A new series we're launching here at the Books blog is the "Reading List". We'll be asking several innovative Christian leaders for a list of books they're reading and why. As it's been quipped, "leaders are readers" -- so, by knowing what other leaders are reading, you'll get insider on putting your reading lists together and recommendations for others.
Here's a list of books that Bob Buford (author of Halftime and founder of Leadership Network) is reading this summer, excerpted from the latest edition of his Muse-Letter email newsletter (Year 5, Chapter 10) at ActiveEnergy.net:
The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy
by David M. Smick
David Smick keeps a low profile, but experts consider him one of the most insightful financial market strategists in the world. For more than two decades, he has conferred with central bankers (such as Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke) and advised top Wall Street executives and investors. The World Is Curved reveals how today's risky environment came to be—and why the mortgage mess is a symptom of potentially far more devastating trouble. He wrestles with the two questions on everyone's mind: How bad could things really get in today's volatile economy? And what can we do about it?
The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It by Joshua Cooper Ramo
Today the very ideas that made America great imperil its future. Our plans go awry and policies fail. In The Age of the Unthinkable, Joshua Cooper Ramo puts forth a revelatory new model for understanding our dangerously unpredictable world. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, immunology, and the science of networks, he describes a new landscape of inherent unpredictability--and remarkable, wonderful possibility.
The Definitive Drucker: The Final Word from the Father of Modern Management by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim, Foreword by A. G. Lafley. Edersheim captures the last two years of Peter’s insights.
My Utmost Devotional Bible New King James Version (NKJV) by Thomas Nelson Publishing Co, Oswald Chambers
How The Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins, -- four years of research by the principal post-Drucker question asker. Collins’ newest book. Just out.
* Decline can be detected.
* Decline can be reversed.
* Collins' research project uncovered five step-wise stages of decline:
* Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
* Stage 2: Undisciplined Pursuit of More
* Stage 3: Denial of Risk and Peril
* Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
* Stage 5: Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
There you go. An inside look at what Bob Buford's reading this summer! Chime in and add a comment if you've read any of these already, or want to get some of these books to read along too.
Bookmark and subscribe to this blog and keep your finger on the pulse of what innovative leaders are reading...
// DJ Chuang, Leadership Community Director at Leadership Network
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