5 Books for Your Summer Reading List: What Would You Add?
Each week, GovLoop partners with the Washington Post to ask a "Question of the Week." This week's question is:
What books are on your summer reading list?
With Memorial Day behind us, it's time to focus on your summer reading list. But your beach books don't have to be trashy romance novels, you can actually learn something. You can grow as a leader while applying sunblock on the beach.
Tom Fox is the Vice President for Leadership and Innovation at the Partnership for Public Service.
He told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDERprogram about his five favorite summer reads, including It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell.
- It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by Colin Powell: With his decorated military experience, principled leadership at the Department of State and experience working with both the private and nonprofit sectors, Powell is considered a leadership role model among a large number of the federal leaders and employees whom I have come into contact with over the years. In his book, Powell shares lessons learned from his public service career, including his “Thirteen Rules,” which range from “Get mad, then get over it,” to “Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.”
- How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen: Based on his popular Harvard Business Review article, innovation expert Christensen asks readers to answer some deceptively simple questions about fulfilling work, family relationships and ethics that may cause federal managers to reexamine their approach to life at work and at home. To help provide insight, Christensen shares lessons from some of the world’s greatest business leaders.
- Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek: Based on a TED Talk he delivered that went viral, Sinek offers ideas for how leaders can better communicate their vision and connect with their employees. Sinek examines leaders who’ve had great influence — from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the Wright Brothers to Steve Jobs — and finds that despite the differences in their times and missions, they all think, act and communicate in the same way. This book can be a great resource for federal leaders who are trying to find classic ways of inspiring their teams and keeping them focused on achieving their agencies’ goals and mission.
- Talk Inc.: How Trusted Leaders Use Conversation to Power Their Orga... by Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind: This book provides tips for how leaders can communicate more effectively by making their agency’s culture more intimate, interactive, inclusive and intentional. At the heart of the book is the fundamental idea that the power of conversation can help drive employee engagement.
- Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in ... by Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey: Given the difficult budget environment facing federal managers, you may be struggling with how best to adapt to the changing landscape both personally and organizationally. This book looks at the barriers to fundamental change and why crucial change efforts fail. It offers ways for leaders to overcome their resistance to change and transform both their life and their work.
What would you add to this list? (It doesn't have to be just leadership!)
Comment
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Comment by Faye Newsham on June 25, 2012 at 10:03am -
I've been reading this little gem...interesting take on empowering employees
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Comment by David Dejewski on June 20, 2012 at 12:43pm -
I'll add The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build a Leadership Powered Company to the list. It provides great insight to what happens as someone matures along the leadership path. It shows what organization can do to protect and grow their leadership team.
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Comment by Corey McCarren on June 20, 2012 at 12:35pm -
It's certainly not about leadership, but for a great fiction I'd recommend The Regulators by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.
A great nonfiction which has leadership examples in it would be Running with the Buffaloes by Chris Lear. Lear follows the University of Colorado's cross country team on its championship season.
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Comment by Samuel Lovett on June 20, 2012 at 10:23am -
I've been enjoying "The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators" by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen. It's got some great insight that makes me want to tackle some new challenges.
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Comment by Henry Brown on June 20, 2012 at 9:26am -
Have just read and HIGHLY recommend Bruce Schneier Liars and Outliers
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Comment by Dannielle Blumenthal on June 20, 2012 at 7:10am -
"Become A Better You" by Joel Osteen.
Available in print, audio, Kindle format (the first book I actually have the patience to read on a screen.)
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Comment by William Blumberg on June 19, 2012 at 8:49pm -
I am looking forward to reading "Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality" by Scott Belsky.
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Comment by John Lucien Grillo on June 19, 2012 at 4:51pm -
I'm currently reading 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done by Peter Bregman. I would highly recommend it for anyone that wants to gain insight into how to focus their career and personal goals. It's also an enjoyable read, because Bregman is an engaging story teller.
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Comment by Glenn Batuyong on June 19, 2012 at 4:47pm -
As a public employee in a communications role, I am a big fan of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” by David Meerman Scott!
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