SPIM
Members, please send your book titles, courses, job postings,
and other resources for sharing to Mary Zahner at mzahner@cmaconsult.com.
RESOURCES
FROM OUR MEMBERS:
o Becoming Your Own Business Coach by George Watts, Ph.D. Published by Praeger Publishing, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Co.
Available through bookstores, Amazon.
In Becoming Your Own Business Coach, George Watts helps reader become
their own “change agents”. The book offers clear, practical ways executives
can grow through introspection, self-knowledge, and self-awareness. The
book has short personality tests, open ended questions to stimulate
personal journaling. George’s five core principles are:
1. The more deeply you understand yourself, the more successful you can
become.
2. The quickest way to optimize for success is to understand and leverage
your core strengths.
3. As you build your ability to hold deep conversations within yourself, you
are able to hold powerful and deep conversations with others—and truly
reach them.
4. Taking full and complete responsibility for your career and life is the
most empowering and worthwhile goal you can pursue.
5. When you rise above your ego, you become an emotionally intelligent
leader.
The book would be useful to SPIM members to provide to clients for
executive coaching assignments or in leadership development training
programs.
o Beyond Luck: Practical steps to navigate the path from manager to
Leader by John E. Langhorne. Ph.D.
Corridor Media Group, 2010.
To preview or purchase visit www.beyondluck.net.net.
What managers have: challenges and problems. What managers don't
have: time. With that in mind, John Langhorne has written an "un-book,"
one that offers solutions, knowledge and insight in short, easily managed
articles.
John has worked mostly with small and mid-sized businesses (those with
fewer than 5,000 employees) in his 25-year career, making Beyond Luck
particularly well-suited for managers and leaders in such organizations.
This un-book contains 75 short (about 800 words), practical articles, each
of which is interlinked to three other supporting or complementing pieces.
Thus, rather than read this front to back like a traditional book, you can
enter this un-book anywhere and follow your interests. Included are single
articles that offer tools to solve practical problems and series that allow
time for study and reflection. These range from the tactical to the
strategic and assume that competently leading and managing is a learned
art focused on people.
While the content is the draw, the organizing structure makes accessing
the right article at the right moment a quick, easy task. The articles are
grouped in five major areas: management practices; management
principles; leadership and executive behavior; motivation and morale, jobs
and job loss and personal development. Three indices breaking the content
down by topics, problems solved and personal development further assist
navigating your own path to leadership success.
o Value + Employees as Valuers. by Billie G. Blair, Ph.D.
Puzzles Press, Austin, TX, 2009. Available through Amazon, bookstores and
www.changestrategists.com.
VALUE + EMPLOYEES AS VALUERS was written for all managers and
employees of corporations, businesses, and other organizations.
This book is the second-in-a-series on the topic of organizational change
management. Over the past three years, Billie Blair has written on the
topic of change with the express purpose of providing guidance for
corporate clients while undergoing change processes. (An earlier book,
ALL THE MOVING PARTS: ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT
was published in 2007).
VALUE + identifies the single most important business challenge for this
decade: employees' engagement in their organization of employment.
VALUE + is incisive in its description of this pressing business challenge
and clearly outlines the six steps for overcoming these difficulties and
setting up the organization capable of carrying out the processes of adding
value. The book is filled with real time case studies that serve to explicate
concepts described. Also offered are best approaches along with easy to
follow strategies for those who care about organizations and who are
dedicated to their survival.
The book was specifically written to be read and absorbed quickly by busy
executives.
VALUE + and the message that it imparts has been selected by the
California chapters of Habitat for Humanity as the foal point of their 2010
Fall Leadership Conference.
o Peer Power Books by Judy Tindall, Ph.D.
New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis. All books are available from Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group (1-800-
634-7064) The Peer Power books are available for consultants in the field that are
trying to develop peer programs for organizations and schools as well as
utilizing human relationship training for groups. The books have been
utilized with the United Nations as “Staff Outreach Provider” program for
staff helping staff and used widely in schools (high school and higher
education) for peer programs, human relationship training and topical
programs.
