Southwestern College’s Presidential Recommended Reading List, from Stuff He Has Read in the Past Eight Months or so….
I have begun an initiative with staff and administration to share (and incentivize) the reading of some books that have significantly impacted my view of the world, or the College, or how to be President at the College….It is my hope that others will find these readings inspirational, eye-opening, interesting or provocative….
The List of Books for the Inspirational & Profitable Reading Invitation
The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen. This is a wonderfully inspirational book about the insanely creative likes of Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Tony Hsieh, the Skype Guy, Zuckerman and all the rest of these (mostly) American innovators, and what skills allow them to be such “disruptive innovators” in life and in industry. Wow. Big stuff. I loved this. A must read for the “Eight books in one year” plan…
Delivering Happiness, by Tony Hsieh: Tony is the CEO of Zappos, the largest shoe business on the planet earth. If you do not know of him, that probably sounds dull, and Tony is ANYTHING BUT…..He is a really fun and down to earth guy who tracks his own growth as a person and businessman thorough multiple failures, adventures and trance-breaking realizations. Kind of a light read until the final 50 pages or so, where his philosophy of Servant Leadership and Customer Service are so entertainingly and profoundly shared. You might find that Tony’s “Culture Book” was an inspiration for my “Inspirational & Profitable Reading Invitation”…
The New Relationship Marketing: Mari Smith is a woman from Scotland, who has taken the Social Media world by storm. She is utterly charming, relentlessly up to date, all over You Tube, and very readable. She gives a great overview of how the world is being changed by Social Media and how we can use it to build a more successful Southwestern College…Great stuff…Especially if you are kind of new to Social Media.
Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman. Emotional and Social Intelligence are increasingly coming to be understood as perhaps much more important in our lives than the traditionally over-valued (in western culture) “IQ”, or Intelligence Quotient. This book (it is on CD in the library, I believe) is a classic already and will open your eyes to a million things you were not aware of before you read it…
Metaphors We Live By, by Lakoff and Johnson. I use this book in Psychopathology class and wrote a paper about it back in the 1980’s. It blew my mind then, and still does now. It opens our eyes to the zillions of ways that we construct an understanding of the world that is not based on “reality”, but on metaphorical ways the language attempts to address and help us grasp reality. When you are finished, you will understand how I come away believing there is no such “thing” as a “Personality” or loads of other such constructs we “reify” every day—that is, we talk and act as if they are real, when, as Lakoff and Johnson will demonstrate, they are not. PROFOUND book, and also very readable, and not very long. It will knock the trance out of you.
Happier, by Tal Ben-Shahar. A simple, easy read that is central to the Positive Psychology movement. It is about, well, Happiness, and the importance of it in our lives. Ben-Shahar taught this course at Harvard, and it was at that time the most popular course in the history of that storied university. You know a lot of this stuff, and hearing it again, with a new angle, can only be a good thing…
Education and the Soul: Toward a Spiritual Curriculum, by John P. Miller, is one of the central books the team for Transformational Teaching (Robert, Katherine, Webb, Laura Lansrud-Lopez, Tatha Viethen, Deborah John, Jason Holley, and I) read to get ourselves into a deeper understanding of what is possible in an alternative school that takes a truly holistic approach to education, taking into account not only the left-brain analytic process and accumulation of knowledge, but also the role of meaning in transformational education. Soft, warm, readable. Not heady or overly-intellectualized in the least. So if you feel like you would like to get a better, deeper idea what this school is trying to do, this is a nice, easy read.
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, by Daniel Pink. This is a really provocative book which argues that western culture has heretofore over-valued “Left-Brain Thinking” (analytic, cognitive, linear, logical) at the expense of “Right-Brain Thinking” (synthesizing, creative, expansive, metaphorical). One of its central premises is that the world is changing, and that the changes in the economy and work force in the United States, both currently, and in the future, is leading toward a MUCH GREATER emphasis on Right-Brain capabilities…(This should be good news for most Southwestern College type students!!) I found this book amazingly thought provoking…..
Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, by Clay Shirky. The tools for cooperating on a global level are no longer only in the hands of the government—everybody with a cell phone is now in the game, and the ramifications are totally amazing…VERY interesting and compelling read…(by the way, “Here Comes Everybody” is a famous phrase lifted from James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake”…) This book captures (especially in its opening story about a stolen cell phone), how small the world can get, and how fast change can manifest in these wild times…It gives you a goose-bumpy awareness of the changes that are happening on the planet, right in front of our faces…
New Thought: A Practical American Spirituality, by C. Alan Anderson and Deborah G. Whitehouse: This is the most readable “History of New Thought” I have read, and I have read them all. It is fun, easy and VERY informative. Of course, we remember that Phineas Parkhurst Quimby was the “Father of New Thought”, so if you ever wanted to know more about that, this is the opportunity of a lifetime…It is really, really good. Many of you will find yourselves realizing that you have long been a New Thoughter, but did not know it…Seriously…And you will see our College in here too….
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle. This is a monster book. Really great stuff about the shift on the planet, and a good way to get another angle on what Southwestern College is all about…Tolle is a giant. If you have missed him, somehow, this is your opportunity to get paid to read him. How cool is that? Let me answer that for you—it’s REALLY cool. What is it about? Read the first few pages, and you will start to get the feel…
Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, by Erik Qualman. One of those great intro to Social Media kind of books. Again, VERY readable, like Mari Smith’s book. You really should read one or the other, if you have the least interest in how Social Media is changing the world under your feet, and probably even if you do not.
Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars and More that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business, by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman. This gives us a TON of information about all of these phenomena, so if you had a notion that you were interested in maybe looking into one of these, this is the book for that !! It really gives you great, practical information on how to start blogging, You Tubing, and the like. And WHY you might want to start, as well…
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain. A great book that explores the real value of Introversion in a world that values Extroversion much more. Among the many fascinating aspects of the book is the contention that over time, we have gone from a “Culture of Character” to a “Culture of Personality”, where “Personality” can be something not-so-authentic that we cultivate in order to be successful in a world that wants or expects that Tony Robbins kind of presentation. (I actually like Tony Robbins a lot, but man, he is over-the-top Extroverted!) It is a great read for Introverts, and you hope to God that a few key extroverts in the world will read it too.
Mingling Minds: Phineas Parkhurst Quimby’s Science of Health and Happiness, by Ervin Seale. Finally, a readable little volume that covers the basics of Quimby. Quimby himself is REALLY hard to read, so Seale’s translation (more or less) is a valuable contribution. If you ever wanted to know more about Quimby and his philosophy, this is the starter for that. I want to have coffee with Ervin Seale.
The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick Start Your Business, Brand and Job Search, by Wayne Breitbarth. The quintessential starter upper for LinkedIn, wherein you find that what you thought was kind of stupid and pointless is really very valuable and smart…One of my Social Media victories was becoming “Connected” with Breitbarth on LinkedIn, and his saying “Hey, I would love to collaborate with you sometime….” Want to be on LinkedIn? This easy read is the “Why” and the “How To.”
Education in the New Age, by Alice Bailey. This book is not as easy, but you find so much of Quimby/Southwestern College in here, and she was an important influence on the founders of the College as well. VERY worth reading, if you are up for the challenge…
The American Scholar, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
http://flaglerlive.com/5255/emerson-the-american-scholar/
I was almost reluctant to include Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The American Scholar”, because it is so short. But you know what? It PROFOUNDLY impacted Robert Waterman when he was founding this College, so I am including it. You have to promise me this—that you will read it SLOWLY. The language is thick, it is difficult. If you rip through it, you are not getting it. I guarantee you…
So anyway, that is the beginning list I offered to staff and administration….the list will grow as I continue to read a million books. Hope you found it interesting….
Warmly,
Jim Nolan
President, Southwestern College
About the Moderator
Jim Nolan is in his 6th year as president of Southwestern College. He has worked for a dozen universities or colleges, both online and on the ground. He holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, and attended graduate school in English/Irish Literature. He reads a lot of books, takes a lot of photos, plays guitar, got married in India in 2010, and has a wire haired fox terrier named Barney. He is the opposite of a guru, whatever that is called.
