Over the last month I’ve read ten recently published books. My February list of recommended reads features two books published in 2020 and eight published in 2021.
- (5.0) Thrive: The Leader’s Guide to Building A High Performance Culture by Andrew Freedman and Paul Elliott (Shift Media, 2021)
- (4.5) The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again by Robert D. Putnam (Simon & Schuster, 2020)
- (4.5) How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice by Jemar Tisby (Zondervan Reflective, 2021
- (4.5) Change: How to Make Big Things Happen by Damon Centola (Little, Brown Spark, 2021)
- (4.0) Love, Loss, and Endurance: A 9/11 Story of Resilience and Hope in an Age of Anxiety by Bill Tammeus (Front Edge, 2021)
- (4.0) Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots of Self-Critical Faith in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by Rachel S. Mikva (Beacon Press, 2020)
- (4.0) Incline Your Ear: Cultivating Spiritual Awakening in Congregations by Chad R. Abbott and Teresa Blythe (Fortress Press, 2021
- (3.5) Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning by Tom Vanderbilt (Alfred A. Knopf, 2021)
- (3.5) Embodied: Transgender Identities, the Church & What the Bible Has to Say by Preston Sprinkle (David C Cook, 2021)
- (3.5) This Hallelujah Banquet: How the End of What We Were Reveals Who We Can Be by Eugene H. Peterson (WaterBrook, 2021)
Thrive
Thrive is a word I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I happen to serve as an executive leader for a non-profit organization that has a vision of creating a community where all people have the opportunity to thrive.
Much like that organization’s foundational belief that thriving is possible for every person, Andrew Freedman and Paul Elliott believe thriving is possible for every work team and for every organization. Thrive provides a blueprint for imagining developing, nurturing, scaling, and sustaining a high engagement and high performance organizational culture.T
In my first and rather rapid reading of Thrive, I merely scratched the surface of what I know I can learn. I look forward to returning to this book again soon to dive deeper into the author’s approach, which they call the Exemplary Performance System. And, I can’t wait to begin using some of my learnings and some of their tools in my work as a leader and as a coach.