Book recommendations
I believe strongly in the value of books as a professional development tool. In our unit (External Affairs), we have our own “book club.” Each semester – fall and spring – I provide a book for our directors to read, and at the end of the semester we go off-site for a long lunch (or breakfast) and group discussion. This morning was our discussion on this fall’s read – Enchantment (book review forthcoming).
During the summer, our entire External Affairs staff reads a book, and that becomes the focal point of our annual all-staff retreat.
Here’s what we’ve read so far:
Directors
- The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
- Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
- The Story Factor by Annette Simmons
- Enchantment by Guy Kawasaki
All Staff
- StrengthFinders 2.0 by Tom Rath
- Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie
Additionally, we have established a tradition at our annual scholarship luncheon where the keynote speaker selects a book that has had an impact on him or her. We then provide complimentary copies to student scholarship recipients, donors, and all guests in attendance. Here are the books our speakers have recommended over the past few years:
- Outliers: The Story of Success (selected by Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder)
- The Bill Cook Story: Ready, Fire, Aim! (selected by Gerry Dick, President of Grow Indiana Media Ventures, LLC)
- The She Spot: Why Women Are the Market for Changing the World – And How to Reach Them (selected by Laurie McRobbie, First Lady of Indiana University)
What’s on your 2012 reading list?
My “books to read” are some old standbys that I never got around to:
The Starbucks Experience
Good to Great
What Would Google Do
I know what you mean, Sara. My never-got-around-to list gets bigger all the time. At the top of that list is Seth Godin’s Linchpin.
Thanks for sharing!
Rob,
Again, great meeting you at CASE V this year. Thanks for sharing your recommended reading list. I want to read more this year…books (professional and non-professional), news articles, insights into advancement, etc.
I did notice a book on your list about Bill Cook. He was a member of my fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, which is where I worked before my current position. He was certainly an influential person in the lives of many.
I’ll keep your list handy as I pick out some new books to read.
Happy 2012 and happy reading.
-Tim
Tim- thanks and all the best to you in 2012 as well! Hope you’ll join us at the CASE Indiana spring conference in Indy on April 13.