Recommended Reading

The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership-powered Company Author: Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, James Noel Publisher: Jossey-Bass Date Published: November 1, 2000 From Booklist: One of management’s biggest challenges is finding new leaders, and one of the questions that arises in this quest is whether to bring in “new blood” and fresh ideas or [...] Read more

The Heart of Change: Real Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations Author: John P. Kotter, Dan S. Cohen Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: August 1, 2002 From Publishers Weekly: “Never underestimate the power of a good story,” Kotter and Cohen testify in this highly readable sequel to Kotter’s groundbreaking Leading Change. [...] Read more

Geeks and Geezers: How Era, Values and Defining Moments Shape Leaders Author: Warren G. Bennis, Robert J. Thomas Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: August 8, 2002 From the Publisher: “Our youngest leaders matured in the glow of computer screens; our oldest in the shadow of the Depression and World War II. In a [...] Read more

Developing the Leader Within You Author: John C. Maxwell Publisher: Thomas Nelson Date Published: October 4, 2005 From the Publisher: After examining the differences between leadership styles, Maxwell outlines principles for inspiring, motivating, and influencing others. These principles can be used in any organization to foster integrity and self-discipline and bring a positive change. Developing [...] Read more

Right from the Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role Author: Dan Ciampa, Michael Watkins Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: March 2, 2005 From the Publisher: “This book can help the recently promoted cope with those frightening career moments that arise as soon as you get what you’re after.” -BookPage Whether you [...] Read more

The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels Author: Michael Watkins Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: September 18, 2003 From the Publisher: Whether challenged with taking on a startup, turning a business around, or inheriting a high-performing unit, a new leader’s success or failure is determined within the [...] Read more

The Power of Focus: How to Hit your Business, Personal and Financial Targets with Absolute Certainty Author: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Les Hewitt Publisher: HCI Date Published: March 1, 2000 From Booklist: Canfield and coauthors Mark Hansen and Les Hewitt recommend that we concentrate on our strengths, set goals, and focus on them. Canfield [...] Read more

Winning with People: Discover the People Principles that Work for You Every Time Author: John C. Maxwell Publisher: Thomas Nelson Date Published: April 3, 2007 From the Publisher: Ask the successful CEOs of major corporations, entrepreneurs, top salespeople, and pastors what characteristic is most needed for success in leadership positions, and they’ll tell you–it’s the [...] Read more

FYI For Your Improvement Author: Michael M. Lombardo Publisher: Lominger Limited, Inc Date Published: 4th edition 2004 From the Publisher: A Development and Coaching Guide for Learners, Supervisors, Managers, Mentors and Feedback Givers Read more

The Difference Maker: Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset Author: John C. Maxwell Publisher: Thomas Nelson Date Published: 1st edition August 29, 2006 From the Publisher: Leadership expert John Maxwell believes attitude is one thing that can make all the difference in your life—and now shows you how you can make it your best asset. Read more

Transitions Author: William Bridges Publisher:  De Capo Press Date Published: August 10, 2004 From the Publisher: Whether it is chosen or thrust upon you, change brings both opportunities and turmoil. Since first published 25 years ago, Transitions has helped hundreds of thousands of readers cope with these issues by providing an elegantly simple yet profoundly [...] Read more

Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership Author: Lee G. Bolman, Terrence E. Deal Publisher: Jossey-Bass Date Published: 3rd edition August 15, 2008 From the Publisher: In this third edition of their best-selling classic, authors Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal explain the powerful tool of “reframing.” The authors have distilled the organizational literature into a comprehensive [...] Read more

What Got You Here Won’t get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful Author: Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter Publisher: Hyperion Date Published: 1 edition January 9, 2007 From Publishers Weekly: Goldsmith, an executive coach to the corporate elite, pinpoints 20 bad habits that stifle already successful careers as well as personal goals [...] Read more

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most Author: Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, Sheila Heen Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) Date Published: 1st edition April 3, 2000 From Publishers Weekly: Bringing together the insights of such diverse disciplines as law, organizational behavior, cognitive, family and social psychology and “dialogue” studies, Stone, Patton and Heen, who teach at [...] Read more

Type Talk at Work: How the 16 Personality Types Determine Your Success on the Job Author: Otto Kroeger with Janet M. Thuesen and Hile Rutledge Publisher: Delta Date Published: Revised Edition July 30, 2002 From Library Journal: Written by noted consultant Kroeger and his colleagues, this entertaining and informative volume is aimed at anyone trying [...] Read more

