Leadership Books

Have read three books on leadership in the past two months and I thought it worth giving some thoughts about them. All worth reading!

1. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton, IVP 2008  She talks about strengthening the soul of a leader through the disciplines of silence and solitude so that we experience a fullness personally that we are trying to lead others into.  She resonates with me!

2. The Starfish adn the Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod A Beckstrom 2006  They are trying to help organizations to extend their influence by decentralizing leadership.  The basic idea–have a shared leadership so that when anyone person is cut off (like the leg of the starfish), the organism keeps going and actually reproduces.   Leader as spider is the traditional model and so when the spider’s head is cut off, the organization dies or has to find someone to replace the person immediately. . . Thinking about how to do this in a member care system in our organization.

3.  Tribal Leadership by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fisher-Wright, 2008 Finally read this after  a friend raved about it for a month or two.  Five levels of organizations–most are stuck in level 2 or 3.  The five levels: Life sucks, My life sucks, I’m great (and you’re not), We’re great (and they are not), Life is great.  It is fairly easy to identify where an organization and a leader are based upon the language they use.  Some coaching help to help move your organization up one level at a time.