The books on my nightstand

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse

This is the book for our time. For every time. But… especially now. Every page has instructions for how to live our lives. We have been through so much and it’s not over. I read two or three pages of this book every night and see it as an instructional text for life.

The Art of Possibility

In an amazing and surprising way, I have found friendship with Ben over the last number of years. After taking in much of his teaching online, listening to his book with life lessons about 10 times on Audible, we went to Boston as a family and watched him teach. He has since come to Osler and Oakville and we have traveled there with a small orchestra for a coaching session. His book (best on Audible!) teaches us so many important lessons for life, leadership, and love that I turn to read a chapter or two very often.

Pathways to Possibility

Ros Zander, Ben’s ex-wife and close friend, writes lessons for how to live into the possibility that life can be. Her approach is not dissimilar to the bible of the Art of Possibility and in a fascinatingly curious way tells story after story to inform leadership style. My favorite section is on the Shakleton Story (excerpt shared by Ben) best told by Ben here.

Daring Greatly

A coaching book by Brené Brown needs no introduction. It teaches us to be humble and find our internal moral compass. The leader as self is so critical to our development and this book introduced me to reflections that have been important in my development.

dare to lead

This book teaches us about armored and daring leadership and most importantly it gives us the tools to rumble, to define and be vulnerable, and to be self-compassionate and kind as leaders. Carolyn Swora took me through this work in a deep way where staying curious, vulnerable, and asking difficult questions has created a space for me to be reflective and provided me a framework to look at very difficult and challenging sitations. It is essential leadership reading.

You’re It

Leonard Marcus and colleagues explore deeply the concepts of Meta-Leadership and provide a toolkit. This serves as a guiding and standard text for leaders in crisis. In healthcare, we find ourselves frequently in crisis and this book provides us the tools to move forward carefully. We covered the majority of these concepts at the National Preparedness Leadership Institute and my time there has deeply influenced how I function as a leader day to day. The concepts, schematics, and tools provided here I have open on my computer every day. They are tremendously useful. I wholeheartedly endorse this experience as the most informative and useful experience in my leadership career.