Execute

Fierce Leadership: by author of Fierce Conversations – Susan Scott. Susan has done a lovely job of distilling down and exposing many management ‘best practices’ which are the opposite of authentic and vulnerable. Real leaders are fierce - not in an aggressive way – but fierce with YOURSELF… real, candid, frank and authentic. Leaders need a good heart, a well-fed mind and be willing to make decisions. Radically transparent.

Awesomely Simple: John Spence makes it all sound so easy. His lessons about our sense of urgency, disciplined execution and extreme customer focus are well told and powerful. It is about getting the right things done: specific, plans, actions, steps.

Good to Great and Great by Choice: Jim Collins has written classic books and has a powerful website with many articles and tools. Jim’s work celebrates architects over charisma and innovation that lasts. Inner character and integrity become the foundation of leadership and excellence.

In Search of Excellence: Tom Peters has a fantastic blog that is full of fabulous rants on important leadership topics and quotes. Excellence is the next 5 minutes! No excuses. His short and readable manifestos can be quite helpful.

Followership

Willful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan: Margaret has a great TED talk about how conflict is central to progress. Healthy conflict. Leaning in respectfully. Actively seeking disconfirmation – to find the conflict around our theories. Thinking partners who aren’t echo chambers… getting things done with others and working together by thinking differently.

Followers: Barbara Kellerman writes clear direct prose, and looks at many of our leaders and leadership with a steely eyed view. She also holds followers as responsible for outcomes as the leaders. Followers matter whether they do little, nothing or something. The leader-follower interaction is important.

Leadership Lessons from a Dancing Guy: Derek Sivers' blog posts are more relevant to followership. His 3 minute video, TED talk, and this blog post are a dramatic illustration of the individual decisions that followers make. The power of the follower becomes clear.

Facilitation

Visual Meetings: David Sibbet’s book is a simple read. Lots of great specifics. Visual tips and tricks of how to create great flip charts and how to use big sticky notes. Simple ways to draw, visualize and capture the ideas in a room that everyone can do. We don’t need four years in art college – just these strategies!

The Art of Facilitation: Dale Hunter’s book starts with the philosophy and ethics of facilitation, with subtle understandings of important facilitation dilemmas. It also offers a valuable toolbox and a simple roadmap for personal development. Dale believes that facilitating (leading) groups and others can only be done if you can lead yourself

The Skilled Facilitator: Moving up the continuum of simple to more complex – this is a detailed and well-written resource for new and experienced facilitators and leaders. Roger explains his underlying belief models of Unilateral Control and Mutual Learning models as well as many other useful facilitation models, strategies and behaviours. In-depth discussions and specific ground rules to facilitate in many different situations. ​