Welcome to the PMI-OC Book Club! On this page, you will find a wealth of information. First, you will find takeaways (provided by Book Club participants) from books that the Book Club has already read and discussed. Second, you will find rankings of those books. Books are ranked from "1" to "5" where "1" is the worst and "5" is the best. For each book, the initial ranking is a survey of initial thoughts about the book. The final ranking is a post-discussion ranking to discern opinions after discussion in case the opinions have changed. Finally, you will find information for the book to read for the next Book Club meeting.

Books Read

Book Information and Takeaways	Initial Rank	Final Rank
"Dare to Lead" by Brene Brown Vulnerability is an asset and not a weakness. The most successful and courageous leaders are risk takers who are not afraid of failing. In fact, failures often lead to creativity and great opportunities. Perfectionism can be unhealthy due to the constant need for approval and fear of criticism and failure. This leads to missed opportunities and mental paralysis, which hinders creativity. Be clear as to what you value and live those values. Be curious about what you don't know. Walk in other persons' shoes before judging. Think empathy in place of shame, even if you fail; don't fear failure. Embrace it as a learning opportunity.	4.45	4.32
"The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" by Patrick Lencioni Most people are conflict averse, but conflict is healthy for teams to perform at a higher level. The greatest dysfunction of a team is a lack of trust ‐ without it, the other dysfunctions cannot be managed/corrected and nothing can get accomplished.	4.63	4.71
"Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Goleman EQ (Emotional Intelligence) can be improved. Our emotional health not only affects our interactions with others, but has just as much power over our individual successes and growth potential. With emotions being such a driving force, it behooves us to understand how emotions function physiologically, socially, and directly in our professional lives.	3.8	4
"Atomic Habits" by James Clear Does a thorough job in explaining the tools of engineering desired habits and eliminating unrewarding ones. For discussing the book in a professional business environment, I wish that there were more relevant examples from commerce and enterprise settings. The author's anecdotal examples were rather simple (e.g. losing weight, waking up early and improving athletic performance). The book focuses on one's habits, but, in the context of business, it's about developing and orchestrating the habits of your customers, employees, and other stakeholders.	3.83	3.18
"The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace" by Gary Chapman and Paul White Authenticity matters! Sincere appreciation is a powerful motivator. Everyone has a different appreciation language (e.g. words, acts, quality time, tangible gifts, and physical touch.) Understanding and speaking the right appreciation language to colleagues and direct reports is important. Mismatched expressions of appreciation can lead to misunderstandings and even worse, workplace dissatisfaction. I recognize and encourage appreciation at workplace. But the book attempts to tackle this topic with an engineered formula. In some ways, I feel that getting along with coworkers is a lot like "Be a good person..." so sometimes a lot of stuff in the book felt like common sense. All in all, I didn't find this helpful or satisfying as the original 5 Love Languages was for personal relationships[...] I am remote in my job and the book felt like so much of it was related to people you work with in person.	3.2	3.2
"Accidental Agile Project Manager" by Ray Frohnhoefer Provides a good summary of a wide variety of agile methods. Explains why agile methods are useful to use on certain projects. Full of practical tips and easy to follow. I really enjoyed Ray talking about his recommendation of starting with a small team of the best people — who work together, then build up credbility and roll it (the project/solution) out, bug free. That is the approach I beleive in and have found to be successful.	4.2	4.7
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey One of my favorites as well. "Begin with the end in mind" is one of my go-to strategies. That book club session was so much fun! In both my professional life and personal life, I jump from deadline to deadline and focus too much on urgency that often I neglect what’s important. Time to “sharpen the saw” in 2024 and remind myself to set aside time for people or causes that are important to me. The richness of the discussion highlighted the relevance of Covey’s principles to the challenges project managers face. The discussion on empathetic listening was a cornerstone on improving communication with others.	4.5	4.82
"The Jelly Effect" by Andy Bounds My understanding of the book could be summed as, "Poor communication is like throwing jelly at a wall - it does not stick." "People do not care about what you say. They only care about what they are left with AFTER you’ve said it." I loved the author’s explanation of AFTER. It is like determining the effect you want your communication to have before the conversation starts. The communication tips within this book are great because they apply to a wide variety of situations, like how to network to promote professional development and specific strategies regarding it, how to give a presentation to a team or executives, or how to think about and understand the needs of stakeholders. "The Big Fish Concept : The people you are itching to meet (decision makers in organizations & influencers), once you identify them, you will see that they are everywhere." Although I have always known this, reading it in the book was very profound for me.	4	4.5
"How to Measure Anything" (Chapters 1 -7) by Douglas W. Hubbard My understanding of the reading could be summed as, "You can measure anything you want, as long as you know what you are measuring in a very concrete way." The section in the book on calibrating estimates was very exciting as it presents a very visceral way of understanding choices in the context of what it means to have a confidence interval of any given amount. Would you rather take a given chance to be right with your decision or answer or would you leave it up to spinning a wheel of the equivalent chance? I liked the discussion on risk management as it goes against traditional methods of risk assessment and reveals what those issues are and ways to rectify the shortcomings.	4.2	4.5
"How to Measure Anything" (Chapters 8 - 14) by Douglas W. Hubbard One of my takeaways is learning the skill Bayesian reasoning with the intent to integrate new information into decisions." A part I liked was the discussion on how, while correlation does not prove causation (which is something everyone says), the book makes the point that correlation is evidence of causation.	3.25	3.4
"Business Acumen For Project Managers" by Steven Haines I enjoyed learning about the importance of establishing relationships throughout an organization and not limiting myself to just my department in order to understand how everyone fits into the organization's overall goals. A part I liked was the discussion on the interaction between business strategy (how to get there), business goals (where to go), and the makeup of the business (where we are now).	3.7	4
"The 360 Degree Leader" by John C. Maxwell It was interesting to learn about the author's point that leadership is about influence and not position and the various methods available to lead up, across, and down an organization. The discussion on leading down was very illuminating because that's an area where I do not have much experience because I typically am in lower positions within an organization. The book provided valuable takeaways for me, including the importance of leadership as a practice of influence, strategies for leading in all directions, and practical tools to strengthen relationships and inspire others.	4.14	4.87

