IT Must-Reads For 2015

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

The Society for Information Management suggests 25 books IT leaders should be reading attention to for 2015.

The Society for Information Management creates an annual required reading list for its Regional Leadership Forum, listing the works is thinks IT leaders should read for their important messages about leadership. This year, the list includes 24 books and one film.

The one film included on the list is the 1982’s Gandhi which tells the story of the rise of one of the most powerful political leaders in history and whose success was composed of a series of difficult and wrenching decisions. The core required books include:

• Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, a 2002 best-seller now in a second edition, offers advice for preparing for high-stakes situations, transforming anger into powerful dialogues, and listening when others experience anger or frustration.
• How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Jerome Adler, published in 1940, remains a classic tool for learning how to skim, engage in active reading, X-raying a book, and engaging in fair criticism.
• Leadership is an Art by Max Depree, first published in 1989, defines a leader as the first to define reality, the last to say thank you, and “a servant and debtor” in between.
• The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons For All of Us by Michael Useem presents “moments of truth” to demonstrate how to perform under pressure, including the Civil War Battle of Little Round Top and the return of the flight of Apollo 13.
• Managing Transitionsby William Bridges, now in a 3^rd edition, offers an updated guide to transition management.
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, demonstrates that though we cannot avoid suffering, we can choose how we cope with it.
• The Nibble Theory and the Kernel of Power by Kaleel Jamison reveals that life’s continual “nibbles” can attack and weaken our confidence, and offers tips not just to survive but to grow.
• The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, the classic, outlines the epic three-day battle between man and sea beast.
• The Princeby Niccolo Machiavelli remains one of the guiding political primers, and suggests that “the ends justify the means.”
• Theft of the Spirit by Carl Hammerschlag, is a collection of Native American rituals and traditions that help make sense of experiences and move beyond preconceptions.
• The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction by Rebecca Z. Shafir, shows readers how to listen by viewing encounters through the eyes of the speaker.
• Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival by Velma Wallis, now in a 20^th anniversary edition, tells the tale of two women abandoned by their Alaskan tribe for being too old, and tells the story of their perseverance.