As anyone who reads my blog will know, I have been on the hunt for books, films, poems and whatever that have inspired people about their leadership. I sat down this morning to compile the collected list. I have attached it below for you to download as you wish.
Many people responded including some notable celebrities in the shape of Stephen Fry and Alistair Campbell. In the attachment is a list of suggestions from whole bunch of people from local government, third sector and other public services. There is also a smattering of consultants, several of my colleagues and some random contacts from Twitter (these are the @people in the list) and elsewhere.
I am most grateful to everyone for their suggestions and explanations. Thank you. In many ways, the comments and explanations around why a particular book or film made an impact are the best bits.
Please enjoy and be inspired!
Hi Jon. A slightly facetious suggestion but given that we have Genghis Khan I think we should have Henry V. My one day psycho drama experience on the play suggested several different styles of leadership including the dark night of the soul which many of us have probably experienced from time to time.
ReplyDeleteJohn, really like you way you've turned crowdsourcing ideas into a guide of leadership books and comments from different parts of local gov and public services.My favourite is from @carriebish to recommend finding an inspiring role model and learn from them instead. So I will be learning from you John about how you use your blog, twitter and CoP to thread through good ideas from yourself and others!
ReplyDeleteThank you Noel - I will also tell Carrie about your feedback also.And hallo Kevin - Henry V goes in the next version!
ReplyDeleteHi Jon. I am a new member of communities as of yesterday but am already glad I joined - your list is really interesting, thank you, and I shall certainly be purchasing some of your suggestions.May I also recommend Peter Senge's The Necessary Revolution - I personally found this book really inspiring and empowering.
ReplyDeleteThanks Samantha and welcome to the COP. Thanks for your suggestion - I wll put it in the next version.But the suggestions in the list are not mine (well a couple are) - but they are everybody else's!
ReplyDeleteGreat list. One of my old favourites is the leadership Secrets of Atilla the Hun. It intorduces Atillisms which include taking action against those who wont tell you the bad news, rather than those who do. It also included a leaflet of ideas which waere sound. Well done for the list and thanks
ReplyDeleteThanks Stuart for the feedback.We seem to be generating a whole genre of notorious leaders - Attilla the Hun, Genghis Khan, Henry V - it will be Hosni Mubarak next - on how to squirrel away billions of $$ to the shark infested waters of Sharm El Sheik!
ReplyDeleteJon You have to remind yourself who wrote the histories that we read about attila, Genghis and then consider the context in which they led . Is murdoch our present day Genghis ?
ReplyDeleteJonIsn't there an opportunity here for an enterprising conference organiser?Set up a leadership conference, do a deal with Amazon to have Kindle's pre-populated with a (slimmed-down) reading list at an advantageous price. The conference attendees get the Kindles and their ebooks, the conference gets attention for the innovative approach, Amazon get a bunch of new Kindle users ready to buy more titles for leisure reading, and I get my percentage for the idea........Ian
ReplyDeleteHmm - interesting idea Ian - I am working on something similar - watch this space for my Amazon Astore!And another idea is brewing too... I will make you sure you get your cut...Thanks
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