Leading Through Conflict, How Successful Leaders Transform Differences into Opportunities.  Mark Gerson.  Gerson is trained as a mediator and uses his skills to build consensus in organizational, local, national and international situations.  At their best, mediators get the parties in a dispute to really listen to each other.  They push the two sides to delve deeper and reconsider how their assumptions and way of operating may have led to their lack of success. Gerson explores the skills that he and other mediators have found successful in this very practical guide to understanding divergent points of view, bridging the differences and developing innovative solutions.  Gerson ends each of his chapters with specific practical tips on how to actualize the concepts.

Starting with the General Semantics observation that “The map is not the territory,” Steve Covey has outlined seven principles that will help us make more accurate maps and use those new maps to become highly effective leaders and human beings.   The seven principles (habits) are as follows: 1. Be Proactive (Personal Vision), 2. Begin With The End In Mind (Personal Leadership), 3. Put First Things First (Personal Management), 4. Think Win/Win (Interpersonal Leadership), 5. Seek First To Understand, Then to Be Understood (Empathetic Communication), 6. Synergize (Creative Cooperation), 7. Sharpen The Saw (Balanced Self-Renewal).

Authentic Leadership, Courage In Action, Robert W. Terry

“What is leadership and what is expected of us as leaders?. . .Leadership experts differ profoundly, offering conflicting theories about the nature of effective leadership.  Some theorists say the essence of leadership is vision. Others say it is empowering followers.  Still others offer leaders specific management skills.”  Terry categories all leadership literature into six schools and uses this information to propose a seventh definition of leadership, courageous, ethical & spiritual, focused on understanding “What is really going on?”

Primal Leadership, Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee

“Understanding the powerful role of emotions in the workplace sets the best leaders apart from the rest. . . .If people’s emotions are pushed toward the range of enthusiasm, performance can soar; if people are driven toward rancor & anxiety, they will be thrown off stride.”  The authors have outlined eighteen elements that define Emotional Intelligence (grouped under Self-awareness, Self-management, Social Awareness and Relationship Management).  The book gives lots of examples of how “primal leaders” have learned how to manage themselves and how to manage relationships using these elements.

The Leader of the Future, New Visions, Strategies & Practices for the New Era, Peter Drucker

According to Peter Drucker, leaders have four characteristics: Leaders have followers, these followers do the right things (the leaders get results), leaders are highly visible--they set examples, and leaders are not defined by their titles or compensation--these people are leaders because they take responsibility.  The 31 chapters in this book were written by leading executives and thinkers in corporations & universities.  They define how the most effective leaders will be operating in the next few years.  It is a wonderful sample of current practical and academic thinking.  Scan the chapters & read those that most appeal to you.  Then follow up with other work by the same authors.

The Servant As Leader, Robert Greenleaf. 

So what if the leader is not visible?  Servant leadership removes the ego from leadership, and suggests better results will occur when others get the credit.  The theory takes its inspiration from the book Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.  In this book, after an intense allegorical journey, a group of travelers discovers that their lowly servant is in fact the leader.

Leadership in a New Era, Visionary Approaches to the Biggest Crisis of Our Time, John Renesch, Editor

Similar to the Drucker book above, this is a collection of 23 essays focusing on new ideas for business leadership.  “Each of us has a leader inside of us. . . .Each of us can become our own leaders by living congruently--matching what we think & feel with how we carry out everyday duties.  We can’t change other people.  All we can do is change ourselves.”  This book offers blueprints on the issues facing new leaders and how to be successful.

Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading, Ron Heifetz & Marty Linsky

You were sent one chapter of this book, which outlines the differences between technical and adaptive change.  The book explores the dangers of leadership and gives advice through lots of real life examples.  Also worth reading is Leadership Without Easy Answers by Ronald Heifetz.

Getting To Yes, Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Robert Fisher & William Ury

How can we negotiate over disagreements and arrive at a win-win solution?  This classic book puts forward a method of resolving conflicting interests which can be applied to leadership issues in general.  The formula: 1. Don’t Bargain Over Positions, 2. Separate the People from the Problem, 3. Focus on Interests, Not Positions, 4. Invent Options for Mutual Gain, 5. Insist on Using Objective Criteria.

Leadership & the New Science, Margaret Wheatley

What have we learned from quantum physics, chaos theory & biology that applies to leadership within organizations?  Wheatley defines leadership as relationships and looks at communication, followership, empowerment & accessibility.  In a poetic & thoughtful style, she helps us understand how openness, change, randomness & chaos can help us adapt our style to be in tune with the way the physical world operates.

World Class, Thriving Locally In The Global Economy, Rosabeth Moss Kanter. 

Here are some of the questions addressed: How can we think globally & act locally?  How does an organization compete in a global economy?  How can cities & regions attract and hold the best companies & the best jobs?  What is the meaning of community in a global economy?

Reinventing Government. How the Entrepreneurial Spirit is Transforming the Public Sector, from Schoolhouse to Statehouse, City Hall to the Pentagon,  David Osborne & Ted Gaebler. 

Most books on leadership and management look to the corporate world for their inspiration.  This is one of the few books which applies business principles to the very different world of government.  Thought provoking with lots of examples.

Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale & Improve Results, Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen, The One Minute Manager, Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work & In Your Life, Spencer Johnson & Kenneth Blanchard. 

These three best sellers are short, fun and educational.  They use allegories to teach us how to better operate as managers/leaders within organizations.

The Five Dysfunctions of Teams, A Leadership Fable, Patrick Lencioni.  This is one of the few books I have found which focuses on how to build teams.  This is a fable about a CEO who changes the culture of her organization by building trust.  The book provides a good example of how a team leader can push a group without destroying her effectiveness.  A quick, fun read. 

Synchronicity, The Inner Path to Leadership, Joseph Jaworski.  This is the auto-biography of the founder of the American Leadership Forum.  Jaworski quits his job as the head of a powerful law firm after a divorce helps him realize what he was missing in life.  He develops an executive leadership program and learns to listen to his inner voice.  He shares lessons about bringing together diverse voices, necessary for our multi-cultural region.