Mid-December 2022 Book Club Selection-Jim Dittmar and John W. Stanko- A LEADERSHIP CAROL, Urban Press, 2021. Itis time for some holiday fun. Using Charles Dickens story of Scrooge, a modern tale of a Scrooge-like modern story is developed A consultants report is also included which provides a background report for the story. Finally, an interview with the authors is presented. Enjoy this special holiday treat.
December 2022 Book Club Selection-David M. Rubenstein, THE AMERICAN STORY, Simon and Schuster, 2019. The author once again presents his interviews with leaders who are also historians. The historians tell their stories about the leaders with whom they have written books. The historians often discuss the research process involved as well as some unique research findings.
Mid-November 2022 Book Club Selection-Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy, LIVING FORWARD, Baker Books, 2016. This is clearly an important book for your personal bookshelf. The authors have created and executed a plan for the development of a life plan for yourself. In the book, they show you the proven principles for drafting the plan with the end in mind. The plan should include the categories for your life accounts. To be a more effective leader, you should have a life plan that you update on a regular basis.
November 2022 Book Club Selection-Jon Gordon and Alex Demczak-THE SALE, Wiley, 2022. This book is about the importance of integrity in the workplace. As is usual in books by Gordon, he uses a parable to tell his story. A businessman learns that he will be seen in a more positive way by his company if he shows himself in a way to be seen as trustworthy . It is also importance to put his family first.
Mid-October 2022 Book Club Selection- Richard Farson, MANAGEMENT OF THE ABSURD, Touchstone, 1997. This is a strange book about the paradoxes of communication the politics of management, the dilemmas of change, the aesthetics of leadership ,exploring relationships within organizations and offering a unique perspective on the challenges managers face. We are often surprised by the way management and leadership works in the real world.
October 2022 Book Club Selection- Craig Fehrman-AUTHOR IN CHIEF, Avid Reader Press, 2020. This is a special history. It looks at the United Stated presidents through their writings. Their writings are viewed through original and ghost written articles and books.
Mid-September 2022 Book Club Selection-Lynne Cheney, JAMES MADISON; A LIFE RECONSIDERED, Penguin Books 2014. This biography continues my recomendations of the Unite States Founding fathers. It is a clear study of leadership that is worth your reading.
September 2022 Book Club Selection- Laurie Garrett, I HEARD THE SIRENS SCREAM, Council on Foreign Relations, 2011. The United States was transformed by the combination of the Al-Qaeda on 9/11 and antrax attacks. This 600+ page books creates a day-by-day journal of the first 100 days of 9/11 and forward. Part 2 of the book discuss all the political ramifications of the events of this geographical period. This book will not be a quick read but it is a worthwhile one..
Mid-August2022 Book Club Selection-Ken Blanchard and Renee Broadwell, SERVANT LEADERSHIP INACTION, Berrett and Koehler,2018. This book is all about servant leaders and how they work. Over 40 servant leaders have written essays on how they have become and how they practice their work as servant leaders
August 2022 Book Club Selection-David M. Rubenstein-HOW TO LEAD, Simon and Schuster,2020. This book is a book about leadership based on interviews with thirty leaders. It is an excellent book wich my readers should find fascinating, The leaders are classified as visionaries, builders, transformers, commanders, decision-makers and masters.
Mid-Ju;y 2022 Book Club Selection- Kristina Risley, Christina Welter, Grace Castillio, Brian Castrucci ,LEADING SYSTEMS CHANGE IN PUBLIC HEALTH, Springer Publishing, 2022. This book includes a number of essays on tools for the use of systems approaches for the practice of leadership utilizing a systems perspective in public health. This book and my last selection will give the reader a comprehensive approach to the use of a systems perspective to leadership today.
