Most influential books - part 2

Ok, here's the second set of books in my most influential book series. May you find them useful.


Solving Tough Problems: An Open Way of Talking, Listening, and Creating New Realities (Adam Kahane)

“…a complex problem can only be solved peacefully if the people who are part of the problem work together creatively to understand their situation and improve it.” - pg 2

This is a really powerful book! I think the above quote nicely sums up Adam's insights on his 25 year journey from approaching difficult problems as 'a technical expert' to gradually understanding the inherent problem solving ability of the people involved in conflict, once the right conditions are fostered.

This has become one of my 'most recommended' books for folks interested in learning about the real potential of group-oriented approaches to conflict resolution and difficult problem solving.

What I find particularly powerful and transforming are Adam's stories from the field - including his work in South Africa during the transition from apartheid; post-civil war Guatemala; civil war Columbia; Argentina in the midst of societal collapse.

To me, these stories and others demonstrate two things:

• they show what's truly possible when people commit to creating better futures together. 
• they provide an important and potent dose of reality when we think about the conflicts we may be caught up in our organizations, businesses, and communities - if people who've been trying to kill each other for decades can come together, work to resolve and move past their differences, and then can collaboratively create a new future together, is the long running running turf war between marketing and sales REALLY as intractable as we think it is?

Definitely worth a read for anyone!


The Truth About Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know (Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner)

A short book that very effectively communicates the key lessons and takeaways from Jim and Barry's extensive studies of leadership (30 years worth).

There are other leadership books I love and have found extremely influential and that I could add to the list in place of this one. However, I choose to include "The Truth..." because it nicely captures the underlying  commonalities of various schools of thought on leadership and shares them as 10 no-nonsense, research-supported truths.

I find that "The Truth..." gives me an easy way to evaluate the usefulness of any particular approach to leadership and helps me readily identify what might be new and useful and what's simply a particular leader/leadership thinker's way of looking at leadership.  


Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead (Brene Brown)

I became an instant fan of Brene' Brown's work after seeing her 2 great TED talks (On Vulnerability; Listening to Shame) last year.

'Daring Greatly' is potentially one of those game changing books and that's why I've included it. Brene's work hits so many nails I've seen in my professional and personal life right on the head. 

Whether it's been helping people progress in therapy, helping organizations improve their programs, teaching, helping people work through conflict, etc., a big key to whether progress or stagnation/resistance occurs, in retrospect, is whether people were willing to be vulnerable. When that answer was 'yes' the door opened to all sorts of positive changes. 

This another book that's greatly beneficial regardless of the profession you are in and I high recommend checking it out!


What's up next:

The Innovator's Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation (Peter Denning & Robert Dunham)
Developmental Evaluation (Michael Quinn Patton)
The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness (Stephen Covey)