PMI-OC Book Club

Prof. Development

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Welcome to the PMI-OC Book Club! The PMI-OC Book Club is a virtual gathering place for PMI-OC members to read and discuss books related to project management and leadership development. The goal is for participants to grow as project managers and as leaders as they read and discuss the literature selected by the Book Club.

Benefits at a Glance

  • Ease of participation through a virtual setting
  • Great way to learn and earn PDUs
  • Share relevant books you've already read to spread information and help others
  • Great way to network with like-minded professionals interested in books and growth
  • Enhance project management and leadership skills and enrich your perspective through co-mingling with others' perspectives

Book Club Details

Book Club Structure

  • The Book Club is virtual/held online.
  • Current PMI-OC members may participate in the Book Club sessions for free.
  • Non-members may participate in the Book Club sessions for a $10 fee for each session.
  • Participants must acquire their own copy of the book.
  • The Book Club meetings are held once every other month on the third Thursday (Next Meeting Date: November 21st 2024).

Book Club Meeting Structure

  • Each meeting will have a facilitator to guide discussion.
  • Each meeting should be expected to last one hour.
  • No more than 300 pages should be read per Book Club session.
  • Books with more than 300 pages may be pruned down or divided into sections and those sections may be discussed over a period of 2 or more sessions.
  • After each meeting, we request that participants provide 3-5 takeaways/lessons that they learned from the book to us (mentoring@pmi-oc.org) so we may collate all of the takeaways into a singular set of notes to describe usefulness of the book in the Books Read Journal.

How to Participate

  • Participation requires registering for the book club session on the PMI-OC website.
  • Participants must have read the book/book section under selection.

Books

  • Selection Requirements

    • Should cost no more than $35.
    • Should fall under one or more PMI Talent Triangle categories.

  • Selection Process

    • Books are selected by registrants filling out a survey where they vote on their top 3 choices for the next read.
    • The survey is sent out to registrants a week before the event registration cutoff date to allow time for those registered to vote on the next book.
    • Survey participants may also nominate additional books to add to the survey in the future.
    • The top choice for the next book is revealed at the upcoming Book Club meeting.

PDUs

  • We will report 1 PDU for attending the meeting. The type of PDU reported will be based on the book content.
  • Participants may also self-report PDUs to PMI based on time they spend reading (with 1 PDU per hour read, to a maximum of 6 PDUs)
    • Click here for a general description of PDUs on the PMI website.
    • Click here for the Continuing Certification Requirements Handbook, where you will find more details on PDUs and how to self-report PDUs.

If You Have Questions/Need Help

  • If you have any questions or need help, please reach out to the Mentorship Program Team at mentoring@pmi-oc.org.

Next Meeting Date/Time:

November 21st, 2024 @ 6pm PST - Click here to register for the event.

Current Book to Read:

"The 360 Degree Leader" by John C. Maxwell

Synopsis from Amazon

Regardless of your position, learn how to lead with impact by utilizing John C. Maxwell's thirty years of experience teaching people how to make a significant difference in their organizations.

[...] John C. Maxwell debunks the myths that hold people back from leaning into and developing their influence. In this inspiring call-to-action, he shows middle managers how to leverage their unique positions and become 360 degree leaders by exercising influence in all directions--up (to the boss), across (among their peers), and down (to those they lead).

[...] The 360 Degree Leader equips you with the skills you need to begin making a difference in your organization, career, and life, today--with or without the promotion.

In "The 360 Degree Leader", you will:

  1. Discover the truth about the seven myths every leader in the middle must face.
  2. Learn strategies for dealing with the seven challenges of middle leadership, including the Frustration Challenge —following an ineffective leader.
  3. Review the 9 principles you need to master in order to lead up, beginning with leading yourself exceptionally well.
  4. Understand, practice, and complete the leadership loop as one of seven ways to lead across.

 

Reviews

—"John Maxwell‘s book is excellent on laying down guidelines to help you become a better leader. If you are willing to make changes in your own leadership style to become a better leader, just follow the steps and allow the changes to happen naturally and the people you lead will also learn how to be better leaders by the Example that you set."

—"In The 360 Degree Leader, by John C. Maxwell, he takes leadership out of the realm of top management only and puts it back into the hands of those in middle management positions as well! He does this by taking his over 30 years of leading and sharing insights that will help those in the middle of organizations to influence those around them in all directions — those above them, those below them, and even those on the same level as they are. This is what Maxwell calls a 360-degree leader!

In this book, Maxwell does a great job at getting us to consider how, if we want to, we truly can influence those around us regardless of where we’re at or where they are in our organization (and I would argue in our life as well). One of the tools he uses to do this is the real-life stories from himself, his team, and other leaders he knows sprinkled through the book. Each of these stories really helps to bring home a point that he is trying to make.

I also enjoyed how each of the main sections was broken up into bite-sized chapters covering only one main principle each. This made the concepts easier to digest and allowed him to build whole sections’ concepts up over time. However, if you are trying to read whole sections of the book at a time, this can get a little overwhelming due to their size.

If you are into leadership development and desire to have more influence, especially over your bosses, then I recommend this book to you!"