Category Archives: Leadership
Health care reformer ahead of his time
Book review: The Story of Dr. Sidney R. Garfield by Tom Debley and Jon Stewart Sid Garfield’s plan for health care reform was so far ahead of its time that the organization he founded — Kaiser Permanente — still drives toward the vision, years after his death. (Disclosure: I am senior director of communications and [...]
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Great ideas for improving meetings
Lencioni, P. (2004). Death by Meeting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. When you stop to think of the resources an organization invests in meetings, you realize what a tremendous return is needed to justify them. Unfortunately, very little attention is paid to the conduct of a meeting and this valuable tool is largely wasted. Lencioni’s fictional leadership [...]
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Is storytelling the “sixth discipline?”
Denning, S. (2005). The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. As a knowledge management leader at the World Bank, Denning gained influence by gathering and using the organization’s success stories. He went on to study the historical and anthropological roots of storytelling and he joined a storyteller group. The result is a scholarly analysis [...]
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Quantum physics meets dialogue
Bohm, D. & Nichol, L. (Ed). (1996). On Dialogue. New York: Routledge. During his career as a theoretical physicist, David Bohm’s writings and lectures took side trips into dialogue and collective thought. In this book, editor Lee Nichol compiles Bohm’s ideas to suggest a coherent theory of co-creation of meaning. There is a flavor of [...]
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Opening your mind, step by step
Stone Zander, R., & Zander, B. (2000) The Art of Possibility. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. The authors urge leaders to shed “scarcity thinking” and embrace possibility. It is the difference between plugging away within confines and exploring boundless possibilities. Stone Zander, a family therapist, and Zander, the music director of the Boston Philharmonic, argue [...]
Best vision of ideal culture
Senge, P.M. (2006, Rev.). The Fifth Discipline. New York: Currency Doubleday. Senge started a movement with this book, which outlines the first five disciplines (there may be more, he says) that are required to create a “learning organization.” Members of a learning organization understand how they create their reality and how they can influence it. [...]
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Best book on teams
Katzenback, J.R. & Smith, D.K. (1993, Rev.). The Wisdom of Teams. New York: HarperBusines. Team building in organizations too often attends to the interrelationships of individuals and neglects performance. Organizations that create a culture that monitors and values group achievement are more flexible, innovative and efficient, Katzenbach and Smith say. They lay out the fundamentals [...]
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Best book for daily centering
Dreher, D. (1996). The Tao of Personal Leadership. New York: HarperBusiness. Dreher, an educator, aikido practitioner, and student of the Tao organizes passages from the Tao Te Ching to guide leaders to awareness, centeredness, honor, and humility. The first section of the book addresses inner processes that help leaders achieve personal confidence in their role. [...]
A book for resolve: Change or Die