Some of our favorites...
Texts
Carter, Stephen. Integrity. New York: HarperCollins, 1996
Also Carter’s Civility (1998) and The Culture of Disbelief (1993)
Greenleaf, Robert. The Servant as Leader. Indianapolis: The Robert K. Greenleaf Center, 1991.
Heifetz, Ronald. Leadership Without Easy Answers. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994.
Kidder, Rushworth. How Good People Make Tough Choices. New York: Fireside, 1995.
Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak. San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2000.
Articles
Talking with the Enemy in The Boston Globe by Anne Fowler, Nicki Gamble, Frances X. Hogan, Melissa Kogut, Madeline McComish and Barbara Thorp
An article by six women who hold diametrically opposed views on abortion and engaged in dialogue about the issue in order to communicate openly, understand each other and build relationships of mutual respect, de-escalate the rhetoric of the abortion debate and hopefully reduce the risk of violence around the issue. Their learnings about creating dialogue across deep difference are here.
Moral Courage: A White Paper by Rushworth Kidder and Martha Bracy on www.globalethics.org
Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of White Privilege by Peggy McIntosh
There is No Hierarchy of Oppression by Audre Lorde
A Shift of Mind, Chapter 5 in The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge, New York: Doubleday, 1990
Senge outlines his systems thinking theory that he holds leads to the ability to more effectively affect change. Senge defines dynamic complexity as “situations in which the relationship between cause and effect is subtle and effects over time of interventions are not obvious,” and holds that more attention is paid to detail complexity-- the many variables in a issue that are analyzed as independent from one another. His theory urges us to look at the whole, to see interrelationships in systems rather than linear cause and effect chains, learn to recognize structures that recur, and realize the connection between individual actions and the structures that underlie them.
Personal Mastery, Chapter 9 in The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge
The cornerstone of personal mastery is the ability to focus on our intrinsic desires, not only our goals. Purpose goes hand in hand with vision. It is imperative to have a sense of why you are alive and happiness is directly a result of being true to your purpose. Personal mastery is about focusing and refocusing on what you truly want. Your vision is the specific direction, your purpose is the more abstract process of getting there.
Is it More Blessed to Give Than to Receive?, Robert Greenleaf, in Friends Journal, Quaker Thought and Life Today, May 1976
A compelling and serious challenge to the common adage—he notes, “receiving requires a genuine humility that may be uncomfortable and difficult to achieve, whereas giving poses the risk of arrogance which, unfortunately, is easy to come by- and some seem to enjoy it.
Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker in Best of HBR, 1999
Stresses the importance of knowing oneself beyond strengths and areas of development to values, deeply held leadership styles, passions, learning modes, etc.
Finishing Well: How Pathfinders Transform Success to Significance by Bob Buford in Leader to Leader, No. 43, Winter 2007
Using the second half of our leadership lives to be and work in our most authentic selves, why it is important and how folks do that.
An Organic Model of Community Practice: Components of the Social Action Process
by Paul Castelloe and Mac Legerton
Social action is defined as activities that seek to influence and change a social condition and improve the quality of life of people on earth, to realize social justice. Legerton’s model of social action includes 10 components from social organization to social disruption. All components are pieces of the work and valuable to the overall pursuit of justice. We may find ourselves acting in any number of capacities as change agents. An important model for examining the long-term nature of change efforts done effectively.
Endings by William Bridges
in Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes
There are four stages to endings: disengagement, disidentification, disenchantment and disorientation, all occurring before a new beginning can emerge. The ability to acknowledge loss, go through a period of not knowing, embrace disappointment and be with the confusion that comes from endings is crucial to embracing the beginnings that follow them.
“Self” in a simpler way by Margaret Wheatley and Myron Kellnor-Rogers
Wheatly and Kellnor-Rogers bring the laws of science and nature to bear on organizational change processes and how we as human beings approach change. In this chapter, the authors discuss the concept of self-organizaiton and the ability of life to reinvent itself naturally.
Management of disappointment by Abraham Zaleznik, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1967
Leading only to our positions (roles) and not our passions will always cause trouble. Success often hinges on how we manage the inevitable disappointments inherent in taking great risk. There are two points of reference re: motivations for how we respond to tension or challenges. 1) our relationship to the environment and 2) our inner world and strength. (Forestall went mad, Churchill rose again). Mastery of relations and emotions in the face of disappointment requires intense inner work and we must find sanctuary to do it. Ability to be self critical is crucial. Ability to experience and express our emotions is crucial NOTE: note the date—all the language and characters are “he” hard to read as a woman but still helpful.
The Group: A Cycle from Birth to Death by Richard Weber in the NTL Reading Book on Human Relations
Using three theorists, Bion, Schutz, and Tuckman, Weber outlines the natural process of a group’s development.
Tuckman’s GroupDevelopment Theory
The famed outline of group process: forming, norming, storming, and performing.
Giving and Receiving Feedback: It will never be easy, but it can be better by Larry Porter in the NTL Reading Book on Human Relations
Some good information on an activity most of us feel free to engage in and good at, but shouldn’t and aren’t.
Giving Feedback in What Did You Say? By Edie and Charlie Seashore
More good information about feedback and what it says about the giver, not the receiver.