long-Distance Teammate tackles three important issues: navigating the personal and interpersonal, growing the skills to be productive, and communicating effectively—all from a distance.

Read more and sample the audio →

Management & Leadership Audiobooks

Work That Counts by Richard Lee, narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross, Kevin R. Free

Book cover for Work That Counts, an audiobook about Leadership.

One of Silicon Valley’s top leadership trainers distills his proven framework that has empowered teams at the world’s most innovative companies—from Google and Facebook to Cisco Systems and biotech giant Genentech/Roche—to do the best work of their lives.

Work That Counts is a groundbreaking guide, filled with assessments and real-world examples that will empower organizations to make the most of their people and become more than the sum of their parts.

Read more and sample the audio →

Virtual Leadership by Penny Pullan, narrated by Karen Cass

Book cover for Virtual Leadership, an audiobook about management in an era of WFH.

Virtual working is an important and growing trend in the global employment landscape. However, unlocking the benefits of virtual work depends largely on the organizational culture, management, and leadership to support it. Without the knowledge and skills to be effective in leading virtually, many managers are reluctant to embrace it.

Virtual Leadership focuses on tried and tested strategies for being a better leader in a virtual working scenario and directly addresses the common challenges of managing a company of telecommuters using real-life examples from organizations all over the world.

Read more and sample the audio →

Leading from Anywhere by David Burkus, narrated by David Burkus

Book cover for Leading from Anywhere, an audiobook about Leadership during WFH.

How can managers ensure that their businesses run as usual when the way that we work looks so… unusual? Top business thought leader David Burkus has mined the very best research on virtual teams and case studies of companies that have not just survived but thrived through remote work.

Structured around the lifecycle of working on a team, Burkus tackles the key inflection points and challenges that managers face in this new landscape. If you want your remote team to have a harmonious work-life balance while increasing productivity, this is your indispensable guide. 

Read more and sample the audio →

Audiobooks on Technology & Innovation

The Future Is Faster Than You Think by Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler, narrated by Peter H. Diamandis

Book cover for The Future is Faster Than You Think, an audiobook about technology and how it will impact the future of a workplace.

What happens as AI, robotics, virtual reality, digital biology, and sensors crash into 3D printing, blockchain, and global gigabit networks? How will these convergences transform today’s legacy industries? What will happen to the way we raise our kids, govern our nations, and care for our planet?

From the New York Times bestselling authors of Abundance and Bold comes a practical playbook for technological convergence in our modern era.

Read more and sample the audio →

The Inevitable by Kevin Kelly, narrated by George Newbern

Book cover for The Inevitable, an audiobook about technology and how it will impact the future of a workplace.

Much of what will happen in the next thirty years is inevitable, driven by technological trends that are already in motion. In this fascinating, provocative new book, Kevin Kelly provides an optimistic road map for the future.

Kelly’s bright, hopeful book will be indispensable to anyone who seeks guidance on where their business, industry, or life is heading—what to invent, where to work, in what to invest, how to better reach customers, and what to begin to put into place—as this new world emerges.

Read more and sample the audio →

AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee, narrated by Mikael Naramore

Book cover for AI Superpowers an audiobook about technology and how it will impact the future of a workplace.

Dr. Kai-Fu Lee—one of the world’s most respected experts on AI and China—reveals that China has suddenly caught up to the US at an astonishingly rapid and unexpected pace.

In AI Superpowers, Kai-fu Lee argues powerfully that because of these unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Most experts already say that AI will have a devastating impact on blue-collar jobs. But Lee predicts that Chinese and American AI will have a strong impact on white-collar jobs as well.

Read more and sample the audio →

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STAFF PICK: Leadershift by John C. Maxwell

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Title: Leadershift
Author: John C. Maxwell
Narrator: John C. Maxwell
Bonus Content Narrators: Rachel Hollis, Trent Shelton, Ed Bastian

This one is for all the leaders out there—that does not just entail anyone who runs a company or works in a management position. You may be a leader at home, or among your colleagues. This audiobook really spoke to me about being an effective leader and the strategies to adopt in order to enhance your organization or personal growth. After all, as John mentions, “Everything rises and falls on leadership”.

John C. Maxwell teaches his readers how to shift their leadership style to keep transforming, improving, and influencing others. He uses his own examples and personal stories from his own leadership journey and provides you with practical advice on how to shift your leadership style and how to implement these 11 steps in your daily life. Each step requires you to change your thought process and actions which will ultimately lead you to be successful in a fast-paced world that is constantly evolving. You need to be a role model before you can expect change from others. After all, positive behavior is contagious and people will want to follow in those footsteps once they see positive changes in your leadership style.

John narrates this audiobook himself which engages you with his strong, encouraging, and confident voice. His narrating style is speaking to you as a friend, giving you tips on how to improve your leadership skills. He is such a genuine person and it really comes across at the end of the chapters when he has a little giggle and even tells you at points how much he loves narrating his books. The bonus features from a conference with Rachel Hollis, Trent Shelton and Ed Bastian were a nice added touch to learn from some of his “students” he has teamed up with who he has mentored in one way or another.

