The University Advancement Blog

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 is 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

• StrengthsFinders 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.  These 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?