The Peer Programs: In-Depth Look at Peer Programs book according
to a reviewer indicated the following: “This is a book that is much bigger
on the inside than it is on the outside. Readers will be left wondering how
the authors fit so much into such a small package! This 332-page book is a
powerhouse of information and useful tools, and is part of the Peer Power
series. The book consists of 12 well-organized chapters, two appendices,
and both a subject and author index. And, there’s even a practical CD on
the back flap that has just over 45 (12 Word and 30+ PDF) tools you can
use with your laptop, LCD projector or your printer. The authors provide a
logical progression for all phases of planning, implementing and
administering peer programs. They also share great illustrations and
sample tools”.
In Peer Power , Book One Workbook: Becoming an Effective Peer
helper and Conflict Mediator, Fourth Edition the eight core skills that
peer mentors will use are explained: Attending, Empathizing, Summarizing,
Questioning, Genuineness, Assertiveness, Confrontation, Problem Solving.
The purpose of Peer Power Book Two Workbook is to assist peer
helpers to grow interpersonally, gain new skills, and have the tools to work
with others. This would be most useful for readers who have a basic
understanding of the information presented in Peer Power Book One. While
any number of topics are included the author clearly states that the peer
helpers need an opportunity to actually use their skills and work with
others. Not only are they delivering the program there is ample opportunity
for them to reflect on the strategies they have used and the skills they are
using. There are 17 major topics included in this book, and in the
workbook, Peer Power Book Two, Workbook Applying Peer Helper Skills.
The topics include: drugs and alcohol abuse, taking care of you through
stress management, leadership training, tutoring, group work, enhancing
sexual health, disordered eating, suicide prevention, coping with loss,
highway traffic safety, bullying reduction, mentoring, crisis management,
character education, problem gambling prevention, and tobacco
prevention.
o 100% Online Student Success by
Roxanne DuVivier, Ph.D. Available at www.cengage.com and Barnes and Noble.
This is a planning tool which provides a detailed success plan for students
to use to help them do their best and stay on track. There is a companion
software product.
Across the nation many people need access to education and training but
often cannot attend bricks and mortar institutions due to work schedules,
childcare demands, and/or distance/travel restraints. Online learning
provides an alternative education and training platform for these
audiences. However the retention rate in online courses at other than the
graduate school level is significantly lower than for courses delivered in
traditional fashion. This book is designed to provide a roadmap to success
in online learning for all enrollees. Ideally it functions as an orientation
text. It uses a strengths based approach to success planning and draws
upon principles of individual differences as a basis for planning. Focus is
placed on developing success skills in online communication, virtual
classroom management, and online learning strategies; and in
strengthening technical competence. 100% Online Student Success
identifies common concerns of online learners and provides helpful tips for
self-management. Appendices provide additional help in overcoming
personal barriers to online learning success.
Some of the other books by Roxanne include ‘Your Online Learning Success
Plan’ (2008), ‘Your Strategic Future Career College Edition’ (2006), and
‘Your Strategic Future: Developing a Career Path to Success CD -
Individual Version’ (2005).
o The Ethical Practice of Psychology in Organizations
(2nd Edition) edited by Rodney Lowman, jointly
published by the American Psychological Association and SIOP.
Description: Applications of the APA ethics to issues in consultation,
management, and IO psychology.
o Executive Wisdom: Coaching and the Emergence of Virtuous
Leaders by Dick Kilburg, available
through APA and Amazon. Description: It attempts to integrate
classic views of wisdom with the best of contemporary psychological
research while simultaneously providing case examples, exercises
and methods that are hopefully useful to leaders and coaches
alike in helping them to both think about and become more virtuous
in their practices.
o Chapters by Arther M. Freedman (“Swimming
upstream: The challenge of managerial promotions”)
and H. Skipton (Skip) Leonard (“When leadership
development fails managers: Addressing the right gaps when developing
leadership”) in Robert B. Kaiser (ed.). (2006)
Filling the Leadership Pipeline. Greensboro, NC: Center for
Creative Leadership.