John C. Maxwell is very passionate about sharing his knowledge about leadership and giving us the tools we need to be more successful in how we manage situations in a leadership role. He is such a great leader and really makes you want to learn from his wealth of knowledge on the topic.

I personally strive to be a better leader in a lot of aspects in my life, especially in a work environment. This book has just added so many more tools in my toolbox and I cannot wait to listen to more of his audiobooks. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is currently in a leadership role or to anyone who wants to become a leader in the future or at home. Do not forget, “Tomorrow is ours to win or lose” – John C. Maxwell. If you enjoyed this book, you will also want to check out his other books, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, No Limits, and Developing the Leader Within You 2.0.

Publisher Summary:

Internationally recognized leadership expert John C. Maxwell teaches listeners how to shift their leadership to keep innovating, improving, and influencing others in today’s fast-paced world. BONUS CONTENT: Hear #1 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hollis, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastion, and motivational speaker and former NFL player Trent Shelton share their most significant “leadershifts” with John.

Change happens so rapidly today that leaders must be nimble and ready to adapt. Otherwise, they won’t survive. International leadership expert John Maxwell says, the key is to learn how to “leadershift.”

In Leadershift, John C. Maxwell helps listeners make leadership changes that will positively enhance their organizational and personal growth. He does this by sharing the 11 shifts he made over the course of his long and successful leadership career. Each shift changed his trajectory and set him up for new and exciting achievements, strengthening and sustaining his leadership abilities and making him the admired leadership expert he is today.

Among those leadershifts are “the Adaptive Shift from Plan A to Option A,” “the Production Shift from Ladder Climbing to Ladder Building,” and “the Influence Shift from Positional Authority to Moral Authority.” Maxwell gives specific guidance about how to make these shifts in their own lives. Each one requires them to change the way they think, act, and ultimately lead so they can be successful in a world that never remains the same.

Read more and sample the audio →

New to Audiobooks.com? Get a free audiobook when you sign up for our one month free trial. Digital audiobooks make audible stories come to life when you’re commuting, working out, cleaning, cooking and more! Listening is easy with our top-rated free audiobook apps for iOS and Android, which let you download & listen to bestselling audiobooks on the go, wherever you are. Click here to get your free audiobook!

STAFF PICK: An Astronaut’s Guide to Life On Earth by Chris Hadfield

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An Astronaut's Guide to Life On Earthy audio book by Chris Hadfield

Our Head of Acquisitions told me about An Astronaut’s Guide to Life On Earth when it was first released, and it went immediately onto my “To-Listen” list.

Right? Right. That can almost make me cry.

At times while listening to this book, I realized this was a risky choice: listening to Hadfield’s ridiculously jam-packed list of qualifications, successes, and admirable personality traits could have made me feel like an unremarkable schlub, if only they weren’t read with such humility. Regardless, I absolutely loved An Astronaut’s Guide to Life On Earth. The book is a memoir of the journey he took to go from a nine-year old aspiring astronaut (with an astounding sense of responsibility and discipline, I might add) to a commander of the International Space Station, and offers a lot of insight into space travel, agencies, and the whole space program, with all the right minutiae picked out to let us in on some of the little details, but keep it interesting and novel. There are also plenty of the requisite descriptions of inky black infinity to bring on the epic fuzzy feelings that are really the whole point of reading a book about space travel in the first place.

Chris Hadfield is diligent, competent, smart, humble, and utterly, utterly quotable. *Ahem* “Good leadership means leading the way, not hectoring other people to do things your way.” “Sweat the small stuff. Without letting anyone see you sweat.” “You can’t change the bricks, and together, you still have to build a wall.” I finished the book feeling like I knew a lot more about how to succeed if I ever somehow ended up in space, but also that I knew a lot more about how to succeed in life in general. I also felt like I really wanted to give Hadfield a hug.

As a narrator, Hadfield is wonderful. I’m a firm proponent of authors reading their own work (as long as they have the chops to pull it off) because they know the spirit of it better than anyone else. Generally, Hadfield comes off as a really nice guy, so listening to his narration felt like we were carpooling together and he was telling me stories about space mixed with some fatherly advice about how to achieve my own goals. The one negative thing I have to say is in regards to the audio quality itself: there’s a strange sort of muffled echo that makes it sound like it was recorded in a bathroom. (Initially I thought the weird quality might have been because it was recorded IN SPACE, through the in-helmet microphone or something, which would be totally forgivable and actually kind of awesome. I looked it up; it wasn’t.) That’s unusual coming from top-tier publishers like Random House (Canadian rights) and Hachette (American rights), but it won’t stop you from fully enjoying the audiobook.

If you want to learn more about what it’s like to be in space (and what it takes to get there), pick this up. You will not be disappointed.