No regrets! A common mantra that feels good, bold, and energizing. You can’t change the past, so why dwell on it? Not so fast, Dan Pink, who brought us Drive, tells us. In The Power of Regret, he uses his signature playbook of research, clever insight, and anecdotes to reframe regret as part of our hard-wiring, and a key driver of our learning and growth. “Regret,” he tells us, “makes us human. Regret makes us better.”

Over a decade ago Public Benefit Corporations and the B Corporation Certification process emerged, reframing the purpose of business beyond profits to operate for the benefit of society and the environment. Referred to as the “triple bottom line” or the 3 P's: People, Planet, and Profits, these structures hold businesses accountable for the impact of their operations. Organizations such as Patagonia that were founded with broad purpose and mission-driven start-ups eagerly got on board.

The surest way to further cement someone to their convictions is to challenge them. Especially with those pesky, irrefutable facts. Yet we do this. We double down over and over again, and generate frustration for ourselves — dumbfounded wonderment at how someone could not see what we see so clearly — and strain relationships, or worse.

What am I supposed to do with all this money? That’s not a lottery winner asking. It’s what University of British Columbia psychology professor Elizabeth Dunn asked herself when she scored her first job. She scanned the research that revealed money often fails to buy happiness, yet she wondered if there was a way to spend money that could increase happiness. She teamed up with fellow psychology Ph.D. and HBS professor Michael Norton to look into it.

“Want to know what we SUCK at? Training our Managers! Well, this week that started to change with Fireclay Tile’s first ever “Ganas to the People” where we took every team member with direct reports offsite for 2 days of training, inspiration, and connection.” And, after thanking the people who made it happen, CEO Eric Edelson offered, “If you want to know our agenda or what we shared, please send me a note, as I know these can be intimidating to think about. Hint...it definitely involved one of my new favorite books, High Output Management by Andy Grove.”

Sleep is the new black and some of us are just waking up to it. (I couldn’t help myself.) After a client told me I had to read Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep, and Bill Gates gave it the nod in his GatesNotes last month, it moved to the top of my bedtime reading stack.

As the new year approached last month, my inbox was filled with books, articles, TED talks, and podcasts aimed at weeding out bad habits and growing good ones. We are what we do, and we do countless, repetitive things daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly — consciously and unconsciously. These habits get us on the road (or not) to our intentions, so giving them an annual tune-up keeps us in good working order. A couple of resources that have been on my radar for awhile are worth sharing.

A long time ago in a culture far, far away, a sophisticated system of knowledge — spanning the human body and mind, stars and planets, physical space, and more — was created by a people equipped with their five senses and the only computer around at the time: the human brain. “They outlined techniques that include body exercise, mind exercise, . . . and many other methods that are now proving to be some of the most integrated ways to leverage our human potential.” The Business Casual Yogi: Take Charge of Your Body, Mind, and Career (BCY), by Vish Chattergie* with Yogrishi Vishvketu, translates this Vedic system of knowledge (believed to have originated over five thousand years ago in the foothills of the Himalayas) into a “comprehensible and relevant” set of tools for modern leaders.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There are No Easy Answers. A young, first-time entrepreneur CEO recently reminded me of this gem. There isn’t a better operating manual for the rough-and-tumble of starting up a company, clawing a way to survival, and (if you’re lucky) thriving. The reminder is timely, as Ben Horowitz has a second book coming out this month.

WeWork’s IPO debacle and CEO ouster, Juul’s comeuppance, and many other recent fallen giants and C-suite changes spurred David Gelles’ acerbic piece in the NYT. He reminds us, among other things, that the now commonplace “utopian mission statements” from “Christ-like” founders that temporarily intoxicate the market eventually come down to the numbers when investors sober up.

Gelle’s fun-poking at these companies’ “yoga babble” made me want to revisit the seminal research that discovered the critical role of vision, mission, and values in organizations that stand the test of time.

When Mastery: Taking it Home by George Leonard hit the pages of Esquire’s May 1,1987 “Ultimate Fitness” feature, along with John Poppy’s The Keys to Mastery, it went the viral equivalent of its time — lots of letters to the editor, requests for copies and reprints, and CEOs disseminating it widely within their organizations. “A navy carrier pilot . . . wrote that he had been having trouble landing the F-14 Tomcat on an aircraft carrier . . . ‘Insights from Mr. Leonard’s outline of the master’s journey gave me the extra 10 percent of mental discipline that I needed to make the trek down this portion of my path a relatively easy one.’”

It has happened several times in the last few months — young leaders I’ve encountered calling out Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People as inspiring, guiding, and causing them to change how they are navigating the world. The book even served as the basis for one company’s core values. Of course I’d known about it for decades, though I’d not read it — it seemed dated and sales-y — a sort of “to seem rather than to be” thing.

The first thing I’ll say about Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck is this is a must read if you’re raising kids. I read it after raising my kids. I offer a blanket apology. 

In the decade plus since this research was published, what Dweck calls a “growth-mindset” vs. a “fixed-mindset” has influenced school curriculums, organizational thinking and practices, parenting, sports, and relationships.

I was late to the game on this one. On second thought, when something is as useful and unique as this is, there is no “late,” only the moment of discovery. I discovered the book Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace), and it’s non-profit outgrowth,  Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, (SIYLI, pronounced “Silly”) last year, devoured the book, attended a workshop, and spread the word far and wide.

Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived Joyful Life is a field guide for living an intentional life — for you to do life, instead of life doing you. While it’s just the thing for the stuck, the about-to-be college grad, and the baby-boomer eyeing retirement or an encore career, it’s really for all of us at all times in our lives.

My first week on the job at Heath Ceramics, I stopped by the showroom and picked up a copy of a business book I’d never seen, by an author I didn’t know, who co-founded and led a business I’d never heard of, yet it boasted endorsements from some pretty major names. I was pretty sure I was at least familiar with all the business books you’re supposed to read: from the classics, to the wave of stuff from the 90’s that has held up, to the sea of current influencers. What was this?