Professional Book Club Series - 2011

 

 Join us once a month for discussion on selected books from various professional development topics. The series is offered "a la carte". Attend all the sessions or only those that most interest you.

A limited number of books are available to be checked out of our library. Please contact Renee Reed (reedra@jmu.edu) via email or phone (8-7398) to borrow the books.

Disclaimer

January:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
Course# TD1470
Friday, January 14, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, USB 102

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

In the book that gave birth to the self-help genre, Dale Carnegie spells out his plan for getting what you want from other people by changing the way you behave. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to "the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people." He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person's point of view and "arousing in the other person an eager want." You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offense or arousing resentment. For instance, "let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers," and "talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person." Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks.

February:
Lessons from the Hive
by Charles Decker
Course# TD1471
Friday, February 11, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, USB 102

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

Fast paced and entertaining, Decker’s story parable is populated with likable, realistic characters who portray the tribulations and eventual success of a company enduring organizational change. Readers will learn:
• More positive ways of looking at changes within an organization
• Less confrontational ways of dealing with conflicts at work
• How to deal with fears of the unknown in a changing business environment
• The importance of establishing trust in the workplace
• How to deal with conflicting interpersonal relationships in a professional manner

March:
The Blue Sweater
by Jacqueline Novogratz
Course# TD1472
Friday, March 11, 2011, 10:30 PM – 12:00 PM, USB 102
NOTE: Time change due to JMU closing at 12:00 PM

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

Jacqueline Novogratz left a career in international banking to spend her life on a quest to understand global poverty and find powerful new ways of tackling it. From her first stumbling efforts as a young idealist venturing forth in Africa to the creation of the trailblazing organization she runs today. Novogratz tells gripping stories with unforgettable characters. She shows, in ways both hilarious and heartbreaking, how traditional charity often fails, but how a new form of philanthropic investing called “patient capital” can help make people self-sufficient and can change millions of lives. More than just an autobiography or a how-to guide to addressing poverty, The Blue Sweater is a call to action that challenges us to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink our engagement with the world.

April:
Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken
by Mike Robbins
Course# TD1473
Friday, April 8, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, USB 102

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

Authenticity is the buzzword of the moment. “Be true to yourself.” “Be your real self.” “Be the person you were meant to be.” The message is loud and clear. Or is it? There is pressure from all around (our parents, teachers, spouses, co-workers, friends, and the media) telling us it’s more important to be liked and to fit in that it is to be who we truly are. We are also constantly bombarded with messages telling us that we aren’t good enough and need to be fixed. Written by Mike Robbins, Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Already Taken shows how you can overcome your fear about being who you really are and accept yourself without a mask, pretentions, bluff, or fakery.

May:
Narcissistic Leaders
by Michael Maccoby
Course# TD1474
Friday, May 13, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, USB 102

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

Today’s business leaders maintain a higher public profile than their predecessors did – suggesting an upswing in what Michael Maccoby calls the narcissistic personality. As the author explains in Narcissistic Leaders, this personality type has both advantages and disadvantages. Narcissistic leaders excel at defining a compelling vision and infusing their followers with the courage to take their company in new directions. But they also tend to ignore sound advice and warnings coming from their peers and supervisors – which can cause them to sabotage their own careers and jeopardize their firm’s survival. How can narcissistic leaders avoid the downsides of this complex personality type? The can strive to become “productive narcissists” – practitioners of an interrelated set of specific, crucial skills. By demonstrating foresight, systems thinking, visioning, motivating and partnering, a narcissistic leader can acquire what Maccoby terms “strategic intelligence.” In presenting his model for becoming a productive narcissist, Maccoby challenges the stereotype that people with this personality are best suited to lead only during times of rapid social and economic change. And he redefines the way we understand and relate to today’s larger-than-life leaders.

June:
Millennials Go to College
by Neil Howe and William Strauss
Course# TD1475
Friday, June 10, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Massanutten 270 Conference Room

Facilitated by Brian Keilson

They include all Americans born since 1982. They are flooding into America’s campuses. And they are nothing like the “Gen-X” youth who preceded them. Many college leaders wonder how they should respond to these new students. In this new book, Howe and Strauss explain what’s behind this new Millennial wave – everything from the rise of “helicopter parents” to the decline of substance abuse, from shifting perceptions of race and gender to new problems over money, cheating and peer pressure. The authors also address the next big transition on the doorstep of higher education – the transition to Gen-X “stealth-fighter” parents. For each issue, the authors offer a hands-on list of “what to dos.”