o The EQ Leader Program: How to launch
and implement successful EQ consulting and coaching projects
by Dana C. Ackley, Ph.D. (2006), published
by MHS in July, 2006. Description: This book is a 336 page manual
for a model program to build the emotional intelligence skills
of leaders in organizations. It is based on the Emotional Quotient
Inventory (EQ-i), the first, and so far, only measure of emotional
intelligence to be favorably reviewed by Buros Mental Measurement
Yearbook. The program has five steps: (1) a one day keynote
seminar designed to win the interest and involvement of executives
in their EQ development; (2) assessment/feedback processes that
include a semi-structured interview, behavioral interview questions
for each of the fifteen skills measured by the EQ-I, and detailed
guidelines for the development of a personalized report that
integrates E!-I and interview findings; (3) a ten step developmental
planning process that creates a concrete, executable plan for
each participant with measurable goals; (4) review of goals
with the participant’s manager; and (5) executive coaching.
The manual comes with a CD that holds key documents, such as
the 60 page outline for the keynote seminar and menus of exercises
for the development of each EQ skill. Those who purchase the
manual purchase rights to download the documents, edit them
to fit their own company or practice and to reproduce them.
Thus, buyers can edit the keynote outline, PowerPoint and handouts
to suit themselves. They can reproduce the menus of exercises
for their clients and put their own letterhead on them. More
details are available from Dana’s website: www.eqleader.net.
o Agility-Fast Feedback Leadership
by Cynthia Scott for the Talent Solutions Practice
of Lee Hecht Harrison. Description: It discusses the challenges
of leading in a fast changing global environment. This research
was presented at a session with the US Olympic Committee. Cynthia
would be happy to send this to anyone who requests a copy (Cynthia.Scott@lhh.com).
Also Cynthia is presenting Reflect-Renew-Reengage,
a Discovery Retreat in San Francisco on December 8th. The sessions
are focused on woman ages fifty or older who are navigating
their second middle age. Featured will be Suzanne Braun Levine,
the author of Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in
Second Adulthood. Cynthia continues to find her leadership
role of developing a talent solutions practice inside a global
organization to be challenging and invigorating.
o Leadership Lessons from West Point
by Colonel Tom Kolditz is an edited volume
from his department due to be published in mid-October. The
project grew as a follow-on writing project from a successful
nine article special issue of the journal Leader to Leader,
also authored solely by his Department of Behavioral Sciences
and Leadership. Publisher in both cases is John Wiley &
Sons. That special issue just won the APEX Award in publishing
in the Best New Magazine or Journal category.
o Individual Assessments in the Workplace:
A Practical Guide for HR Professionals, Trainers and Managers
by Len Goodstein and E.P. Prien. Published
by Pfeiffer, 2006.
o Protocols for Networking
by David Holmes, written for the Princeton
Area Chamber of Commerce. Description: “Networking, like
any interpersonal relationship, requires that a person have
a high “emotional quotient” to be successful.”
David provides a list of “Ten Commandments of Networking.”
If you are interested in hearing or reading more, contact David
at davidlarsonholmes@MSN.com
Summer
2007, The Kaleidoscope Project
Robert J. Sternberg
Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences (Tufts University)
The overarching message of Tufts University is that we develop
“new leaders for a changing world.” As Dean of the
School of Arts and Sciences and as a scholar of leadership,
I am particularly interested in how we can implement this message
(which I participated in crafting).
We have devised several means for executing on the message,
including a Center that teaches teachers how to teach for leadership
and a leadership minor that enables students to learn how to
apply principles of leadership to their own leadership experiences.
In this brief article, I would like to describe a leadership-based
project concerning college admissions.
During the final years I was IBM Professor of Psychology and
Professor of Management at Yale, I collaborated with close to
two dozen individuals on the implementation of the Rainbow Project
(Sternberg & the Rainbow Project Collaborators, 2006). The
Rainbow Project, funded by the College Board, involved creating
an assessment to supplement the SAT that would, we hoped, increase
prediction of academic success and decrease ethnic-group differences.
The assessment contained measures of analytical, creative, and
practical intelligence, based on the theory of successful intelligence
(Sternberg, 1999). In a sample of 13 colleges, ranging from
unselective to highly selective, and almost 100 participants,
we found that we could double prediction of freshman grades
and very substantially decrease ethnic-group differences by
adding the Rainbow Assessment to the SAT. Similar procedures
were implemented in supplementing the GMAT for admission to
business school (Hedlund et al., 2006) and the Advanced Placement
tests for measuring college-level achievement in high school
(Stemler et al., 2006).
