by Julie Straw
Julie is the Vice-President of Inscape Publishing who produces the DiSC product I use and recommend. This resource will help supervisors and managers apply DiSC in the workplace to get better results.
by Tom Ritchey
This resource provides insights into understanding behavioral style & using this understanding to enrich communication and workplace relationships.
by Kim S. Cameron and Robert E. Quinn
This is an excellent resource to understand organizational change. I like the assessment tool the authors provide and have used it to help an organization understand their culture. The book provides practical steps on how to change organizational cuture. I emailed Professor Cameron with a question and got a reply, which was great!
by Douglas K. Smith
I like the change model depicted in this book. It’s practical and makes sense, especially for people who have to do tasks differently. It addresses the people side of change, which is critical in my opinion.
by William Bridges
This is one of the classics on change management. I really like his perspective on the people side of change. The three phases of change has important points to consider when leading change.
by David Baum
In terms of leading change, this is my favorite book. Each chapter is short and a quick read. However, it is packed with excellent stories and great points. The author consults in change management internationally and has a wealth of experience to draw upon. This was another book that my leadership team and I read together.
by Ed Oakley
This book makes some very good points about change. The analogies are very good, like water flowing down a river flows around rocks that are obstacles in the path. I often quote the statistics pertaining to the percentage of people who are proactive and change friendly.
by Barbara J. Streibel, Brian L. Joiner, Peter R. Scholtes)
This book is an excellent source of information about teams and team life. I liked the information about tools teams need to be productive. Each tool is explained with information about how to implement that tool in your team. The book covers so much. It’s one of my favorite all around books on teams.
by Pat MacMillan
This is the best resource I found on teams in general. It has so much information about teams and is well supported. The case studies add a lot and help the reader understand how to develop teams.
by John C. Maxwell
John Maxwell identifies 17 laws about teamwork. Some of them are ones that you might not have thought about before. I liked the Law of the Niche, which says that team members have different skills and abilities. As a result, getting team members in the right place is important in developing a high performing team.
by Kimball Fisher
This is the best book on leading self-directed work teams I have seen. After I finished the book, I had a much better understanding of what a self-directed work team is and how they grow. A critical part of this is the team leader’s understanding of how their role changes.
by Jeff Janssen
This was an excellent resource on developing teams based on the author’s success in helping teams win national softball championships. While it is focused on a team sport, he draws important points out that are applicable to businesses. I like the team building activities at the end of the chapters too.
by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posne
This is a very good resource to use along with the book. I encourage the use of resources like this for people who work together, especially leadership teams. The old adage, “Iron sharpens iron”, comes to mind. There is much to gain when leaders in an organization practice solid leadership principles.
by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner
If I could only read one book on leadership, this would be it. I think this is a great book. As a leader, I read this book with my leadership team and it helped give us a common perspective about characteristics that contribute to leadership success.
by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee
I believe emotional intelligence is one of the best concepts to surface in recent years. I really enjoyed the background, studies and other information presented in the book. I can see how my growth in emotional intelligence has positively impacted my development as a leader.
by Bill Hybels
This book was written by a highly successful pastor who shares some great insights. One concept I liked the best was “vision leakage”. I found some parts incredibly funny and other parts brought tears.
by Tony Stoltzfus
This is a companion resource for Leadership Coaching filled with information about using coaching and actual coaching questions.
by Tony Stoltzfus
This is an excellent resource of coaching, particularly those interested in faith-based coaching. Tony’s approach and insights are great.
by Ferdinand F. Fournies
This book provides a good process for coaching people with performance issues. I have used a very similar approach years ago and found it to be very effective.
by John Whitmore
This book provides a good process for coaching employees. I have used it as the basis for a coaching workshop.
by Julie Straw, Barry Davis, Mark Scullard, Susie Kukkonen
Comprehensively researched, thought-provoking, and eminently practical VAE: The Work of Leaders stimulates fresh conversations and new perspectives regardless of the leader’s knowledge or experience. It’s an opportunity for leaders at all levels of learning to reflect on how they approach each step of their work along a “leadership continua” and helps leaders take action with personalized tips and strategies that give clear direction and are easy to apply.
by Dr. Merlin E. Switzer
Leadership is a journey that requires periodic assessment of who we are as leaders and our impact. God has placed each leader in a unique position. Each leader has a specific role to fulfill his proposes in the market place. Too many of us as leaders have compartmentalized our faith, are afraid to integrate our faith, or don’t know how to lead with Biblical distinction.