Summer is the permission we finally give ourselves to read without feeling guilty. No more urgent notifications, no more overflowing to-do lists, just you, the sun, and the right pages.
This season, we’ve sorted it out for you. Sure values and recent gems, which combine lightness and substance. Books that we slip into our beach bag and that come back to us again in September.
Professional development, female entrepreneurship, self-confidence, well-being, habits… here is our selection of summer books, designed for ambitious women who refuse to choose between recharging their batteries and being inspired.
We start this selection with a book that draws its strength elsewhere than in words: on a ring.
Hit it right – Sarah Ourahmoune (Ed. of Equators)
“ A girl, we know, doesn’t hit, she takes. » From the first lines, Sarah Ourahmoune, world champion and Olympic vice-champion in boxing, makes the observation that infuses her entire manifesto: for women, discretion; to men, the rest. She does not believe in this distribution of roles, and she demonstrates it.
Hitting right transforms the ring into a field of emancipation. Anger, fear, imposed silences: France’s most successful female boxer questions what hinders us, without condemning or dramatizing, and offers a true philosophy of combat aimed at all women, athletes or not, to assert themselves both professionally and personally.
A powerful and accessible book, which proves that we can transform physical strength into inner strength, and vice versa.
Our favorite: neither being an athlete nor a boxer is necessary to recognize oneself in these pages. Sport here becomes a universal language.
We can also cultivate this inner strength in other ways: by asking ourselves, by listening to ourselves. Change of pace with a book that you don’t really read, that you fill out.
My deal book with myself – Julie Crouzillac (Ed. Jouvence)
No more concessions and sacrifices to please others: it’s time to put yourself first. Julie Crouzillac, author of Negotiators and creator of the eponymous podcast, starts from a simple observation: many of us imagine that negotiation is not for us, when a few simple tips can transform our lives.
This personal exploration notebook combines writing pages, fun tests and specialist advice to identify your non-negotiables, your essentials and your deep desires. The goal: learn to listen to your needs, redefine your priorities, recognize your strengths and create routines that comfort you.
A format different from the other titles in this selection, more notebook than book, perfect for alternating passive reading and pages to fill in between two naps at the beach.
Our favorite: it is the tool book for selection. We don’t read it, we practice it.
Knowing what you want for yourself is one thing. Knowing how to defend it against others is another. This is the whole subject of the following book, also an essential among the summer books that all ambitious women must have this season.
The elegance of manipulation – Marwan Mery (Ed. Robert Laffont)
How do you change someone’s mind without offending them, where arguments and pressure systematically fail? Marwan Mery, crisis negotiator consulted by the United Nations and speaker at Harvard, reveals for the first time mechanisms of influence previously reserved for his professional practice.
Far from simplistic recipes, this book delves into the deep mechanisms of human psychology to understand, shape and evolve the positions of others without creating a rupture. A reading as useful for defusing a family conflict as for moving forward on a complicated file at the office.
A work which stands out in this selection with its very concrete angle, but which perfectly complements the reflections on communication and self-confidence in the other titles.
Our favorite: very concrete examples (a child addicted to his screen, a loved one under the influence) which make the theory immediately applicable.
From the theory of influence, let’s now move on to the very real faces: those of thirty women who have made entrepreneurship their playground.
Powerful – Nesrine Slaoui (Ed. Hemeria)
Their names are Fatoumata, Anna, Loredana, Nozha, Edwige, Maïmouna… 30 women entrepreneurs, photographed by Steve Fiehl and told by journalist and author Nesrine Slaoui, who have all gone through the HEC Stand Up program, free support for entrepreneurship open to all women. Regardless of age, background or social origin.
This portrait book shows thirty faces and thirty life stories that tell the power of entrepreneurship as a lever for emancipation and financial independence. Going against preconceived ideas, these stories between Île-de-France and Marseille draw a plural and resilient mosaic of French society today. A work which naturally stands out among the summer books for ambitious women this year, for the strength of its portraits as much as the beauty of its subject.
Our favorite: the hybrid text-photo format makes it as beautiful to leaf through as to read in depth. A book that you put on the coffee table as much as you slip it into your beach bag.
We end this selection with a book that changes focus: what if the real key to leadership was not ambition, but alignment with oneself?
Anchored, Aligned, Accountable – Aiko Bethea (Ed. Penguin)
Aiko Bethea, a leadership coach consulted by Fortune 100 companies and senior advisor to the Brené Brown Education & Research Group, offers a simple framework for navigating times when you feel out of alignment with who you want to be. Be anchored in your values (Anchored), align intention and impact (Aligned), and be responsible towards yourself and others (Accountable).
Through real-life situations from her practice as a coach, she invites us to transform each misstep, an awkward remark at work, a look that hurts a loved one, into an opportunity of choice rather than a source of shame. Writing exercises and practical applications accompany each chapter.
Our favorite: a direct, humorous tone that makes demanding leadership concepts immediately digestible.
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