Resources & Archives
HR and Leadership - Links portals, information, and great articles
Suggested Reading - I’m an eclectic
reader, so this list is quite diverse – some for development,
some for entertainment, and some surprises!
Cool Stuff - a potpourri of interesting,
intriguing, and possibly useful connections
Jim's NINTH Annual Summer Reading
List (2008)
Last Year's Summer Reading
List (2007)
SUGGESTED READING - Remember, I’m
an eclectic reader.
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Getting
Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
David Allen, Viking, 2001, 265 pp.
David is my saviour when it comes to time management. I met
him two years ago via several teleclasses, and his approach
to organizing life and “stuff” changed the way I live
my life—truly! I am no longer a die-hard “stacker.”
Everything has a place, and my stress load is lower than it
was for the past 20 years of my life. This book was published
in early 2001, and I got my copy from Amazon the day it was
released. Wonderful book. Read it one chapter at a time, and
DO IT! |
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First,
Break all the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers
Do Differently
Buckingham & Coffman, Simon & Schuster, 1999, 271 pp.
I’ve been recommending this one since the day it was published.
I found it to be an immensely readable book—every chapter
bursts with information and useable ideas. Most valuable for
me: The 12 most important questions to ask to measure workplace
effectiveness, linked to four business outcomes: Productivity,
Profitability, Employee Retention and Customer Satisfaction.
This book is about measuring Human Capital AND provides statistical
proof that people work for a company, but LEAVE their manager.
Fundamental points: People don't change, but great leaders learn
to use what's there. Four core activities of Leader Catalyst:
Select a person, set expectations, motivate the person, and
develop the person. Template quality information on Performance
Management, Hiring, Motivating and Developing. I give it an
A+, great book. Attention CEOs! Make sure your Chief People
Officer and CFO read this. The book has tons of material you
can mine for discussion and learning throughout the organization.
Also a great book for anyone into OD, needing to convince the
organization to invest in management skills training and leadership
development. One great strategy is to engage leadership coaches,
by the way (hint, hint!). |
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How
to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci
Michael Gelb
Great book—it’s a wonderful mixture of creative tips,
tricks, theory and observation. This one feeds my Coach, my
Artist, and my multi-sensory self. You can pick up any chapter
randomly and learn something interesting and probably useful
to you. |
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Islam:
A Short History
Karen Armstrong
Long before the events of 9/11, I’ve been interested
in learning more about other religions, and I read this book
in July 2001. This paperback-sized book is only ~200 pages
long, yet it manages to cover 1400 years of history amazingly
well. I learned about the true roots of Islam (which translates
as “surrender”) and was amazed to learn how interwoven
are the histories of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. What
I found most fascinating was the way Ms Armstrong traces numerous
world events, such as the Crusades, from the perspective of
the Muslim world. Our American, Euro-centric view of history
neglects to educate us as to the valuable contributions other
societies have made to the world we live in today. The golden
era of the Muslim empires was a time of great advances in
learning, and their empire was incredibly tolerant of other
religions. Mohammed believed that Jews, Christians, and Muslims
all believed in the same God, who chose to reveal himself
in different ways to different peoples. So when the Muslims
conquered a new land, they practiced freedom of religion and
great tolerance toward others. It’s only been in the
past 50 years that Islam has had to wear a political face.
A fascinating book. Read it, and you’ll no longer wonder
why Islam is the fastest growing religion in the US today.
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Motoring
with Mohammed, and Stranger in the Forest
Eric Hansen
Both are travel diaries. Both terrific. Stranger in the forest
is about his walking trip through Borneo. I learned a tremendous
amount about how other people live. Motoring with Mohammed is
about Eric’s searching for his lost diaries in Yemen. The
book takes you through life in the middle east from a very human
perspective. Eric’s dry sense of humor and objective writing
style made me laugh and made me sad, at times, as he relates
the wonders as well as the hardships of life. Interestingly
enough, I read this right after Islam: A Short History, and
before 9/11, and the insight it gave me into what life is really
like for the majority of the Arab peoples in the Middle East
was profound. It’s not the people over there who are the
problem—it’s just their leadership. |
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The
Winning Attitude
John Maxwell
I read this one because I heard it was on the Harvard Business
School list of 250 books you must read in your lifetime. It
is very helpful in quantifying the impact of attitude on life.
Maxwell’s other books are wonderful, as well. His foundational
work remains, in my mind, “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of
Leadership.” |
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The
Trusted Advisor
David Maister, Charles Green, Robert Galford
We all seek to build strong client relationships, whether we
are internal or external consultants. We offer our programs,
our professionalism, our insights, and we build our businesses
based on these relationships. This book captures the essence
of what is going on in building client relationships, and provides
great insights into what works and how to do it. |
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Many
Strong and Beautiful Voices: Quotations from Africans Throughout
the Diaspora
Quinn Eli
I love quote books, and I value different perspectives. This
book “spoke” to me when I picked it up. It includes
a very different look at life, at least for me. The quote categories
include confidence, creativity, dreams, family, gender, growth,
life lessons, peace, politics, spirituality, and many more.
The quote that really hit me between the eyes? “In this
country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate,”
Toni Morrison. Hmmm. I love books that make me think!
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Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (and the whole series)
J. K. Rowling
I read this with my son several years ago, and secretly enjoyed
it more than he did. But it’s a kids’ book, right?
When I heard the movie was coming out, I took bold action—I
picked up all four Harry Potter books at the library, and read
them while working out each morning. Guess what I discovered?
There’s this whole underground of adults who have read
the book in secret, as well. The fantasy world of Harry and
Hogwart’s School of Wizardry is as well developed and full
as C.S. Lewis’ Narnia and Tolkien’s Middle Earth,
two of my favorite places. The writing is good, the characters
are real and three-dimensional, and there’s always a lesson
to be learned. Indulge the kid in you—you’ll be glad
you picked these up! |
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The
Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien
OK, everyone and their brother is into
this, as the movie’s great and all. But I’ve been
a devoted fan of these books since I was in high school, sliding
the paperback version behind a copy of my calculus book so I
could read in class, and through raising my kids, each of whom
heard it as a bedtime story at least once in their lives (OK,
so it’s a bedtime story that lasts several months, what
can I say?). I estimate I’ve read the trilogy well over
20 times, and it is just as magical and real to me each time.
My favorite college course was, in fact, The Philosophy of Literature—a course in which the LOTR trilogy and the Chronicles
of Narnia were the primary texts. Hey, we have to make our own
fun in life, eh? |
COOL STUFF
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Since
this is my website, this is a mixed bag of stuff I personally
think is interesting, intriguing or useful. If you do, too,
please let me know! |
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http://www.winwenger.com/
This is the homesite of Project Renaissance. Win Wenger
is a one-man think tank in the area of Creativity. He posts
his stuff here, and gives it away for free, in the hope that
increased levels of productive creativity will help us all become
better. Scroll down on the home page and click on CPS Techniques.
You’ll have access, FREE, to dozens of the world’s
most effective creative problem solving tools, complete instructions
included. |
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http://www.dinnerguest.com
Very slick concept—instead of having to go to
a restaurant to buy a gift certificate, you get one of these
Visa-authorized cards, and they are good at any restaurant in
the USA which takes Visa. I love the simplicity of this concept!
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http://greetings.yahoo.com/
Yahoo Greetings is my favorite site for e-greetings—especially since Blue Mountain Arts stopped letting you
send cards with future dates. |
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http://www.braintricks.com/index.html
Take the Limbic Quizzes in three subject
areas: Power, Sex, and Territory. Interesting…
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http://earpower.com/index.htm
A resource for enhancing your musical
talents. |
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