Top Leadership Books

I left off a great book that I just finished entitled "Fierce Conversations" by Susan Scott.  This is a must read for those who lead others and want to replace their one-way communications with important two-way conversations.

Rob

"The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork" also by John C. Maxwell.  To accomplish great things, you need a great team. Maxwell describes how understanding and investing in the team will provide benefits of more ideas, energy, resources and perspectives.  

R.E.A.L. Leadership series by John Maxwell.  R = Relationships; E = Equipping; A = Attitude; L = Leadership.  This four-part series is a short read and contains simple, straight-forward principles that can be put into practice immediately.  Great material for District/Division leadership teams!

While we were at KI in San Antonio, we heard mention of taking Kiwanis from good to great but I am finding that a lot of people don't recognize the reference and are not familar with Jim Collins book "Good to Great." A good read especially if we apply it to Kiwanis and our place of service in the world.

we're a new club but i think we're quite progressive because we have incorporated the topic of leadership and change in our club more than 2 years ago. i have a powerpoint that i developed that i'd be happy to offer as a resource in this area. its title slide covers one of the key imperatives of jim collins, "preserve the core, but change strategies." it also talks about vision, collaborative action, and innovation. we've started the talk with other surrounding clubs way back then on the value of aggregating our resources for efficiency and synergy, particularly via innovative use of technology.

we're one of the clubs which started a web site, e-newsletter, dvd production and dissemination of a recent fundraising called "children helping children fashion show." we also have been featured in various press coverages, including on entitled, "outreach for art goes techie." it was an article on the use of technology for non-profits and partnerships with other groups; for this article, we had a photo-opp with Congressman Schiff, during a courtesy visit by our group to familiarize him with our goals and activities.

being a starter group, we've had the concomitant membership challenges, so we have revamped our leadership structure to better achieve our goals. wish us luck and we'll continue to give you feedback.

thanks for listening. this was quite lengthy!  :)

here are other leadership resources and suggestions:

Management Challenges of 21st century, Managing the Non-Profit Org, Peter  Drucker on  Leadership: •Leadership  is  the  most  basic  and  scarcest  resource  in  any   business  enterprise; Great  managers  are  experts  at  taking  their  current   organizations  and  optimizing  them  to  accomplish  their  goals  and  get  their  jobs  done.

Managing by  Bob  Nelson and Peter Economy - distinctions between a leader and a manager

Leading Change by Kotter - remember these eight simple steps the next time you are the one responsible for making change happen.

Change Forces by Fullan - I like anything about him especially because I am an educator.

Managing by Values - Blanchard

Dreher - the TAO of Personal leadership

Buckingham - First Break All the Rules

Collins - Built to Last

SUGGESTIONS: primarily, gotta make the site interactive! how? hyperlink authors/books to actual webs; synopsis of recommended books and why liked it by fellow-Kiwanians; as what my doctoral prof used to ask" identify the "5 biggies" of the book and its implications (here, to Kiwanis); and opportunity to add/detract to such by other Kiwanians; book of the month virtual club - moderated threaded discussions on chosen book; case studies approach; resource links to such books, preferably multimedia resources made by experts or fellow kiwanis groups or individuals; practice data-driven decision making - how do we measure the impact of kiwanis leadership programs on raising the level of Kiwanis Leadership IQ? ... just some brain dump for now....

again, thanks for listening!

The new Kiwanis is going to be awesome. I am excited about building leaders. I think inorder to be a great president you must be an awesome leader. Yes, I agree that you must create a team but all teams need leadership.  kiwanis is doing a great job right now. I attended the K University in San Antonio and the first thing I noticed was the leadership development that was being portrayed so graciously.

I think people need to have a vision. My boss once said, " If you close your eyes and you cannot see IT, IT is not going to happen" I truly believe him. I am excited about my role as President 2007-2008, The Kiwanis Club of Fort Montagu, Divission 22 Nassau, Bahamas.

A great book is also:

Coaching for Impact

Leadersip and the art of coaching

by Jeffrey L. Magee & Jay Kent-Ferraro

Some time ago someone proposed the following question to a group of distinguished business university faculty, "If you were the CEO of a large corporation and could have only one management book to use, what would it be?"

My answer: The Bible.

in kiwanis, leadership by knowledge is not that effective but unknown to many the kind of leadership that we should offer involves the heart.  we can only be certain that fulfillment can be certainly defined and attained when we do something in kiwanis with our hearts and this is how many can gauge how to persuade the followers of every leader.  proper kiwanis education is very essential and must be done by experts not just by learners.

Let me know what you thought of the book I gave you in Reno.  Hope you enjoy the read.

I would recommend The Servant by James C. Hunter which deals with servant leadership.  Kiwanis is based on service and this book will give you some good ideas on leadership.

I appreciate the recommendations that others have made and hope to chck some of them out.  I too enjoy John Maxwell's books and would also recommend My Personal Best by John Wooden and John Wooden on Leadership.

Strange as this might seem "The Book of Five Rings" written by the samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi circa 1645 it is considered a classic treatise on military strategy, much like Sun Tzu's The Art of War. There have been various translations made over the years, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than only that of martial artists: for instance, some business leaders find its discussion of conflict and taking the advantage to be relevant to their work. In the same vein "The Marine Corps Way (Using Manuever Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization)" by Santamaria, Martino, & Clemons gives some excellent ideas on leadership and management.

Conversations on Leadership by Insight Publishing.  ISBN:  1-885640-41-2

Also available on CD.  "What could be more exciting than sitting down with 17 American leadership experts, men and women who understand what it takes to inspire others to succeed.  These dynamic professionals share thier life lessons in thought-provoking interviews."  

Easy to read while waiting for a plane or when your stuck in an airport for 10 hours:)

I'd like to suggest another book.  It's not brand new, but it's one that I've found to be very successful in my consulting experiences with companies and other organizations.  It is called "Visionary Leadership," and it was written by Burt Nanus, and published by Jossey-Bass.  The theme of the book is this:

"There is no more powerful engine driving an organization toward excellence and long-range success than an attractive, worthwhile and achievable vision of the future, widely shared."  The definition of a vision, as used in this statement, is:

" A vision is a realistic, credible, attractive future for your organization."

So many of our clubs have no vision of the future, other than "let's keep on keeping on," that they are getting older, slower and less relevant to the young people and community.  This book would help us.

Check out a book by Rudnesky: 50 Great Things Leader Do: Let's Get Fired Up!

The premise is that your leadership ability increases exponentially by the number of leaders you have around you. Anyone can be a leader if they choose.