Professional Bibliography

Bennis, Warren and Goldsmith, J. (2010). Learning to lead: A Workbook on Becoming a

Leader. New York, New York: Basic Books.
In this book of nonfiction, three experienced leaders collaborate to use experiential and
testimonial evidence to frame leadership characteristics, values, and definitions. As
leaders in business and higher education institutions the authors develop a workbook that
asks the reader to pause for reflection and self-awareness.
The authors tie relevant, current affairs to what a leader is in todays job market. The
focus of the book is more on the reader to identify with their strengths and weaknesses as
a leader. Bennis, Warren and Goldsmith use a variety of testimonies and inspirational
stories to validate what the reader needs to learn to call themselves a leader.
*For me this book was probably the most interactive textbook Ive read since middle
school. The questions of self-reflection were sometimes hard to answer. We are often so
wrapped up in our own actions that we forget to stop and think about what we are really
doing and saying to our people. I plan to really focus on the reflections Ive made and to
employ those lessons learned as I lead.
Goldfein, D. (2001). Sharing success owning failure: Preparing to command in the twentyfirst century Air Force. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Air University Press.
In this book Goldfein uses his experience as an Air Force commander to lay the
foundation for future commanders to build upon. Goldfein focuses on what is expected
of a commander. His overarching message is to develop expectations and vision for your
troops to rally behind.
Goldfein also discusses what he calls walking the walk, which confronts a common
discussion of leadership vs. management. Goldfein contests that leadership is about your
people and that management is about things. He uses his experience and success to
illustrate how leading by example and not taking yourself to seriously can reap results.
*The reason I like to use this book to re-cage my leadership brain and to share with
others that struggle is because of its simplicity. Not only is it a very quick read, but it
hammers home what you need to be successful as a leader in very militaristic
terminology. The message that I received and use in the workplace from this book is to
inspire, develop and motivate your people; be visionary.
Rath and Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why
people follow. New York, New York: Gallup press.
In this book Rath and Conchie pounce on the Gallup Presss 30 year research project on
strengths. The idea was to team an author (Rath) and a revered leadership consultant

(Conchie) to capture traits of great leaders and allow people to take an assessment that
shows them where they are strong in leadership.
The authors goal is to enforce leading with your strengths and focusing less on your
weaknesses. They contest that too much time spent on things you arent any good at is
counterintuitive. Also, Rath and Conchie acknowledge that with strengths come
weakness, so the message is to surround yourself with the right people with the right
strengths.
*I personally havent given a hard look at where I need to improve since reading this
book. I understand now that my role on a team is to influence, develop a vision and
negotiate where needed. I may be able to critically asses and idea and help the mission
go on. What Im not going to be is the person who develops the HOW of a plan. I can
probably weigh in on the rest, but I have a dont build me a watch, just tell me what time
it is approach to these things. How do I not come off as the great idea fairy? The
strength of influence; I am apparently strong at empowering people to take on their
natural strengths. This book is about teamwork and all leaders should take the time to
assess their strengths so they arent delusional about who they are as a leader.
Covey, S. (1989). The seven habits of highly effective people: powerful lessons in personal
change. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney. Free Press.
In this book Covey uses personal experiences in leadership and self-help consulting to
brand a powerful message on being effective. This book is not framed towards leaders,
specifically. It is framed however in finding your values and beliefs and using those
things you believe in to guide you through your daily life.
Covey particularly focuses on principle driven methods to be a better leader, manager,
and citizen. He focuses on perspective, listening to others, and raw honesty as some
methods to being highly effective.
*My thoughts on this book are that the 7 habits can really help you reflect on yourself as
a leader. Much like Learning to Lead and Strengths Based Leadership this book is
about knowing yourself. I use these stories, testimonies and habits as wisdom for
developing others and helping them be highly effective people.
Wooden, J (1997). Wooden: A lifetime of observations and reflections on and off the court.
New York. McGraw Hill.
Wooden is a book full of personal and observations by the legendary college basketball
coach John Wooden. Wooden tells stories and witting one-liners to express the
importance of respect, dignity and compassion in being a leader.
This book uses the experience of a champion on the court and a father, husband, son,
friend, colleague off the court who is regarded as one of the great sports leaders in history.