Repacking Your Bags Author: Richard J. Lieder, David A. Shapiro Publisher: Berret-Koehler Publishers Date Published: 2nd Rev ed. June 15, 2002 From Barnes & Noble: This is a step-by-step manual designed to help you set down the burdens you are carrying, examine them to see if they are really making you happy, and discover new [...] Read more

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century Author: Thomas L. Friedman Publisher: Picador Date Published: July 24, 2007 From the Publisher: This new edition of The World Is Flat is Thomas L. Friedman’s account of the great changes taking place in our time, as lightning-swift advances in technology and communications put [...] Read more

Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ Author: Daniel Goleman Publisher: Bantam Date Published: September 26, 2006 From the Publisher: Everyone knows that high IQ is no guarantee of success, happiness, or virtue, but until Emotional Intelligence we could only guess why. Daniel Goleman’s brilliant report from the frontiers of psychology and neuroscience [...] Read more

Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success Author: Dean R. Spitzer, Ph.D. Publisher: AMACOM Date Published: January 2007 From the Publisher: It’s no secret that you can’t improve your organization’s performance without measuring it. In fact, every function, unit, process, and the organization as a whole, is built and run [...] Read more

It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy Author: Captain D. Michael Abrashoff Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Date Published: May 2002 From the Publisher: “The most important thing a captain can do is to see the ship from the eyes of the crew.” This belief has successfully guided D. Michael [...] Read more

Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without Giving In Authors: Roger Fisher and William Ury Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated Date Published: January 1991 From the Publisher: Getting to Yes is a straightforward, universally applicable method for negotiating personal and professional disputes without getting taken — and without getting angry. It offers a concise, step-by-step, proven [...] Read more

In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best Run Companies Authors: Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman Publisher: Harper Business Date Published: March 2004 From the Publisher: The “Greatest Business Book of All Time” (Bloomsbury UK), In Search of Excellence has long been a must-have for the boardroom, business school, and bedside table. Based [...] Read more

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution – and How it Can Renew America Author: Thomas L. Friedman Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Date Published: September 2008 Publishers Weekly: Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Friedman (The World Is Flat) is still an unrepentant guru of globalism, despite the looming economic crisis [...] Read more

My American Journey Author: Colin Powell Publisher: Random House Publishing Group Date Published: January 1996 From the Publisher: Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he [...] Read more

It Doesn’t Take a Hero Author: General H. Norman Schwarkopf Publisher: Bantam Books Date Published: September 1993 From the Publisher: He set his star by a simple motto: duty, honor, country. Only rarely does history grant a single individual the ability, personal charisma, moral force, and intelligence to command the respect, admiration, and affection of [...] Read more

The Five People You Meet in Heaven Author: Mitch Albom Publisher: Hyperion Date Published: March 2006 Publishers Weekly: “At the time of his death, Eddie was an old man with a barrel chest and a torso as squat as a soup can,” writes Albom, author of the bestselling phenomenon Tuesdays with Morrie, in a brief [...] Read more

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson Author: Mitch Albom Publisher: Bantam Books Date Published: October 2002 Publishers Weekly: As a student at Brandeis University in the late 1970s, Albom was especially drawn to his sociology professor, Morris Schwartz. On graduation he vowed to keep in touch with him, [...] Read more

Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking Author: Malcolm Gladwell Publisher: Little, Brown & Company Date Published: April 2007 Publishers Weekly: Best-selling author Gladwell (The Tipping Point) has a dazzling ability to find commonality in disparate fields of study. As he displays again in this entertaining and illuminating look at how we make snap judgments-about [...] Read more

The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success Authors: Howard Book and Steven J. Stein PhD Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated Date Published: May 2006 From the Publisher: What does it take to be a firefighter? Fighter pilot? Top of the heap in the sales department? A brilliant customer service advisor? Esteemed and respected [...] Read more

New Passages: Mapping Your Life across Time Author: Gail Sheehy Publisher: Random House Publishing Group Date Published: January 1995 From the Publisher: People are taking longer to grow up and much longer to grow old. A fifty-year-old woman — who remains free of cancer and heart disease — can expect to see her ninety-second birthday. [...] Read more

True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership Author: Bill George Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc. Date Published: March 2007 From the Publisher: True North shows how anyone who follows their internal compass can become an authentic leader . This leadership tour de force is based on research and first-person interviews with 125 of today’s top leaders—with some surprising [...] Read more

Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and Transfer Enduring Business Wisdom Authors: Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: January 2005 From the Publisher: Not All Knowledge Is Created Equal. Deep smarts are the engine of any organization-as well as the essential value that individuals build over their careers. Distinct from [...] Read more

Flight of the Buffalo: Soaring to Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead Authors: James A. Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Date Published: January 1994 From the Publisher: From herd mentality to high-flying innovation: How your company can transform itself now! In the most important business book since In Search of Excellence, [...] Read more

Loyalty Rules: How Today’s Leaders Build Lasting Relationships Author: Frederick F. Reichheld Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: July 2003 From the Publisher: “Reichheld outlines a strong argument for companies to develop policies that foster loyalty among customers and employers.” -Financial Times In this provocative yet practical book, Fred Reichheld argues that loyalty provides [...] Read more

Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of Their Evolution Author: Geoffrey A. Moore Publisher: Portfolio Date Published: December 2005 From the Publisher: The Darwinian struggle of business keeps getting more brutal as competitive advantage gaps get narrower and narrower. Anything you invent today will soon be copied by someone else—probably better [...] Read more

The One Thing You Need to Know: About Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Individual Success Author: Marcus Buckingham Publisher: Free Press; 1st edition (March 7, 2005) Date Published: March 2005 From the Publisher: The principal author of the extraordinary bestsellers First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths offers a dramatically new [...] Read more

Go Put Your Strengths to Work: Eight Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance Author: Marcus Buckingham Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group Date Published: March 2007 From the Publisher: From the coauthor of the million copy bestsellers First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths Marcus Buckingham jump-started the Strengths movement that [...] Read more

The Myths of Innovation Author: Scott Berkun Publisher: O’Reilly Media, Incorporated Date Published: May 2007 From the Publisher: How do you know whether a hot technology will succeed or fail? Or where the next big idea will come from? The best answers come not from the popular myths we tell about innovation, but instead from [...] Read more

China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power Author: Rob Gifford Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc Date Published: June 2007 From the Publisher: Route 312 is the Chinese Route 66. It flows three thousand miles from east to west, passing through the factory towns of the coastal areas, through the rural heart of [...] Read more

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything Authors: Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated Date Published: April 2008 From the Publisher: In just the last few years, traditional collaboration—in a meeting room, a conference call, even a convention center—has been superseded by collaborations on an astronomical scale. Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating [...] Read more

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die Authors: Chip Heath and Dan Heath Publisher: Random House Adult Trade Publishing Group Date Published: January 2007 Publishers Weekly: Unabashedly inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling The Tipping Point, the brothers Heath–Chip a professor at Stanford’s business school, Dan a teacher and textbook publisher–offer an entertaining, [...] Read more

Don’t Believe Everything You Think: The 6 Basic Mistakes We Make In Thinking Author: Thomas E. Kida Publisher: Prometheus Books Date Published: May 2006 From the Publisher: Do you believe that you can consistently beat the stock market if you put in the effort? -that some people have extrasensory perception? -that crime and drug abuse [...] Read more

Systems Thinking: Coping with 21st Century Problems Authors: John Boardman and Brian Sauser Publisher: CRC Pr I LLC Date Published: January 2008 From the Publisher: Linking concepts and software tools to examples from technology, business management, and socio-political systems, Systems Thinking explores new ways of thinking about systems. The book steers readers through modern systems [...] Read more

The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal Author: Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group Date Published: December 2004 From the Publisher: We live in digital time. Our pace is rushed, rapid-fire, and relentless. Facing crushing workloads, we try [...] Read more

Executive Power: Use the Greatest Collection of Psychological Strategies to Create an Automatic Advantage in Any Business Situation Author: David J. Lieberman, Ph.D. Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated Date Published: March 09, 2009 From the Publisher: Executive Power arms readers with effective, fast-acting techniques that show them, step-by-step, how to get what they need [...] Read more

Intrinsic Motivation at Work: Building Energy and Commitment Author: Kenneth W. Thomas Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services Date Published: December 2002 From the Publisher: Intrinsic Motivation at Work marks a major advance on the topic of work motivation — one based on an understanding of the changing requirements of today’s workplace and the limitations of older [...] Read more

Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths & Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-based Management Authors: Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: March 2006 From the Publisher: A Better Way to Separate Sound Management Ideas from Seductive Hype The best organizations have the best talent… Financial incentives drive company performance… Firms must change [...] Read more

