If you’re anything like me, you have colleagues, friends and family members for whom deciding on a gift for the holidays is a challenge. You really want to celebrate the relationship during this season, but you also want the gift to be both warmly received and appropriate. Well, how about a great read? These books on leadership and coaching teams to greatness set just the right tone. And, you can still get them on time for that holiday gathering gift exchange. Enjoy!
 Publisher: 2016, Penguin Random House LLC, 268 pages From the jacket:"After ten years of research and more than 200 interviews, Finkelstein, an acclaimed professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business …discovered that superbosses exist in nearly every industry. If you study the top fifty leaders in any field, as many as one-third will have once worked for a superboss. By sharing fascinating stories of superbosses and their protégés, Finkelstein explores a phenomenon that never had a name before. And he shows how each of us can emulate the best tactics of superbosses to create our own powerful networks of extraordinary talent." | Review: “…Superbosses gives leaders a playbook to bring out the best in their people.” Jeff Immelt, Chairman and CEO, GE. About the author: Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and the Director of Tuck’s Center for Leadership. He is a consultant and speaker as well as an executive coach who focuses on talent development, corporate governance, learning from mistakes and strategies for growth. He has published eight previous books including the Wall Street Journal bestseller, Why Smart Executives Fail. |
 Publisher: 2012, Portfolio/Penguin Press, 274 pages From the jacket:"Turn the Ship Around! is the true story of how the USS Santa Fe skyrocketed from worst to first ship in the fleet by challenging the U.S. Navy’s traditional leader-follower approach. Ship’s captain David Marquet, an experienced Navy officer, was used to giving orders. Struggling against his own instincts to take control, he instead achieved the vastly more powerful model of giving control. Before long, each member of Marquet’s crew became a leader and assumed responsibility for everything he did, from clerical tasks to crucial combat decisions.
…No matter your business or position, you can apply Marquet’s radical guidelines to turn your own ship around. The payoff: a workplace where everyone around you is taking responsibility for their actions, where people are healthier and happier, and where everyone is a leader." | Review: “I don’t know of a finer model of this kind of empowering leadership than Captain Marquet. And in these pages, you will find a model for your pathway.” Stephen R. Covey. About the Author: A top graduate from the U. S. Naval Academy, L David Marquet led a distinguished career in the U.S. submarine force. He commanded the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Santa Fe, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His bold and highly effective leadership can be summarized as “give control, create leaders.” After riding USS Santa Fe, noted author, Stephen R. Covey said it was the most empowering organization he’s ever seen and wrote about Captain Marquet’s leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit. |
 Published: 2015, Bibliomotion, Inc./Taylor Francis Group, 256 pages From the jacket:"…The Agility Shift shows business leaders exactly how to make the radial mindset and strategy shift necessary to create an agile, entrepreneurial organization that can innovate and thrive in complex, ever-changing contexts…Unlike many agility books on the market, The Agility Shift provides specific, actionable strategies and tactics for leaders at all levels of the organization to put into practice immediately to improve agility and achieve results." | Review: “This book is a tour de force for leaders at every level who must develop a capacity to experiment, adapt, and learn amidst a turbulent environment.” Frank J. Barrett, author of Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons. About the Author: Pamela Meyer, Ph.D. is the President of Meyer Creativity Associates where she works with organizations internationally who want to be more innovative and agile. Meyer is the author of three books on innovation. Pamela teaches courses in business creativity, organizational change and adult learning at DePaul University, School for New Learning in Chicago, where she is also the Director of the Center for Advance Education for Adults. |
 Publisher: 2011, Kogan Page Limited, 248 pages From the jacket:"Offering a practical road map with numerous examples, Leadership Team Coaching brings together the latest research to teach you how you can develop people from disparate groups into a high performing team to transform your business." | Review:“A welcome addition to the new and evolving team coaching field….a practical and detailed framework that is useful for both coaches and leaders.” Jacqueline Peters, Leadership Coach and Consultant. About the Author: Peter Hawkins is Professor of Leadership at Henley Business School and founder and emeritus Chairman of Bath Consultancy Group and Chairman of Renewal Associates. He is also visiting Professor in Leadership and Change at the University of Bath School of Management and in Executive Coaching at Oxford Brookes University School of Management. Over the last 30 years he has worked with many leading companies internationally, co-designing and facilitating major change and organizational transformation projects and coaching Boards and Leadership Teams. |
 Published: 2012, Penguin Publishing Group, 800 pages From the jacket:"In this powerful book, McCrystal and his colleagues show how the challenges they faced in Iraq can be relevant to countless businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations. The world is changing faster than ever, and the smartest response for those in charge is to give small groups the freedom to experiment while driving everyone to share what they learn across the entire organization. As the authors argue through compelling examples, the team of teams strategy has worked everywhere from hospital emergency rooms to NASA. It has the potential to transform organizations large and small. | Review: “the lessons and concepts outlined in Team of Teams provide a valuable blueprint for leadership across any industry or domain. …providing a leadership framework to produce the inclusiveness and adaptability of a fast-moving start-up at the scale of any size organization.” Brad Smith, President and CEO, Intuit. About the Authors: Stanley McCrystal retired from the U.S. Army as a four-star General after more than thirty-four years of service. His last assignment was as the commander of all American and coalition forces in Afghanistan. He is a senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and the cofounder of CrossLead, a leadership consulting firm. Tantum Collins is currently studying international relations at Cambridge University as a Marshall Scholar. David Silverman and Chris Fussell are senior executives at CrossLead and former U.S. Navy SEAL officers. |
May Your Days be Merry and Bright!Finally, as you prepare to celebrate with family and friends, we at AJO wish you the best of the season and a happy and prosperous new year! | |
Kathy Flora is a Career and Executive Coach and AJO Blogger who is actively pursuing her life’s passion, helping others find and fulfill theirs.Topics: