Sunday, December 23, 2018

LeaderShop - Workplace, Career, and Life Advice From Today's Top Thought Leaders by Dr. Rodger Dean Duncan


Inspiring to be a better leader and manager takes an added effort from all of us. Some people learn better hands-on or working with a mentor. Others are visual and jump into resources like books, online learning or podcasts. Combined with a variety of real-life experiences and being proactive to learn on your own will also build your leadership skills.

I am a huge bookworm. There have been so many books that I have read where I would love to sit down with the author and chat one on one. Often after I finish a book, I have questions that linger and are relevant to my life or issues on how I can be a better leader.

If you are like me, a comfortable real experience book resonates more than theoretical ideas written by people who have committed themselves more to building theories than sharing practical skills. The new book LeaderShop – Workplace, Career, and Life Advice from Today’s Top Thought Leaders by Dr.Rodger Dean Duncan is a must read. He brings together conversations with over 50 leaders on a myriad of topics that can be used as your tabletop “bible.” The chapters read like friendly conversations from authors including Brian Tracy, Marshall Goldsmith, Stephen Covey, Mark Sanborn and more.

I loved the variety of topics we get to eavesdrop on. Dr. Duncan asks leaders questions that speak to us as leaders, and he doesn’t just address work situations. The conversations also focus on personal success because work isn’t everything. There are tableside chats that pertain to so many topics the reader will find numerous ones that resonate. I loved the casual talks and wrote down some ideas and goals from almost every chapter.

Here are some of the topics in LeaderShop:

•    Meaning and Purpose
•    Mental Maps
•    Workplace Practices
•    Communication
•    Feedback and Accountability
•    Culture
•    Career Management
•    Personal balance

There are few other sources where you will find so much wisdom all in one book. The book can be read chapter by chapter, or you can choose a particular chapter depending on your mood or even a situation that you are encountering. This is the perfect book to keep in your office library to grab for reference and to solve problems.

LeaderShop is volume 1 from Dr. Duncan and I hope that there are numerous more versions to come. This is one of the best reads that I’ve had the opportunity to become engrossed in, and I felt like each leader/topic was talking with me, not at me. Pick this gem up today!




Monday, December 10, 2018

Building Resilience with Appreciative Inquiry by Joan McArthur-Blair and Jeanie Cockell Book Review



Leadership is a journey that doesn’t have a definitive playbook. It’s helpful to have different ideas and models to guide and mentor as we improve our leadership skills. The new book Building Resilience with Appreciative Inquiry by Joan McArthur- Blair and Jeanie Cockell offer a unique roadmap that they call Appreciative Inquiry. This model illustrates how to build resilience in leading oneself and those around you. It’s an approach for positive change in organizations, individuals, and groups. The process engages people by telling and listening to stories to build the future of people and organizations together in an engaging manner.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) can be used in strategic planning, team development, coaching, organizational development, and research. Ultimately, the process shows leaders at all levels how to build long-term resilience by using AI to reflect on and explore leadership through hope, despair, and forgiveness. This process builds leadership resilience in not just us, but our people. AI helps us navigate through difficult situations as leaders. It guides us in connecting with others.

The book offers personal and real-life leadership situations for readers to see AI in action. It’s useful to know the impact of AI by introducing several valuable models. Moreover, each chapter opens with an inspiring poem and ends with reflection questions to really get us thinking as leaders and asking how we can use the lessons in the book to be stronger leaders who can impact the people around us and the organizations that we work in.

What I enjoyed most about the book are the first-hand stories about AI and how it can change people and organizations. It helps to bring all the various ideas in the book together for that “aha” moment. It helps everything to gel and assists the reader to start down on a new path to leadership.

For those that really see the benefits that AI can bring to your organization or team, there are some excellence chapters at the end of the book to help you practice AI and even conduct your own AI workshop with your team with the support of other leaders in your organization.

If you want to explore a new leadership method, pick up a copy of Building Resilience with Appreciative Inquiry.