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Written by Erin Marshall.

Here are a few handpicked books to help fulfill your New Year’s resolution of reading more often.

The Washington Post has come up with a list of leadership reads coming out early this year.

1. The Right Kind of Crazy by Adam Steltzner, PhD, with William Patrick. Coming out Jan. 12, this novel is written by one of the Jet Propulsion engineers who helped land the Curiosity rover on Mars in 2012. Dr. Steltzner outlines leadership techniques and how years of work led to a successful landing.

2. A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service by Robert M. Gates, PhD. Though he currently serves as chancellor of Williamsburg, Va.-based College of William and Mary, Dr. Gates has led the Department of Defense and the CIA. In this book, out Jan. 19, he gives advice based on lessons learned during his career.

3. The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness by Todd Rose, PhD. As director of the Mind, Brain and Education program at Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard Graduate School, Dr. Rose is no stranger to new ideas. In this book, he discusses the importance of uniqueness. The End of Average comes out Jan. 19.

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Written by Elizabeth Floyd Mair.

If you’re ready to turn some pages (or download some new stuff on your tablet), here’s what new on the business book front for 2016.

“Breaking Through Bias: Communication Techniques for Women to Succeed at Work”

By Andrea S. Kramer and Alton B. Harris (May 2016, Bibliomotion, $27.95)

Kramer is a partner in the international law firm McDermott Will & Emery LLP and has spent 30 years helping women navigate career advancement through speeches, workshops, articles, mentoring, problem solving and one-on-one coaching. Here she and Harris — also an attorney, and an adjunct professor at Northwestern University Law School — offer clear and specific advice on how to communicate to avoid or overcome the potentially career-disrupting effects of stereotype and bias. Just a few of the topics they explore are nonverbal behavior and communication, spoken and written behavior, impression management, preparing for difficult interactions, meetings and advocating for yourself.

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Written by Emma Seppala & Kim Cameron.

Too many companies bet on having a cut-throat, high-pressure, take-no-prisoners culture to drive their financial success.

But a large and growing body of research on positive organizational psychology demonstrates that not only is a cut-throat environment harmful to productivity over time, but that a positive environment will lead to dramatic benefits for employers, employees, and the bottom line.

Although there’s an assumption that stress and pressure push employees to perform more, better, and faster, what cutthroat organizations fail to recognize is the hidden costs incurred.

First, health care expenditures at high-pressure companies are nearly 50%  greater than at other organizations. The American Psychological Association estimates that more than $500 billion is siphoned off from the U.S. economy because of workplace stress, and 550 billion workdays are lost each year due to stress on the job. Sixty percent to 80% of workplace accidents are attributed to stress, and it’s estimated that more than 80% of doctor visits are due to stress. Workplace stress has been linked to health problems ranging from metabolic syndrome to cardiovascular disease and mortality.

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Written by Stephanie Rosenbloom.

Why do some travelers squabble about overhead bin space? Or feud over an armrest? Why, when a passenger reclines his seat, does another respond with rage befitting the pages of “Lord of the Flies”?

What makes rational travelers like you and me suddenly explode?

Some factors are environmental (packed planes, teeming gates); others are internal (stress, fatigue). Together, they can make a perfect storm. Last month at least three flights were diverted because passengers got into fights about reclining seats (and that’s to say nothing of the other unruly passenger incidents that regularly transpire). While the percentage of flights diverted each year is low — it’s been well under 0.40 percent since at least 2004, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics — even a handful of diversions due to passengers who can’t play nice is too many. We may be animals, but need we prove it on a flight to West Palm Beach?

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