What's On Your Reading List

Mike Abbott:
For the leader:

The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Revised and Updated: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals (2nd Edition) by Chris McChesney, Sean Cove and Jim Huling.  (updated 2022 / post-COVID)

This is an updated edition of a classic book on strategy execution.  While this book is not specific to hospitals and healthcare, it is referenced in many other healthcare leadership books.  The basic premise – how do we turn strategy into results.

2. For anyone:

Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose by Jennifer Breheny Wallace.

From the description:  “Wallace weaves together research and deeply moving stories of mattering lost and regained. From burned-out employees to overwhelmed caregivers to people grappling with grief or struggling through a destabilizing transition, Mattering explores how our lives are transformed when we are reminded, in small and intentional ways, that we are valued and that we have value to offer.”

3. For personal:

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What you Don’t Know by Adam Grant.

This was a quote I learned from a great professor at VCU “It is important to know what you learn, but it is equally important to know what you don’t know”.  Grant frames true knowledge as not knowing everything, but rather, listening as if we knew nothing at all.  We sometimes defend our own beliefs, to the point we are not open to new ideas.  Once word of caution, this book explores the value of questioning and revising our assumptions—including strongly held views, so you should be comfortable engaging with ideas about intellectual humility and belief reexamination in a professional context.

4. For home:

Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg.

A very different recommendation!  I’ve participated many years with the LEAP Farm Share program that is available for Carilion employees.  This has been a great book for the vegetables that I don’t typically cook with.  This won an award for “Best Book in Vegetable Focused Cooking”, so a great book for heart health month.

Shawn Blackwell: 

“The AI Culture Blueprint: Moving Beyond Tools to Create Human-Centered AI Adoption” by Sagar Pandya – augmented by workshops/webinars led by Prosci’s Chief Innovation Officer, Tim Creasey, on human-centered AI design and adoption (like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK_wv6bnqus)

“Reality-based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses into Results” by Cy Wakeman. (She’s a dynamic speaker and former nurse, btw, so she definitely gets our industry – would be a great featured speaker for Carilion!)

“Change Management: The People Side of Change” by Jeff Hiatt and Tim Creasey.

Brandon Jones:

Unreasonable Hospitality - Will Guidara

Extreme Ownership - Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Upstream - Dan Heath

The PX team recently finished up a book club through The Antidote to Suffering by Christy Dempsey and we just started Return on Human Experience by Jason Wolf and Stacy Palmer.

Chris Turnbull:

1. For Leaders: Never Lead Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. Ferrazzi emphasizes collaboration and community in effective leadership. Carilion’s culture is built for this, and I found Keith’s tips timely and useful.
2. For Anyone: Say It Well by Terry Szuplat. Regardless of your politics, President Obama was widely recognized for his oratory skills. Author Terry Szuplat was one of his speech writers, and he gives great advice for anyone wanting to improve their speaking skills and their writing skills. 
3. For Anyone: There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift. Few artists are capable of reinventing themselves so effectively as Swift has been. I read this one to my 12-year-old daughter. The book is a cross between a career retrospective and a mini MBA. If you’re already a Swiftie, you’ll love it. If you’re not, you’ll at least respect her business prowess. 
4. For Anyone: Across the River and Into The Trees by Earnest Hemingway. Hemingway is spare in his words, but genius in what they emote. This love story of an injured American colonel and his connection to a young Italian countess in Venice immediately after World War II is something to get lost in. 
5. For Anyone: Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household. If you like an action/adventure novel, you’ll like this short read. Household wrote during the same era as Ian Fleming and this is his most famous novel. The Rogue Male in question is a precursor to the James Bond character.