Recommended Books & Articles
Here is a current list of great books to include in your leadership reading repertoire…..
Slide:ology, Nancy Duarte
Slide:ology was written to help you turn your presentations into clear, interesting, and provocative reports. If you are a leader in any of todays’ organizations, you are probably responsible for dozens of slide presentations per year, and chances are good you use PowerPoint and the standard embedded MS templates. Chances are also good that your bullet-point slides and graphs don’t really offer your audience an accurate or clear representation of what you are trying to convey.
Nancy Duarte, the author of Slide:ology, was the creative mastermind behind Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” presentation (ultimately a movie). And regardless of what you may think about Gore and his message, if you saw it, you have to admit: Nancy is GOOD! She looks at the world with an artist’s eye, while still conveying that she quite clearly understands the everyday challenges faced by managers of engineering, finance, and the like to visually convey their messages.
Slide:ology will help you think more like a designer when creating your slide deck. You’ll get valuable tips on displaying information effectively, eliminating “noise,” creating effective diagrams, and arranging the elements on your slides for optimum understanding. After reading Slide:ology, you will never again create or view a Powerpoint presentation without remembering (and hopefully employing) the Slide:ology principles.
Order "Slide:ology" from Amazon
Talking From 9 to 5 - Women and Men at Work, Deborah Tannen
There are big differences between the conversational "rituals" of women and men, which can lead to misunderstandings at work. This entertaining book is a guide to verbal power games and communication barriers, which can result in the work of some being unnoticed or unappreciated. For example, many women have a habit of saying "I'm sorry" when they're not apologizing! This can confuse men and lead to unintended results. Tannen helps us recognize our own and our colleagues' verbal habits, and learn how to use communication to improve relationships between men and women at work.
Order "Talking From 9 to 5 - Women and Men at Work" from Amazon
The Art Of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life, Benjamin Zander & Rosamund Stone Zander
The Zander's provide a very useful and refreshing set of personal practices and approaches to everyday situations that anyone but especially leaders can apply to make a difference in your own and other peoples' lives. This is especially relevant today as we all try to find our way through the current economic challenges and hardships of the times. This book is extremely uplifting and told through heart warming stories that evokes our authentic leadership. It discusses what CAN be if we unleash the power of people.
Order "The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life" from Amazon
THE SPEED OF TRUST..The One Thing That Changes Everything, Stephen M.R. Covey
It took a little bit of reading to realize this is Stephen Covey's son! He has made the word "trust" tangible in many ways in this book. Where we could not speak of the word "trust" many corporate years ago, it is becoming central to a team's ability to work effectively together. Stephen does a great job of developing the quantifiable equations in determining the role trust plays in executing on a company's strategy. He paints excellent reminders for 13 leadership behaviors that contribute to a trusting relationship. Well worth the read.
Order "The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything" from Amazon
THE THREE SIGNS OF A MISERABLE JOB...Patrick Lencioni
Patrick Lencioni continues to share terrific stories that paint models and pictures of leadership. In one of his latest books, he tackles true misery in a job and what leaders inadvertently do (or not) that cause disengagement and misalignment in direction and tasks. He discusses the need for employees to feel relevant, their work to be valued, and why employees like being measured. It's a quick read and well worth the lessons.
Order "The Three Signs of A Miserable Job" from Amazon
When Generations Collide – Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work, Lancaster and Stillman
Corporate America is confronting an unprecedented era where four generations are working side by side, and its not going to end anytime soon. This is an excellent book to explore the differences and characteristics of each generation, from the baby boomers to the Gen Y’s currently entering the workforce. This book provides very pragmatic strategies for attracting, retaining, motivating and caring for each generation, and boy are they different!
Order "When Generations Collide" from Amazon
The Communication Catalyst – The Fast (but not stupid) track to value for customers, investors, and employees, Connolly and Rianoshek, Ph.D.
These guys are experts in the study of human interaction and how to accelerate conversations to reach faster results. With email overload and web-based communication, we’re losing the art of how to dialogue to reach results. They have spent over 30 years and in 35 countries studying the methods of reaching authentic and actionable communications. You won’t go wrong!
Order "The Communication Catalyst" from Amazon
Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It, Klaus
Peggy Klaus has worked with leaders around the world. Surprisingly, even at executive levels, we’ve lost the fine art of sharing our capabilities and strengths. She explores the difference between confidence and life experiences versus arrogance and illuminates the ways we can share our stories as leaders. It’s a very fast read and one that will help you in leveling up your leadership persona!
The Leadership Pipeline – How to Build the Leadership-Powered Company, Charan, Drotter, Noel
This is a must read for leaders leading leaders. The book breaks down leadership transitions moving from the individual contributor to first time manager, all the way to the C level. It is an excellent read of what is important for a leader to focus on in each of these transitions and what has to shift in behavior and energy.
Order "The Leadership Pipeline" from Amazon
Building a Values-Driven Organization – A Whole System Approach to Cultural Transformation, Barrett
This is a must read for any leader who is attempting to create or evolve his/her organization’s culture. The work he has done to raise the corporate level of consciousness to be one with the earth, with its employees, and to increase profitability as well. There is a whole assessment process for understanding the leader’s values with that of his/her team, and provides ways to begin to move to closer alignment.
Order "Building a Values-Driven Organization" from Amazon
Virtual Leadership - Secrets from the Round Table for the Multi-Site Manager, Kostner, Ph.D.
This little ditty is a very quick ready and a great story about the parallels of a modern day manager and King Arthur from the Knights of the Round Table. It illuminates all the foundational thinking one needs when working in a virtual environment. The concepts are all actionable!
Order "Virtual Leadership" from Amazon
Turning to One Another - Simple Conversations to restore Hope to the Future
Meg Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science, turns her attention toward dialogue and conversation. This book is about being human and how to have compassionate conversations with each other.
Order "Turning to One Another" from Amazon
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Lencioni
Patrick Lencioni does a great job of painting the story of a female CEO who inherited a very dysfunctional team and how she set about making it better. It explores trust, accountability, fear of conflict, commitment and results. This is a great book to use with your leadership team. It even has a little assessment to explore where you team may be having problems. There are a couple of other leadership books under his name.
Order "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" from Amazon
Love is the Killer App – How to Win Business and Influence Friends, Sanders
Tim Sanders was the Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo, and took time to write this book about changing your leadership style through three areas: becoming a “lovecat”, networking, and compassion. It’s a quick read and provides good conceptual guidance for how to do it. Tim has recently written a second book on Likeability too!
Order "Love is the Killer App" from Amazon
Good to Great, Collins
Jim Collins provides excellent guidance for what it takes to become not just a good company, but a great one. This book has been around awhile and tells the stories of excellent companies and how they went beyond the financials to create an ever-evolving culture.