I really enjoyed this book and thought that it was well-thought-out and well-written. My interest was kept throughout the entire book and I am thankful for the opportunity to read and review Shine. I look forward to reading more books by Carley Hauck.

Shine by Carley Hauck is a non-fiction book that paints a new way for the workplace to work for the collective group. This author shares what she believes would improve the workplace environment based on research and shares exercises for individuals to use in the workplace to make that a reality. This book is directed to primarily people with positions of power to make change in the workplace. However it helps all who read this work on their leadership skills and how to improve leadership with emotional intelligence. The author refers to this as "conscious leadership".

This book is organized into 2 parts: 1) awaken your inner game and 2) lead with your light on, at work and beyond. This book includes a variety of exercises throughout the book that help the reader self-manage their feelings and their mindset when working. However at times the exercises or to-dos can be a bit vague like "practice self-care". I thought it was important that the author touched on the topic of anger and how it can actually be a powerful way to bring about change if directed effectively. For anyone that has been so frustrated in the workplace that they are on the verge of tears the author touches on these kinds of emotions and reactions which is so helpful! I thought part 2 was great because it discussed how our identities (gender, race, religious, political, etc) affect the workplace and actions you can take as a leader to make sure all are heard. The author also highlights effective ways on how to handle microaggressions that I had not heard of previously. Overall this was a helpful book and I highly recommend this for individuals with management or leadership positions but I believe people in non-leadership positions could also benefit from this!

Many thanks to the publisher Sounds True and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed Carley Hauck's work Shine. It is a meticulously-researched navigation of how people who consider themselves leaders can gain insight into their emotions, strengthening their "inner game" and share the bounty with those around them and with the rest of the world - "outer game." I particularly enjoyed the parts discussing meditation and that by doing so, we can increase the areas of the brain that control stressful emotions and decrease the size of the areas that generate them. Similarly, Hauck points to research that the human brain tends to want to think negative thoughts 70-80% of the time. However, "since you know that most of your thoughts are negative," she argues, "you have the option to begin to reframe a given situation to see the good in others and to see a given interaction as one you can navigate." I also picked up helpful tips on befriending fear and that gentel stretching walking and /or deep breaths can help move sadness through the body. If you've read Chade-Meng Tan's "Search Inside Yourself," you will love this book too. Will definitely have to come back to it to review certain concepts!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. #Shine #NetGalley

Shine by Carley Hauck is one of those books that will big executive leaders or managers of smaller companies will appreciate. Filled with exercises and thought provoking journal questions, there is plenty to do here to keep you busy and constantly working on your conscious business leadership skills. I do recommend it for those who are in fields of management, but for someone like me who is just a "clerk" I didn't gain much value from the book and it was rather boring. Maybe because my future aspirations aren't to lead as an executive.