Recommended Readings

Often when working with a client I am asked about recommended readings. This is a "THUMBS UP" list of what I consider some really good stuff I have used in my both work with clients and my own personal life. It includes books and articles for managing your business to leadership to just plain good things to know. Some of these readings are not new because they stand the test of time. I hope you enjoy "the stuff" as much as I have!

Change Management, Chaos, and Complexity- The Stuff That Makes Ya Think
Coping With Chaos by Dr. Glenda Eoyang
Navigating the Badlands by Mary O'Hara-Devereaux
The Social Atom- Why the Rich Get Richer, Cheaters Get Caught, and Your Neighbor Looks Like You by Mark Buchanan
Ubiquity: Why Catastrophes Happen by Mark Buchanan
Complexity- The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos
The Change Handbook-Group Methods for Shaping the Future edited by Peggy Holman and Tom Devane
Organization Development a Jossey-Bass Reader edited by Joan V. Gallos

Fiction with a Great Message
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
The Great Tulip Trade by Beth W. Brust                                                                                                     

Self Development & Leadership- One Requires the Other
The Four Agreements by Miquel Don Ruiz
The Dark Side of the Light Chasers: Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity, Brilliance, and Dreams by Debbie Ford
The Souls Code in Search of Character and Calling by James Hillman
The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck
A New Earth Awakening Your Life's Purpose by Ekhart Tolle
Servant Leadership- The Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness by Robert K. Greenleaf
The Heart Aroused by David Whyte

Process Consultation- A leadership must have for today's biz
The Consultation Process in Action by Gordon Lippett & Ronald Lippett

What's Good for GE May Not be Good For You
Chaos, Complexity and Process Improvement                                                                                                                           by Larry Solow & Brenda Fake
GE is a good company but everything GE does, does not apply apples-to-apples to your business. After about the fifth visit to one of my clients where they would ask if I had read the latest and greatest management book which seemed to have been authored by a former GE executive, it became apparent this client lacked their own internal management compass. As professionals we are all expected to think about how to do the work in the most effective manner. Reading about how others approach their work is helpful but not sufficient.

What's Good for GE May Not be Good For You is about leveraging your own management approach because you possess the most knowledge of your work and business. This includes business improvement initiatives. Larry and Brenda take a look at the most linear of business improvement, Six Sigma and offer additional possibilities to influence change using non linear approaches that help you tailor the changes needed to implement process improvement.

These "options for action" support the business improvement an organization or is addressing. It is an easy and enjoyable read for anyone touched by Six Sigma or Lean Enterprise by telling an all to familar case story to offer new approaches and tools for improving the alignment of organization.

Brenda Fake served as Project Director in collaboration with NACWA and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), to create this publication as it examines the increasing demand for qualified, skilled employees increasing while the supply for these resources is decreasing. What began initially as a gradual change has accelerated in the past five years. What is the change and what is causing the change? What happens when a keystone worker, or a slew of workers, leaves? The workforce is gradually reaching retirement age and utilities are offering incentives to their staff to take early retirement. As the workforce retires and leaves the public sector, the staff take along a remarkable wealth of operational and maintenance knowledge and information. How can your utility compete?
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