July:
The Shark and the Goldfish
by Jon Gordon
Course# TD1476
Friday, July 8, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Wine-Price

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

Fear and uncertainty are staples of daily life in today's struggling economy. As bad as things can be, economic downturns also lead to new opportunities. It's easy to worry, give up and let fear paralyze you. However, you have more control than you think you do and how you handle adversity is your choice-and the only choice that matters. In fact, study history and you'll find that a lot of people and organizations made a name for themselves and grew their businesses during recessions and downturns. These successful people and organizations all shared similar characteristics and took similar actions to thrive while others merely tried to survive. You can do the same.

In The Shark and the Goldfish, Jon Gordon shares an inspiring fable about Gordy, a pampered goldfish who gets swept out to sea. Desperate for food, Gordy meets a kind shark who teaches him the ultimate lesson-Goldfish wait to be fed. Sharks go find food. Gordy also learns that the difference between a full and empty stomach is our faith, beliefs and actions. In the face of adversity and lean times, this is a business fable that reinforces a proven truth: You can't control the events in your life. But you can control how you respond and in turn this determines the outcome.

August:
Crucial Conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high
by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler
Course# TD1477
Friday, August 12, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Wine-Price

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

"Crucial" conversations are interpersonal exchanges at work or at home that we dread having but know we cannot avoid. How do you say what needs to be said while avoiding an argument with a boss, child, or relationship partner? Crucial Conversations offers readers a proven seven-point strategy for achieving their goals in all those emotionally, psychologically, or legally charged situations that can arise in their professional and personal lives. Based on the authors' highly popular DialogueSmart training seminars, the techniques are geared toward getting people to lower their defenses, creating mutual respect and understanding, increasing emotional safety, and encouraging freedom of expression. Among other things, readers also learn about the four main factors that characterize crucial conversations, and they get a powerful six-minute mastery technique that prepares them to work through any high impact situation with confidence.

September:
Three Signs of a Miserable Job
by Patrick Lencioni
Course# TD1478
Friday, September 9, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Wine-Price

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

Patrick Lencioni is on a critical mission: create widespread job satisfaction in a world full of workplace misery. The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, tells the inspiring tale a high-flying, but deeply dissatisfied Chief Executive Officer who ditches the power and perks for career bliss as the manager of a pizzeria! In this unusual and inspiring story, Lencioni convincingly demonstrates how career happiness (or misery) is the direct result of the manager--employee relationships including distancing of people from each other (anonymity), which means less exposure to the impact their work has (immeasurability), and thus a diminished sense of their own utility (irrelevance). Patrick Lencioni shatters some myths about workplace satisfaction and offers some real advice on how to turn that daily grind into daily fulfillment.

October:
Leadership and Self-Deception
by Arbinger Institute
Course# TD1479
Friday, October 14, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Wine-Price

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

It's not what you do that matters, but why you do it. Latching onto the latest leadership trend won't make people follow you if your motives are selfish--people can smell a rat, even one that says it's trying to empower them. The tricky thing is, we don't know that our motivation is flawed. Leadership and Self-Deception shows how most personal and organizational problems are the result of a little-known problem called “self-deception.” Learning how the process of self-deception works--and how to avoid it and stay in touch with our innate sense of what's right--is at the heart of the book. We follow Tom, an old-school, by-the-book kind of guy who is a newly hired executive at Zagrum Corporation, as two senior executives show him the many ways he's "in the box," how that limits him as a leader in ways he's not aware of, and of course how to get out. This is as much a book about personal transformation as it is about leadership.

November:
Focus on the Good Stuff
by Mike Robbins
Course# TD1480
Friday, November 11, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Wine-Price

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

We live in a culture that focuses on the “bad stuff.” We’re constantly bombarded with negative messages from the media, advertisers, politicians, and even the people around us. Worse yet, many of us are so critical of ourselves that we’re our own worst enemies. Focus on the Good Stuff offers a plan for dispelling the cloud of negativity that surrounds us. Mike Robbins has created a powerful yet simple new approach for mastering the one thing we need most of all to achieve authentic happiness and be of service to others – that is, to practice the art of appreciation. Appreciation allows you to improve your relationships, create greater success and fulfillment, and experience a deep sense of gratitude for yourself, for others, and in life itself.

December:
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
by Marshall Goldsmith
Course# TD1481
Friday, December 9, 2011, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Wine-Price

Facilitated by Kelly Okken and Judy Rannow

Your hard work is paying off. You are doing well in your field. But there is something standing between you and the next level of achievement. That something may just be one of your own annoying habits. Perhaps one small flaw – a behavior you barely eve recognize – is the only thing that’s keeping you from where you want to be. It may be that the very characteristic that you believe got you where you are – like the drive to win at all costs – is the one that is holding you back. Marshall Goldsmith pinpoints twenty bad habits that stifle already successful careers as well as personal goals. Most are common behavior problems like speaking when angry but his approach to curing self-destructive behavior is harder-edged than most touchy-feely self-help books.

Register For Workshops Here