This project served as the basis for a new one. This past academic
year, we implemented the Kaleidoscope Project at Tufts.
The Kaleidoscope Assessment was done in collaboration with Linda
Abriola, Dean of the School of Engineering, and Lee Coffin,
Dean of Admissions (Sternberg, in press). Unlike the Rainbow
Assessment, it was not a separate test. . The questions were
included in the college application mailed to all of the more
than 15,000 students who applied to Tufts. The application contained
questions based on an extension of the theory of successful
intelligence, the WICS theory of leadership (Sternberg, 2005).
They measured wisdom, intelligence (academic/analytical and
practical), and creativity synthesized. The idea of the theory
is that leaders need creative skills to form a vision for their
leadership, analytical skills to ascertain whether it is a good
vision, practical skills to execute the vision and convince
others of its worth, and wisdom-based skills in order to ensure
that the vision is for a common good, not just the good of oneself
or one’s family or friends. For example, a wisdom-based
question asked how the student might apply some passion developed
in high school for a common good. A practical question asked
how you had persuaded a friend of some idea that he or she did
not initially accept. An analytical question asked about what
book you would want to have in your library and why. One creative
option was to write a short story with a title such as Confessions
of a Middle-School Bully or The End of MTV. Another was to imagine
some event in history, and say what the world would be like
today if it had come out differently. A third option was to
draw a new product or an advertisement for a new product. It
was optional to answer the questions, and about half the applicants
did.
The Kaleidoscope Project was used only in a “positive”
way. In other words, if an applicant attempted to write a creative
essay and was not very successful, that attempt did not keep
him or her out. Rather, the essays were used as bases for putting
people into the class. We found the essays most helpful in the
middle of the distribution of applicants. Very strong applicants
tended to be admitted regardless of what they wrote in the Kaleidoscope
Project essays and weak ones to be rejected in any case. But
in the middle two-thirds of the distribution, where applicants
look rather similar, the essays were very helpful.
The results for the first year were heartening. Some people
were worried applications would go down because adding the new
questions made for more work. In fact, applications went up.
Other people were worried that assessing creative, practical,
and wisdom-related skills might decrease the academic quality
of the applicant pool. In fact, all measures of academic prowess,
including the SAT, showed gains. A third worry was that promises
of increased diversity would not pan out. In fact, the applicant
pool accepted was the most diverse ever. The number of African-Americans
matriculating is double that of last year. Most importantly,
we received tremendously positive qualitative feedback from
applicants, who felt that Tufts had shown itself to be a school
that cared about more than just GPAs and SATs—that it
really cared about the individual as a whole person.
So we have shown that it is possible to develop and operationalize
an assessment of leadership based on the WICS model. And the
results have been even better than we expected. This kind of
assessment might prove useful to others who wish to test skills
that go beyond the traditional range of skills measured by conventional
ability tests.
References
o Hedlund, J., Wilt, J. M., Nebel, K. R., Ashford,
S. J., & Sternberg, R. J. (2006). Assessing practical intelligence
in business school admissions: A supplement to the graduate
management admissions test. Learning and Individual Differences,
16, 101–127.
o
Stemler, S. E., Grigorenko, E. L., Jarvin, L., &
Sternberg, R. J. (2006). Using the theory of successful intelligence
as a basis for augmenting AP exams in psychology and statistics.
Contemporary Educational Psychology, 31(2), 344–376.
o
Sternberg, R. J. (1999). The theory of successful intelligence.
Review of General Psychology, 3, 292–316.
o
Sternberg, R. J. (2005). WICS: A model of leadership.
The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 8(1), 29–43.
o
Sternberg, R. J. (in press). Rethinking college admissions
for the 21st century. Chronicle of Higher Education.
o
Sternberg, R. J., & The Rainbow Project Collaborators
(2006). The Rainbow Project: Enhancing the SAT through assessments
of analytical, practical and creative skills. Intelligence,
34 (4), 321-350 |