July 2022 Book Club Selection- Ronald Heifetz, Alexander Grashow, and Marty Linsky ,THE PRACTICE OF ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP, Harvard Business Review Press, 2009. The leadership literature of the 21st century takes place in a systems environment. The July book selections are both systems approaches. With this new perspective, new tools and tactics will need to be used. The adaptive leadership model is one approach to the way a leader needs to work for systems change,
Mid-June 2022 Book Club Selection-Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley, SIMPLE TRUTHS OF LEADERSHIP, Berrett-Koehler,2022. If you build your leadership on a servant leadership foundation, this book provides you with 52 simple truth of leadership. Take a simple truth each week and apply it to your leadership activities.
June 2022 Book Club Selection- Harlow Giles Unger, JOHN HANCOCK ;MERCHANT KING AND AMERICAN PATRIOT, Wiley, 2000. This is an excellent biography of one of America’s Founding fathers. He not only signed the Declaration of Independence, he served as a major merchant. He was involved in politics as the Governor of Massachusetts, He was a major philanthropist.
Mid-May 2022 Book Club Selection= John RIedl, Joseph Konstan, WORD OF MOUSE, Wagner Business Books, 2002. This is a classic book on e=commerce. The book introduces for one othe first times the idea of “collaborative filtering.” Collaborative filtering involves the experience of meeting of people who have the same tastes as we do. Online marketing improves when we know what our customers want before they know themselves. The book is a guide to many organizations that improve their marketing strategies through collaborative filtering.
May 2022 Book Club Section- Marshall Goldsmith, TRIGGERS, Crown Business, 2015. What are the triggers that help create effective behavioral change? Assessing the interplay between the environment and who we presently are is how we become the person we want to be.
Mid-April 2022 Book Club Selection-Jon Meacham, THE SOUL OF AMERICA, Random House, 2019. The ex cellent historian Meacham examines those critical events in our history when presidents have addressed these events from the principles on which are country are built. Leaders will gain much knowledge from those events which affect our lives and actions from an historical perspective.
April 2022 Book Club Selection-Joseph J. Ellis-AMERICAN SPHINX, Vantage, 1998. This historical volume examines the character of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson believed in the importance of an agrarian society. Although he believed that the slaves should be emancipated, he did not practice what he preached. He was the first republican president. Much can be learned from the post presidency correspondence between Jefferson and John Adams.
Mid-March 2022 Book Club Selection-Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, PERIL, Simon and Schuster, 2021. This book presents a journalistic account of the last year of the Trump administration and the first several months of the Biden administration. Seventy-two short pieces are covered of specific events during the period covered. It is important for leaders to be able to understand how political events will impact their leadership activities.
March 2022 Book Club Selection-Geoff Colvin,, TALENT IS OVERRATED, Penguin, 2018. It is questionable whether talent is real or not. Great performance is related to practice rather than to inborn talent. The principles of great performance apply virtually any activity that matters to you.
Mid-February Book Club Selection-Patty Beach, THE ART OF ALIGNMENT, Leadership Smarts, 2020. The job of a leader is to align an organization.The book explores the principles of alignment and the four steps and five Cs of alignment. It is necessary to prepare for alignment and learn how to run alignment meetings
February 2022 Book Club Selection-Ezekiel J. Emanuel,WHICH COUNTRY HAS THE WORLD’S BEST HEALTH CARE?, Public Affairs, 2020.This book is an excellent resource. Emanuel reviews the health care systems in eleven countries. No countries have the best health care system although each country ranks high on certain dimensions. With regard to the coronavirus, we should expect more emergency infectious disease outbreaks in the future.
Mid-January 2022 Book Club Selection-Robert F. Hurley ,THE DECISION TO TRUST, Jossey-Bass, 2012. The author explores thee important concern of trust in organizations. The author presents the Decision to Trust Model and demonstrates how to see the model in action. There are ten key factors that affect whether one person will trust another person.
January 2022 Book Club Selection-Stephen Fried, THE NEW RABBI, Bantam Books, 2002. This is an excellent book about leadership issues in a synagogue. Fried documents the happenings in a synagogue in Philadelphia at the turn of the present century. it is the time for the selection off a new rabbi.
Rowitz On Leadership 