I love to read! So I thought I would dedicate this post to a few of the books I’ve read in the past few months that I would recommend to you (they’re not in any specific order):
1. Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us by Seth Godin – Godin is a well known author and business/marketing blogger. Godin defines a tribe as any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. This is a good book to help you think about using your influence to lead a group of people around a common passion.
2. Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church by Reggie McNeal – This is a very thought-provoking book in which McNeal creates a strong case for the importance of churches embracing a missional model. McNeal presents three shifts necessary for a church to be missional: A shift from an internal focus to an external focus; a shift from program development to people development; and a shift from church-based leadership to Kingdom-based leadership.
3. Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant – This book is the “Good to Great” for the nonprofit world. It provides some great insight on the practices of nonprofits that are truly making the biggest impact in society.
4. Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley – A simple, short book with straight to the point advice on how to cast vision effectively. Stanley gives great advice on: Stating the vision simply, casting the vision convincingly, repeating the vision regularly, celebrating the vision systematically, and embracing the vision personally.
5. Put Your Dream to the Test by John Maxwell – This book is different than most “dream” books. It presents 10 questions to help you see and seize your dream. The more questions you can answer “yes” to, the greater the likelihood you’ll reach your dream. It’s a great test (as the the title says) to determine whether or not you’re on track to reach your dreams and what changes you need to make to get there.
6. Succession: Are You Ready by Marshall Goldsmith – This is a short book with great advice on preparing yourself for succession and choosing and coaching your successor.
7. Axiom: Powerful Leadership Proverbs by Bill Hybels – Axiom is filled with good, practical wisdom on leadership and is packaged in short, easy to swallow axioms. It is very much worth the time. Read it!
What are you reading?
