5 Resources to Stretch Your Leadership Thinking

Leaders are learners. Here are five resources that will help stretch your leadership thinking!

1. TED Talk: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

by Angela Lee Duckworth

After leaving a demanding job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. In this talk, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success. Watch it here. 

2. TED Talk: The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers

by Adam Grant

How do creative people come up with great ideas? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant studies "originals": thinkers who dream up new ideas and take action to put them into the world. In this talk, learn three unexpected habits of originals — including embracing failure. "The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they're the ones who try the most," Grant says. Watch it here.

3. Book: The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom

If you cut off a spider's head, it dies; if you cut off a starfish's leg it grows a new one, and that leg can grow into an entirely new starfish. Traditional top-down organizations are like spiders, but now starfish organizations are changing the face of business and the world. Buy the book here. 

4. Article: Making Star Teams out of Star Players

by Michael Mankins, Alan Bird, and James Root, Harvard Business Review

Many companies hesitate to put an all-star team on a crucial project believing that egos will get in the way and the stars won’t be able to work with one another. However, Mankins, Bird, and Root have seen all-star teams do extraordinary work. But there is a right way and a wrong way to organize them. Read it here.

5.  Article: Organizational Vision and Momentum

by Jay Desko, The Center

We often work with clients who feel a bit confused and stuck. Confused because what they read and hear is telling them they need some or all of the perceived aspects of an organization: vision, mission, core values, result areas, etc. And stuck because they aren’t sure what is really needed and what is missing. From our experience, organizations are spending far too much time working on organizational statements and lengthy documents and far too little time on truly defining a vision and priorities that result in both action and momentum. Read more in our book GUIDE – Building the Team. Setting the Direction. Fulfilling the Mission.

Jay Desko is the CEO of The Center Consulting Group and brings experience in the areas of organizational assessment, leadership coaching, decision-making, and strategic questioning. Jay’s degrees include an M.Ed. in Instructional Systems Design from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute.