From Lt. Gen. Carl Schaefer, AFMC Deputy Commander:
Ego is the Enemy
By Ryan Holiday
The author educates readers on ways to be humble in aspirations, gracious in triumph, and resilient through failures. Insights are drawn from the ancient classical thinkers and Stoic philosophers, weaving in narratives of current politicians and business leaders.
Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
By Wess Roberts
The author explains how the legendary military commander's principles of leadership can be applied to contemporary business situations.
XLR8
By John P. Kotter
The author provides a powerful new framework for competing and winning in a world of constant turbulence and disruption.
Insight
By Tasha Eurich
The author offers techniques and strategies to help readers be more self-aware and ways they can use this insight to be more fulfilled, confident, and successful in life and in work.
Creativity, Inc.
By Ed Catmull
A co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios offers an incisive book about creativity in business and leadership.
The Kill Chain
By Christian Brose
The future will be defined by artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and other emerging technologies that are revolutionizing global industries and are now poised to overturn the model of American defense. This book confronts the existential risks on the horizon, charting a way for America's military to adapt and succeed with new thinking as well as new technology.
Measure What Matters
By John Doerr
Venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive.
Talking to Strangers
By Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell offers more thoughtful ways of behaving among strangers and advocates for people to embrace trust, rather than defaulting to distrust.
I’m Still Here
By Austin Channing Brown
From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that explores how white America’s efforts towards diversity often falls short of its ideals.
The Go-Giver
By Bob Burg
The author explores how changing focus from getting to giving, putting others' interests first and continually adding value to their lives, ultimately leads to unexpected returns.
Super Better
By Jane McGonigal
An innovative guide to living more 'gamefully' and becoming more resilient.
From Patricia Young, AFMC Executive Director:
Speed of Trust
By Steven Covey
The author shows how trust—and the speed at which it is established with clients, employees, and all stakeholders—is the single most critical component of a successful leader and organization.
I’m Still Here
By Austin Channing Brown
From a leading voice on racial justice, an eye-opening account of growing up Black, Christian, and female that explores how white America’s efforts towards diversity often falls short of its ideals.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
By Patrick Lencioni
A powerful narrative that reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams, even the best ones, often struggle.
Leading an Exhausted Workforce
By Robin Abrahams and Boris Groysberg, Harvard Business Review
The authors share steps to foster healthy coping mechanisms and discourage unhealthy ones; help ward off some of the typical mistakes that people make under pressure; and ensure you don’t cause additional anxiety on top of what people are already dealing with.
Recommendations from Chief Master Sgt. David Flosi:
Give and Take
By Adam Grant
A look at why our interactions with others hold the key to success.
The Bomber Mafia
By Malcolm Gladwell
The author explores how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war.
Operation Mincemeat
By Ben Macintyre
How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
On China
By Henry Kissinger
On China illuminates the inner workings of Chinese diplomacy during such pivotal events as the initial encounters between China and tight line modern European powers, the formation and breakdown of the Sino-Soviet alliance, the Korean War, and Richard Nixon’s historic trip to Beijing.
Article:
Macgregor.
By Arthur Elliott Carlisle, in Organizational Dynamics
This story of an oil refinery manager and his unique management style was first published in Organizational Dynamics in 1976. The author describes how MacGregor developed a managerial system that required the self-development of his employees. He was able to motivate and satisfy his subordinates by pushing decision-making down the organizational level and putting them in learning situations.
Podcasts
WorkLife with Adam Grant – Adam Grant and guests help us to re-think and improve our experiences at work… where we spend 25% of our life!
War on the Rocks – Good defense and foreign policy discussions with subject matter experts. Don't miss the Feb. 1 episode with Maj. Gen. Tullos!
Revisionist History with Malcom Gladwell – Interesting perspectives on significant world events of the past.
Freakonomics – Stephen Dubner brings in world-renowned experts and weaves economics into today’s technology.
TED Radio Hour – Big thinkers and doers present talks on world events.
This American Life – Ira Glass (first podcast I ever listened to) cleverly weaves human interest events into must-listen and informative stories.
Hidden Brain with Shankar Vendantam – Using Science and and good storytelling, Shankar helps us understand human behavior and motives.
On Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility:
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth
By Amy C. Edmondson
Practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy.
Inclusion: Diversity, the New Workplace & the Will to Change
By Jennifer Brown
The author shares strategies to empower members of the entire organization to utilize all of their talents and potential to drive positive organizational change and the future of work.
Radical Candor
By Kim Scott
Radical Candor is about caring personally and challenging directly, about soliciting criticism to improve leadership and also providing guidance that helps others grow.
Inclusify: The Power of Uniqueness and Belonging to Build Innovative Teams
By Stefanie K. Johnson, Amanda Dolan, et al.
A management expert outlines the transformative leadership skill of tomorrow—one that can make it possible to build truly diverse and inclusive teams which value employees' need to belong while being themselves.
How to Be an Inclusive Leader: Creating Trust, Cooperation, and Community Across Differences
By Jennifer Brown
We know why diversity is important, but how do we drive real change at work? This is a step-by-step guide for the personal and emotional journey we must undertake to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive.
The Leader's Guide to Unconscious Bias: How to Reframe Bias, Cultivate Connection, and Create High-Performing Teams
By Pamela Fuller (Author, Narrator), Mark Murphy (Author, Narrator), Anne Chow (Author, Narrator)
A must-have guide to understanding and overcoming bias in the workplace.
Get 'Digital' smart:
Digital Transformation Is Not About Technology
By Behnam Tabrizi, Ed Lam, Kirk Girard, and Vernon Irvin, Harvard Business Review
The authors talk about the importance of including digital in the overall business strategy.
Digital Doesn’t Have to Be Disruptive
By Nathan Furr and Andrew Shipilov
The best results can come from adaptation rather than reinvention.
STUDY: Competing in Time
By William Greenwalt and Dan Patt, Hudson Institute
Study: The authors discuss the current budget planning process in the Department of Defense. Emerging technologies, especially information technologies, are central to future conflict and are largely commercial and globalized. The defense acquisition process and legacy defense industrial base approach struggle to accommodate timely adoption of these technologies, as evidenced by lengthy modern time cycles (more than ten years) for development and fielding of new-start weapon systems.
Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard
By Chip and Dan Heath
The authors bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change.
The Experiment that Succeeded
By Brian “Beam” Maue
In The Experiment That Succeeded, the AFWERX founder chronicles the principles and practices AFWERX used during its startup years to realize its remarkable achievements.