What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom about Management Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: July 2007 From the Publisher: The research question for this study was, “What are the cognitive or emotional mechanisms that enable people to pursue strategy that is contrary to their stated goals, even in light of evidence [...] Read more

Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound after Career Disasters Authors: Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Andrew Ward Publisher: Perseus Distribution Services Date Published: January 2007 From the Publisher: “Sonnenfeld and Ward show how to rise Phoenix – like from the ashes. Their account of the psychological and behavioral foundations of that important quality – resilience – is [...] Read more

Team of Rivals Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group Date Published: September 2006 From the Publisher: Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln’s political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to [...] Read more

You Can’t Order Change: Lessons from Jim McNerney’s Turnaround at Boeing Author: Peter S. Cohan Publisher: Portfolio, Date Published: December 2008 From the Publisher: Jim McNerney was one of Jack Welch’s top protégés at General Electric and a finalist to replace the retiring Welch as CEO. McNerney lost that competition in 2001, but since then [...] Read more

Outliers: The Story of Success Author: Malcolm Gladwell Publisher: Little, Brown Date Published: November 2008 From Publishers Weekly: In Outliers, Gladwell (The Tipping Point) once again proves masterful in a genre he essentially pioneered—the book that illuminates secret patterns behind everyday phenomena. His gift for spotting an intriguing mystery, luring the reader in, then gradually [...] Read more

1776 Author: David McCullough Publisher: Simon & Schuster Date Published: June 2006 Publishers Weekly: Bestselling historian and two-time Pulitzer winner McCullough follows up John Adams by staying with America’s founding, focusing on a year rather than an individual: a momentous 12 months in the fight for independence. How did a group of ragtag farmers defeat [...] Read more

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done Author:  Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan Publisher: Crown Publishing Group Date Published: June 2002 From Library Journal: Bossidy, an award-winning executive at General Electric and Allied Signal, came out of retirement to tend to Honeywell (and bring it back to prominence) after it failed to merge with General [...] Read more

The Leadership Challenge (4th Edition) Author: Barry Kouzes and James Posner Publisher:  Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated Date Published:  August 2008 From Publishers Weekly: An inspirational and practical handbook, this expanded revision of a bestselling manual originally published in 1987 offers sound advice to corporate leaders and entrepreneurs, to managers and employees and to aspiring [...] Read more

The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment Author:  Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Date Published: October 2000 From the Publisher: In today’s business environment, strategy has never been more important. Yet research shows that most companies fail to execute strategy  successfully. Behind [...] Read more

Big Think Strategy: How to Leverage Bold Ideas and Leave Small Thinking Behind Author: Bernd H. Schmitt Publisher:  Harvard Business School Press Date Published: December 2007 From the Publisher: Business leaders need bold strategies to stay relevant and win. Traditional approaches to strategic planning  based on safe, low-risk methods that produce predictable results do not [...] Read more

Was that Really Me? Author: Naomi L. Quenk Publisher: Davies-Black Publishing Year Published: October 25, 2002 From the Foreword: In Was That Really Me?, Naomi Quenk has provided the next giant step in applying Jung’s model of development in healthy personalities. That step is to understand, accept, and learn to handle our hidden personality responsibly. [...] Read more

The Tipping Point Author: Malcom Gladwell Publisher: Back Bay Books Year Published: January 7th, 2007 From Publishers Weekly: The premise of this facile piece of pop sociology has built-in appeal: little changes can have big effects; when small numbers of people start behaving differently, that behavior can ripple outward until a critical mass or “tipping [...] Read more

Blue Oceans Strategy Author: W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Year Published: February 3, 2005 From Publishers Weekly: Kim and Mauborgne’s blue ocean metaphor elegantly summarizes their vision of the kind of expanding, competitor-free markets that innovative companies can navigate. Unlike “red oceans,” which are well explored and crowded with competitors, [...] Read more

Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything Author: Stephen M.R. Covey with Rebecca R. Merrill Publisher: Free Press, a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc. Year Published: 1st edition 2006, Reprint Febuary 5, 2008 From Publishers Weekly: Trust is so integral to our relationships that we often take it for granted, yet in [...] Read more

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t Author: Jim Collins Publisher: Harper Business, an imprint of Harper Collins publishers Year published: October 16, 2001 From Publishers Weekly: In what Collins terms a prequel to the bestseller Built to Last he wrote with Jerry Porras, this worthwhile effort explores the way good [...] Read more