FLT Book Club: Books Worth Reading - Fall Edition
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, & Kaley Warner Klemp
This one is a “classic” in the human-centered leadership space. It is ambitious in its breadth and covers a wide variety of topics. If you are a leadership content nerd, this is definitely one that you want to read. Even the resource list is useful as you build your “to read” stack.
Here is the quick and dirty summary.
Framing Concepts
Leading from Above the Line is the foundational concept of conscious leadership. It is a binary yes/no model. If you are above the line, you are leading consciously. If you are below the line, you are not.
The Four Ways of Leading: The four ways of being are states, not stages of development. One is not inherently better than the other, and individuals can and will change states at various times and in various circumstances. As with many things, the ultimate objective is to practice the skill of awareness - accurately identifying what state you are currently in. Most of the book & tools focus on the shift from To Me leadership to By Me leadership.
As Me: Life is me (At one with all).
To Me: Life happens to me (Victim)
Through Me: I cooperate with life happening (Co-Creator)
By Me: I make life happen (Creator)
How To Use the Book
The authors highly recommend dedicating yourself to understanding, implementing, and mastering the first two commitments (responsibility and curiosity) before moving on to the others. With the first two commitments as a foundation, proceed to commitment #3, emotional intelligence. From there, attack commitments 4-9 in any order you choose.
The 15 Commitments
Taking Radical Responsibility
Learning Through Curiosity
Feeling All Feelings
Speaking Candidly
Eliminating Gossip
Practicing Integrity
Generating Appreciation
Excelling in Your Zone of Genius
Living a Life of Play and Rest
Exploring the Opposite
Sourcing Approval, Control, and Security
Having Enough of Everything
Experiencing the World as an Ally
Creating Win-for-All All Solutions
Being the Resolution
BUY HERE
Unreasonable Hospitality
by Will Guidara
Unreasonable Hospitality, as the name would suggest, is about the hospitality and service industry; however, as stated in the forward by Simon Sinek,
“On the surface, this book is about a talented entrepreneur who helped transform a middling brasserie in New York City into the best restaurant in the world. However, this book is much bigger and more important than that. It is a book about how to treat people. How to listen. How to be curious. And how to learn to love the feeling of making others feel welcome. It is a book about how to make people feel like they belong.”
This book is equal parts memoir and leadership book. Through the entertaining telling of Will Guidara’s journey as a restauranteur, there are many opportunities to learn about entrepreneurial drive, experience design, management, scaling, failure, and the constant change that defines business.
At The Human Solution & Failure Lab Training, we work from the belief that every business is a human-centered business. Human energy and ingenuity drive business infrastructure & growth. Humans make the buying decisions that drive economies and build ecosystems. Whether you have strategy, execution, leadership, sales, or operational needs - humans are the answer. As such, every business should constantly strive to improve their experience design - both internally (team) and externally (client).
Will Guidara would agree - industries are hospitality and service industries.
Here are a few great nuggets of wisdom from the book:
“Hire those who were curious about what they didn’t know and generous with what they did.”
“The customer isn’t always right, and it’s unhealthy for everyone if you don’t have clear and enforced boundaries for yourself and your staff as to what is unacceptable behavior.”
“In my experience, people usually want to be heard more than they want to be agreed with. Even if neither of them managed to change the other’s mind, at the very least they’d have shown each other respect by taking the time to listen.”
“Intention means every decision, from the most obviously significant to the seemingly mundane, matters. To do something with intentionality means to do it thoughtfully, with clear purpose and an eye on the desired result.”
“Some of the best advice I ever got about starting in a new organization is: Don’t cannonball. Ease into the pool. I’ve passed this advice on to those joining my own: no matter how talented you are, or how much you have to add, give yourself time to understand the organization before you try to impact”
“What criticism offers you, then, is an invitation to have your perspective challenged—or at least to grow by truly considering it. You might stick with a choice you’ve been criticized for or end up somewhere completely different. The endgame isn’t the point as much as the process: you grow when you engage with another perspective and decide to decide again.”
“When you create a hospitality-first culture, everything about your business improves—whether that means finding and retaining great talent, turning customers into raving fans, or increasing your profitability.”
“In too many organizations, the people at the top have all the authority and none of the information, while the people on the front line have all the information and none of the authority.”
“No aspect of your business should be off-limits to reevaluation.”
BUY HERE.