Karl Edwards presents Working Matters

Category: Favorite Authors

Favorite Authors: Parker Palmer

I first came across Parker Palmer during my graduate work at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.Â To Know as We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual JourneyÂ was one of the required texts.

He turned my assumptions about teaching and learning upside down!

Some years later while developing my consulting practice,Â Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of VocationÂ became a key point of reference for how I chose to help people think differently about themselves and their career development.

Palmer offers a refreshing if challenging perspective on human learning, maturity and wholeness that comfortably integrates spirituality, education, vocational aspirations and community engagement.

Below are links to the Amazon.com pages for each of his books. Head over there now and nourish your own journey toward a more meaningful future.

Must Read Books

Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life

The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life

Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit

To Know as We Are Known: Education as a Spiritual Journey

The Active Life: A Spirituality of Work, Creativity, and Caring

The Promise of Paradox: A Celebration of Contradictions in the Christian Life

The Heart of Higher Education: A Call to Renewal

You are a gift, and we all need you to show up fully and boldly in your life. While no one else can live your life for you, Parker Palmer will be an invaluable resource along the way.

Favorite AuthorsÂ are those unique writers whom I believe are worth reading everything they have written.Â Explore all my favorites here.

December 20, 2011
Favorite Authors: Malcolm Gladwell

I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun learning so much.

Malcolm Gladwell is more than just a good writer or thinker or teacher.

His power lies beyond his delightful wit or his challenging insights.

The joy and significance of Malcolm Gladwell is in the different vantage points to which he climbs and looks at a myriad of issues.

He is working through perspectives that most of us don’t even consider.

I am amazed at how often I catch myself being caught off guard by my own unexamined assumptions.

Instead of announcing the conclusions of his research like most authors, Gladwell seems more interested in getting us to think for ourselves.

He pokes, uncovers, juxtaposes, teases, and challenges.

Besides being thoroughly entertained, I have become a better thinker after reading anything by Gladwell. I think you will too.

Must Read Books

Outliers: The Story of Success

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

I hope you have as much fun as I didÂ learning to think about more and learning to think better!

Favorite AuthorsÂ are those unique writers whom I believe are worth reading everything they have written.Â Explore all my favorites here.

December 6, 2011
Favorite Authors: Peter Block

This week’s author favorite is Peter Block.

Much of his attraction to me is our shared confidence in the intrinsic value and, I would even say, genius of every individual person.

What any given person has to offer comes from the depths of who they are, not from what has been added to them from outside sources such as schools and seminars and workshops.

While people can be trained in skills, informed of required procedures, and be given aggressive goals to achieve, nothing can replace tapping into and empowering their core passions, values and dreams.

When he writes of professional development, he writes of getting to know yourself and building from the inside out.

When he writes of leadership, he writes of empowering those who work for you.

We are reading one of his books, The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters,Â chapter by chapter in our Thought Leaders Unpackedâ„¢ series.

You can find Peter Block on the web at:Â http://www.peterblock.com/

Must Read Books

The Answer to How Is Yes: Acting on What Matters

Stewardship: Choosing Service Over Self Interest

Community: The Structure of Belonging

Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used

Pick anyone of these gems to start with. But, please don’t put off getting to know Peter Block.

Favorite AuthorsÂ are those unique writers whom I believe are worth reading everything they have written.Â Explore all my favorites here.

November 22, 2011
Favorite Authors: Robert Quinn

Robert Quinn is one of my favorite leadership authors.

He goes to the heart of the matter, that is, the heart of the leader as the starting point for thinking about how one approaches leadership.

His books are character builders. Learning from the inside out. He is more concerned with what sort of person we are becoming than with the techniques we employ.

You can find him online at:

The LIFT Blog

The Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship

Must Read Books

Quinn has written extensively, and everyone of them is worth reading.

I have listed his major works with links to their Amazon.com pages.

Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within

Building the Bridge As You Walk On It: A Guide for Leading Change

Change the World : How Ordinary People Can Achieve Extraordinary Results

Letters to Garrett: Stories of Change, Power and Possibility

I am excited to offer this new resource of identifying my favorite authors with links to their works. I can think of no better author with whom to begin than Robert Quinn.

Favorite AuthorsÂ are those unique writers whom I believe are worth reading everything they have written.Â Explore all my favorites here.

November 15, 2011