By relating this material to everyday scenarios Wooden draws in the reader and makes them
reflect on their lives and whether or not they are doing the right things.
*I love this book for its witty quotes and easy inferences. I am able to draw from this book
to relate to real life issues. To be an empathic listener you need to care, but you also need to
understand. I dont have 100 years of life experience, but John Wooden did and he lived it
remarkably. Im not going to get it right all the time, but this book has helped be more gentle
and compassionate and to understand empathy. I use John Woodens ideals daily; they
match my own very well.
Ellis, P. (2015). The different approaches to leadership. Wounds UK, 11(1), 65-67 3p.
http://yosemite.wbu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c
cm&AN=103779635&site=eds-live
In the article Leadership and Neuroscience: Can We Revolutionize the Way That
Inspirational Leaders Are Identified and Developed (2011), David Waldman, Pierre
Balthazard and Suzanne Peterson discover the possibility of using brain waves measured
scientifically as a foundation for measuring and developing leaders. Specifically, the
crew is looking for ways to identify inspiring, socially responsible leaders and to
determine if these characteristics of leadership are developable or fixed. They
acknowledge that both the limitations and possibilities of the brains malleability and
potential for adaptability is important to future investigations of leadership phenomena
through the use of neuroscience methodologies (2011, p. 72).
All of the authors at the time of publishing were faculty at Arizona State University.
David A. Waldman, the primary contributor to the article is a professor for the schools
University of Kentucky and his graduate work at Colorado State. Hes primarily
interested in responsible leadership as it relates to ethics and social responsibility. And of
course, he is trying to further the studying of effective leadership and how it is related to
neuroscience theory.
*I find this most intriguing. The science behind this article was able to identify an
inspirational leader, and those that are not. I know that ethically this is a long way from
being part of job interviews, but the fact that certain people have that something about
them that make people want to follow them is no surprise to me. I use this article to talk
to people about leadership and how inspirational leaders may have something firing in
the brain that others dont. I also emphasize that its not necessarily due to genetic
coding but it could simply be because of the way they are thinking about teamwork,
vision and the organization. My bottom line is if youre not thinking about the future of
you organization, your brain isnt firing and people can see and hear that with everything
you do and say.
Ellis, P. (2015). The different approaches to leadership. Wounds UK, 11(1), 65-67 3p.
http://yosemite.wbu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c
cm&AN=103779635&site=eds-live

The article The Different Approaches to Leadership (Ellis, 2015) defines leadership and
some different approaches to leadership. Peter Ellis is the Nursing Director for Hospice
in the Weald, Turnberry, United Kingdom. Peter has only been at the Hospice in the
Weald since January 2015. He taught for ten 10 years as a senior lecturer and program
director at Canterbury Christ Church University. Peter has a degree in Nursing and his
Masters degrees in Health Care Ethics and Medical Epidemiology. He has been writing
professional journal articles and chapters of books for the past 25 years. He takes great
interest in patient care and leading teams in the healthcare field. The approaches he
shares in this article are focused on reflecting about what type of leader you want to be,
so you may remain true to the person you are (p. 1).
The article compares many styles of leadership after contrasting between the often argues
born vs. taught leader. First Ellis talks about transactional leaders who use a reward or
punishment to get followers to do what they are being asked. This is a form of leadership
that primarily focuses on the task and not the person. There is no real vision or
inspiration in transactional leadership. Next the article dives into transformational
leadership which is being taught as a preferred method in professional development even
in my line of work. This method involves inspirational leadership like the last article
review I turned in. Inspirational leaders are visionary and paint a picture of where the
organization is heading in the future (Ellis 2015).
*I like the idea of transformational vs. transactional leaders. Ive recently had a
discussion with my fellow Enlisted Leaders in my unit about what it means to share a
vision and to prepare people for the direction the organization is going. Often, we are too
hung up on the reward we earn for doing well, when the most effective reward is internal
gratification and success. I tell people that if they do their part to exceed expectations
and go for the extraordinary every day the organization will be successful, and in turn so
will they; their success and reward will come, that should be least of their concern.

Leadership REFLECTION
Bennis, Warren and Goldsmith, J. (2010). Learning to lead: A Workbook on Becoming a
Leader. New York, New York: Basic Books.
My overall analysis of this workbook is that it prepares a person to lead. Whether you currently
sit in a leadership role or not you can use this workbook to reflect and look at
yourself in the
mirror.
My dominant leadership styles are vision and influence. I have the intrinsic motivation to always
think positively. I rarely nay say and I believe in the good of people. This is a strength of
mine because when the sky is falling I can paint a picture for others of how were going to come
out on the other end. Leaders are dealers in hope, and I like to hand out hope all day. When
hope for a better life is taken from someone then morale starts to erode. People need to be able

to envision the future; its what will get them up in the

morning and make them WANT to
come to work! Influence is a strength because if you can steer someone into your line of
thinking, you may be able to better compromise or fight for whats right for your organization.
You dont become influential without some street cred. To develop this credibility a person
needs to have aptitude, attitude and motivation. Without aptitude or the ability to network and
use your resources to gain knowledge it is unlikely people are coming to you for leadership.
Without a positive, influential attitude it is difficult for your folks to come to you. A leader
needs to be humble, credible, and approachable. Motivating people isnt just showing them a
video or telling them to get fired up. You have to, through your own actions, show them what a
motivated person looks like. To inspire someone, they need to see an inspiration. It is a leaders
job to inspire. Motivate yourself first, if you cant do that you will motivate no one else.
My weaknesses are self-awareness and time management. This is why I like books and articles
that ask me to reflect. I feel like I sometimes get too caught up in the daily grind and Im not
seeing myself the way others are. I need to reflect more and try to remain aware of how my
actions, thoughts, non-verbals, etc. can affect others. Time management is my major weakness.
The good news is I often take care of everyone else before myself. The bad news is to be an
effective leader taking care of myself, my family and being resilient are an important part to
sharpening the saw.