Reading List
Inspiring books on purpose and leadership
to Personal Purpose
As Robin Sharma says, an epic morning routine helps you maximise productivity, activate your best health, and bulletproof your serenity in an age of overwhelming complexity. By rising early you accomplish epic results while upgrading your happiness, helpfulness, and feelings of aliveness. That sounds like a purposeful life to us.
We highly recommend this book to anyone who grew up as a “third-culture kid,” or is in the midst of their expat journey or perhaps considering the expat journey. To be honest, it’s a lovely read for anyone who’s interested in a different perspective or simply trying to find their way. As well, Honour also shares various useful support resources at the end of her book.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager, or just an individual looking to improve, the concepts in Good to Great provide food for thought and spur action. You’ll learn what it takes to be a “Level 5” leader, why assembling the right team first is more important than having the right idea, why you should be more like a hedgehog than a fox, and why “stop doing” lists are as important as “to do” lists.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a manager, or just an individual looking to improve, the concepts in Good to Great provide food for thought and spur action. You’ll learn what it takes to be a “Level 5” leader, why assembling the right team first is more important than having the right idea, why you should be more like a hedgehog than a fox, and why “stop doing” lists are as important as “to do” lists.
Bob Buford’s bestseller shares his personal experience of how he navigated halftime and shows you how to make the second half of life more rewarding than the first. This book was foundational to the building of The PX™ Experience at Markd Global.
In this bestselling book, he offers a new paradigm for understanding one of the most profound of life's mysteries: how our failings can be the foundation for our ongoing spiritual growth. Throughout the book, he draws on the wisdom from time-honored myths, heroic poems, great thinkers, and sacred religious texts to demonstrate that we grow spiritually more by doing it wrong than by doing it right.
Another powerful read for our Markd Global audience on a journey from success to significance through spiritual growth.
You identify a lack of purpose when you feel that you’re simply existing in life, going through the motions without understanding what it all means. In The Purpose Driven Life, Pastor Rick Warren reveals the meaning of life from a Christian perspective—five purposes that you were created by God to fulfill: worship, unselfish fellowship, spiritual maturity, ministry, and mission.
In living on purpose, you’ll start to find meaning in every moment of your life. You’ll learn to see the glory of the Creator everywhere, deepen your love for others, and find the unique service you were made for..
Another powerful read for our Markd Global audience on a journey from success to significance through spiritual growth.
The New International Version (NIV) is the world's bestselling modern-English Bible translation—accurate, readable, and clear, yet rich with the detail found in the original languages.
Every NIV Bible that is purchased helps Biblica translate and give Bibles to people in need around the world.
From the likes of The LEGO® Group and Ben & Jerry’s to the faculty at West Point Military Academy, discover how the best leaders in the world are leading from purpose in uncertain times.
With a foreword by Daring Greatly author Brené Brown.
Enter Good is The New Cool, a bold new manifesto from marketing experts Afdhel Aziz and Bobby Jones. In their provocative and streetwise style, they challenge conventional marketing, posing the questions few have had the vision and courage to ask: If the system is broken, how can we fix it? Rather than sinking money into advertising, why not create a new model, in which great marketing optimizes life?
With seven revolutionary new principles and insights and interviews from a new generation of marketers, social entrepreneurs, as well as culture creators, this rule-breaking book is the new business model for the twenty-first century and a call to action for anyone committed to building a better tomorrow.
This book is a contemporary guide to systematic business innovation, provides a template for brainstorming and visualising the overarching elements that make up a successful, holistic business model.
The authors analyze the different ways you can combine these elements to create the most successful business model patterns. In addition, they provide techniques you can use to generate your innovative business models, as well as strategies you can incorporate to regularly analyse and optimise your existing business models.
In Daring Greatly, you’ll learn how to live a Wholehearted life and become a better leader, parent, and spouse in the process.
We recommend this book to our Markd Global audience to help them embrace our PX™ experience which requires deep authenticity to identify purpose and values.
Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones argue that leaders don’t become great by aspiring to a list of universal character traits. Rather, effective leaders are authentic: they deploy individual strengths to engage followers’ hearts, minds, and souls. They are skillful at consistently being themselves, even as they alter their behaviors to respond effectively in changing contexts.
Why Should Anyone Be Led By You? will forever change how we view, develop, and practice the art of leadership, wherever we live and work.
Covey’s seven habits—being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking win-win, seeking to understand before being understood, synergizing, and sharpening the saw—empower individuals to take control of their lives, align their actions with their values, and build meaningful relationships.
When leaders are powered by purpose and practice these habits, they can enhance their effectiveness, achieve their goals, and experience greater fulfillment in all aspects of life.
According to Sinek, finding your why means finding the single core belief that inspires you to do the work you choose to do and be the person you want to be in all spheres of your life. He believes every individual and organization has a purpose, though not everyone has discovered theirs or put it into words and actions.
In Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life, author and blogger Héctor García and novelist and self-help writer Francesc Miralles teach you to apply the Japanese concept of ikigai, or life purpose, to your own life. Drawing on lessons from the people of Okinawa, who live longer than anybody else on earth, as well as on insights from art, science, and psychology, they show you how to find and follow your own ikigai and cultivate a happy, healthy lifestyle to sustain it.
This book may be small in size but it carries a big idea. It connects personal purpose to adding longevity and happiness to life.
The Path Made Clear is a self-discovery guide that features insights, wisdom, and real-life examples from leaders across many spheres of influence to help us find our true purpose and live a fulfilling life.
It reminds us that every human being has a purpose – an essential role to play while we’re here on Earth. To discover our purpose and embark on our own path in life, we first need to identify what makes us the person we are – the seeds of our identity. Often, the seeds inside of us are immediately recognisable, and they only require a bit of nurturing to take root.
An inspiring and purposeful read from the one and only Oprah Winfrey.
From a village boy in rural South Africa, Nelson Mandela went on to positively impact the world led by his convictions that we have it in all of us to make our world a better place.
This book and its author have inspired our founder, Sibon Schouten, a village girl from the same community to create Markd Global with the mission to change the world one leader and company at a time.
Becoming provides insights into Michelle’s self-determination: She pushed herself to excel in Ivy League classrooms and achieve a prestigious career by age 26, then mustered the courage to swerve off that path in search of greater fulfillment. It details her relationship with Barack—a love story of two opposites—and their challenging quest to navigate family and political life. Through it all, we witness a woman who perpetually strives to become a better version of herself. We also understand that we are all on a journey of becoming.
Surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden-haired puppy after a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey's search for his new life's meaning leads him into the loving arms of eight-year-old Ethan. During their countless adventures, Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog.
But this life as a family pet is not the end of Bailey's journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders – will he ever find his purpose?
This is the remarkable story of one endearing dog's search for his purpose over the course of several lives. More than just another charming dog story, A Dog's Purpose touches on the universal quest for an answer to life's most basic question: Why are we here?
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership is a guide to the major principles of leadership. Learn how to connect with and influence people. Learn how to empower others and build an all-star leadership team. And learn how to create a succession plan and leave a legacy.
A must-read book for our purpose and growth-seeking audience from John Maxwell, one of the world’s most recognised authorities on leadership.
His recommended path to spiritual enlightenment includes four key elements: discipline, love, personal religion, and grace. Without these four qualities, you risk not only spiritual stagnation but also the mental health problems that come with it. Embracing these four qualities leads to better health, better relationships, and a richer and more purposeful life.
Reading List
Inspiring books on purpose and leadership
Downloadable Resources
Landmark studies on leadership and purpose
Downloadable Resources
Landmark studies on leadership and purpose
