Book A Week -Recommended Reads – Week 39 Onwards
📚I love reading, learning and exploring new idea’s. It may be obvious by the background, and it is to those who know me. I am often quoting books or recommended reads to those I network with and mentor.
Picking up on a suggestion a couple of months ago, via WUN, I am sharing some of my most favourite reads, and why I think they are great and useful or helpful. It was difficult to curate a short list, so it a long one… 52! A book a week for the year ahead ☺️ Hayley Monks, WUN Co-Founder & Director.
– For clarity – having been asked this (by someone who is trying to keep pace!) I am not reading a book a week! I have read these books over the years and these are my favourites… some of them I am re-reading….
Recommended reads
Reads 39 onwards below include:
The AI Driven Leader
I love books 📚 (39 of 52)
The AI Driven Leader – by Geoff Woods
The irony of me recommending a book on this topic is not lost on me!
But its good.
I have bought it, shared it and gifted it!
Is AI changing things? – hell yes! But life is change and change is life.
6 out of the 10 jobs that exist today, didn’t in 1940……jobs and roles changed with computers and digitalisation. As we adopt AI it will change again, new roles will evolve and develop, replacing some current ones.
As a leader I found this book a simplistic and helpful guide to utilising AI in my day job – really utilising it not just asking it to draft and email or Linkedin post 🤣
In my case, my AI assistant is Co-pilot; by framing the context of the help or questions I was looking for and, in some cases, interviewing me, to help me work through certain ideas, plans and questions.
Having a thought partner in AI is incredibly helpful and as author Geoff Woods say “It’s tough to read the label when you are inside the box”
I Love Books – 40 of 52
“With 12 weeks left of my book posts – this one seems like a topical one to share.
I read this back in 2019 when running my own business. And revisited recently. One of the simplest and most challenging I was reminded of:
👉 Stop thinking in years. Start executing in weeks.
The premise is deceptively straightforward: annual goals dilute urgency. A 12‑week horizon sharpens focus, forces prioritisation, and makes progress visible now, not “sometime this year”.
As in many businesses – ruthless prioritisation is required to keep a continual focus on what is going to move the dial (not always what is urgent and often not what is making the noise!!)
What resonated most for me (and hey I’m still learning here!!)
- Execution beats intention. Strategy only matters if it’s consistently acted on.
- Fewer goals, more discipline. Narrow focus drives momentum.
- Leading indicators matter. Daily and weekly behaviours are what actually move outcomes.
- Accountability creates pace. Short cycles expose avoidance, quickly, uncomfortable, but powerful.
In fast‑moving environments (and especially when juggling delivery, transformation and growth), a 12‑week lens cuts through noise and creates traction where long-term plans can stall.
Good reminder that ambition doesn’t fail because we aim too high – it often fails because we stretch the timeline and lose intensity.
What is the one goal you’d achieve faster if you treated the next 12 weeks like your whole year?”