Current Book to Read:

"Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek

Synopsis from Amazon

Imagine a world where almost everyone wakes up inspired to go to work, feels trusted and valued during the day, then returns home feeling fulfilled. This is not a crazy, idealized notion. Today, in many successful organizations, great leaders create environments in which people naturally work together to do remarkable things.

In his work with organizations around the world, Simon Sinek noticed that some teams trust each other so deeply that they would literally put their lives on the line for each other. Other teams, no matter what incentives are offered, are doomed to infighting, fragmentation and failure. Why?

Too many workplaces are driven by cynicism, paranoia, and self-interest. But the best ones foster trust and cooperation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a "Circle of Safety" that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside.

Sinek illustrates his ideas with fascinating true stories that range from the military to big business, from government to investment banking.

Reviews

"This book is truly amazing. Within the pages you will learn the importance of establishing REAL long lasting relationships with those in your life as opposed to digital ones. These relationships are not just limited to the ones you love: your friends, family and so on, but also the relationships we have with our coworkers, and others around us. Simon has packed this book with practical examples of changes we can make to improve those relationships, the dangers of unchecked social media use and backs it all up with study after study. Whether or not you aspire to own a business or become a CEO, we can all learn a lot from this book and its teachings could literally make this world a better place if we could all start making small changes for the good of us all rather than what’s good for us. Learn about the “Circle Of Safety” and how it was not only relevant to humans and animals thousands of years ago but also, perhaps even more relevant today and in the future."

""Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek explores the concept of leadership and its impact on the success of organizations. The main message of the book is that the best leaders prioritize the well-being and safety of their employees, creating a sense of trust and community that ultimately leads to better performance and long-term success. Sinek emphasizes the importance of creating a "circle of safety" in the workplace, where employees feel valued, supported, and connected to one another. The book delves into the biology behind human behavior, explaining how the hormone oxytocin plays a role in building trust and fostering cooperation. Sinek argues that leaders who prioritize the well-being of their employees can create an environment that stimulates the production of oxytocin, leading to a culture of trust and cooperation. The book also references the concept of servant leadership, highlighting the importance of protecting and showing empathy for others rather than simply exerting authority based on social status. Overall, "Leaders Eat Last" provides insights into what makes leaders worth following and how they can create environments that foster trust, cooperation, and peak performance. In summary, "Leaders Eat Last" by Simon Sinek focuses on the significance of prioritizing the well-being of employees, creating a culture of trust and cooperation, and the biological and historical aspects of effective leadership."