Resources
At My Life's Work, our primary goal in sharing resources is to further inform organizational development and/or individual learning and growth.

The following list represents a sampling (but by no means an exhaustive list) of the resources that we have used in our coaching and consulting work. We will modify this list as we learn about and use new resources. Archived recommendations can be found here.

NOTE: All descriptions are taken from either www.amazon.com or the publisher of origin. Resources are listed in alphabetical order by title.

Please send us your comments on these resources as well as your recommendations for others.
TITLE: The Dip - A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit and When to Stick
AUTHOR: Seth Godin
FOCUS: Individual Development and Change

SYNOPSIS: : Godin prescribes a cleverly counter-intuitive way to approach one's potential for success. Smart, honest, and refreshingly free of self-help posturing, this primer on winning-through-quitting is at once motivational and comically indifferent, making the lofty goal of "becoming the best in the world" an achievable proposition-all you need is to "start doing some quitting." The secret to "strategic quitting" is seeking, understanding and embracing "the Dip," "the long slog between starting and mastery" in which those without the determination or will find themselves burning out. As such, Godin demonstrates how to identify and quit your "Cul-de-Sac" and "Cliff" situations, in which no amount of work will lead to success. Godin provides tips for finding your Dip, taking advantage of it and becoming one of the few (inevitably valuable) players to emerge on the other side.

FORMAT: Book, Audio CD Rom
TITLE: Fierce Conversations
AUTHOR: Susan Scott
FOCUS: Communication Skills

SYNOPSIS: Susan Scott believes that interpersonal difficulties--at work and at home--are a direct result of our inability to communicate well. Fierce Conversations is based on principles from her international consulting practice, in which she teaches executives how to conduct such exchanges more dynamically and ultimately more effectively, thereby improving the relationships they enjoy with their various dialogue partners "one conversation at a time.

FORMAT: Book
TITLE: Immunity to Change
AUTHOR: Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey
FOCUS: Leadership, Individual Development

SYNOPSIS: A recent study showed that when doctors tell heart patients they will die if they don't change their habits, only one in seven will be able to follow through successfully. Desire and motivation aren't enough: even when it's literally a matter of life or death, the ability to change remains maddeningly elusive. Given that the status quo is so potent, how can we change ourselves and our organizations? Authors Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey show how our individual beliefs--along with the collective mind-sets in our organizations--combine to create a natural but powerful immunity to change. By revealing how this mechanism holds us back, Kegan and Lahey give us the keys to unlock our potential and finally move forward.

FORMAT: Book
TITLE: The Leadership Pipeline
AUTHOR: Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, James Noel
FOCUS: Leadership Development, Organizational Development

SYNOPSIS: For every organization that's ever reached beyond its own borders for top leadership only to have those high-profile, high-salary top leaders bungle and exit as abruptly as they appeared, this smart, substantive, and clear-eyed book is a godsend. The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company finally shows organizations how to undo the knots and clogs in their in-house "leadership pipeline" so they can constantly groom the best people at every level to move up to the next rung of leadership.

FORMAT: Book
TITLE: Let Your Life Speak
AUTHOR: Parker Palmer
FOCUS: Individual Development

SYNOPSIS: The old Quaker adage, "Let your life speak," spoke to author Parker J. Palmer when he was in his early 30s. It summoned him to a higher purpose, so he decided that henceforth he would live a nobler life. Thirty years later, Palmer now understands that learning to let his life speak means "living the life that wants to live in me." It involves creating the kind of quiet, trusting conditions that allow a soul to speak its truth. It also means tuning out the noisy preconceived ideas about what a vocation should and shouldn't be so that we can better hear the call of our wild souls. There are no how-to formulas in this extremely unpretentious and well-written book, just fireside wisdom from an elder who is willing to share his mistakes and stories as he learned to live a life worth speaking about.

FORMAT: Book
TITLE: Midlife and the Great Unknown
AUTHOR: David Whyte
FOCUS: Leadership, Individual Development

SYNOPSIS: "In the middle of the road of my life I awoke in a dark wood, where the true way was wholly lost." When you find yourself suddenly without bearings, as Dante Alighieri voiced so well centuries ago, where will you look for guidance? Throughout the ages, teaches David Whyte, the language of poetry has held a special power to hazard ourselves boldly at the "fierce edges" of our lives. In Midlife and the Great Unknown, you will engage with poetic imagination as it was meant to be experienced: as your companion and guide for the challenging terrain of midlife.

FORMAT: MP3 Download, CD Rom
TITLE: The Power of Full Engagement
AUTHOR: Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
FOCUS: Individual, Leadership Development

SYNOPSIS: The authors offer a program aimed at stressed individuals who want to find more purpose in their work and ways to better handle their overburdened relationships. Just as athletes train, play and then recover, people need to recognize their own energy levels. Case studies demonstrate how some modest changes can have an immediate impact. Loehr and Schwartz also include a chart highlighting Action Steps, Targeted Muscle, Desired Outcome and Performance Barrier and apply these tenets to individual cases. A chart analyzing the benefits and costs to taking certain action shows the impact negative behavior can have on both physical and mental well-being.

FORMAT: Book