勛圖厙

Human Resources

Professional Development

Enhance your professional knowledge and effectiveness with these helpful books, websites, and other resources shared by Reed supervisors. Please share additional tips and tools via our .

Leadership

Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change by Stacey Abrams

This is a compelling guide that combines personal narrative with practical strategies to empower individuals from marginalized backgrounds to navigate and transform leadership landscapes. For supervisors, this book serves as a resource to foster inclusive leadership practices. It provides tools to support diverse team members, encourage authentic leadership, and cultivate an environment where all voices are recognized and valued.

Something Major: The New Playbook for Women at Work by Randi Braun

This offers practical, empowering strategies for navigating leadership, confidence, and workplace dynamics, especially for women in professional settings. Supervisors will find it a resource for fostering inclusive, supportive team cultures and developing leadership potential across their staff.

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Bren矇 Brown

This book offers a transformative approach to leadership by emphasizing the power of vulnerability, empathy, and courage. Brown identifies four teachable skill sets—rumbling with vulnerability, living into our values, braving trust, and learning to rise—that are essential for cultivating brave leaders and fostering courageous cultures. For supervisors, this book provides insights into building trust, encouraging open communication, and leading with authenticity. By embracing these principles, leaders can create inclusive environments that empower staff, enhance collaboration, and navigate the complexities of academic institutions with resilience and heart.

The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Klemp

This book offers a transformative framework for leaders aiming to foster self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and authentic communication within their teams. By embracing these commitments, supervisors can cultivate a culture of trust and collaboration, empowering staff to take ownership, reduce workplace drama, and align their work with shared values.

The Attributes: 25 Hidden Drivers of Optimal Performance by Rich Diviney

This book explores the innate qualities—such as adaptability, resilience, and empathy—that enable individuals to excel, especially under pressure. For supervisors, this book offers insights into building high-performing teams by focusing on these underlying attributes, fostering a more adaptable and cohesive work environment.

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

This book challenges the notion that early specialization is the key to success, arguing instead that individuals with diverse experiences and broad skill sets are better equipped to navigate complex, unpredictable environments. For supervisors, this book offers insights into fostering adaptability, creativity, and interdisciplinary collaboration—essential qualities for thriving in the multifaceted landscape of higher education.

The Five Elements: An East Asian Approach to Achieve Organizational Health, Professional Growth, and Personal Well-Being by Kevin John Fong

This book integrates traditional East Asian philosophies with modern organizational design to help readers understand and balance five elemental archetypes—water, wood, fire, earth, and metal. For supervisors, this book offers a unique framework to enhance team dynamics, promote well-being, and foster a harmonious work environment by aligning individual strengths with collective goals.

StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Gallup

StrengthsFinder 2.0 introduces the CliftonStrengths assessment, a tool designed to help individuals identify their top five innate talents from 34 distinct themes. For supervisors, this resource offers valuable insights into team members' unique strengths, enabling more effective team building, personalized coaching, and enhanced employee engagement. By focusing on what individuals do best, supervisors can foster a more collaborative and productive work environment, ultimately contributing to higher performance and job satisfaction. The assessment must be administered to a team and the results presented by someone who is trained to do so. Reach out to public affairs for more information on this assessment.

A Leadership Guide for Women in Higher Education by Marjorie Hass

This book offers candid, experience-based advice for women navigating leadership roles within academia. Drawing from her extensive tenure in senior positions, Hass addresses topics such as developing a personal leadership style, managing institutional challenges, and aligning career goals with personal values. This guide serves as a resource for supervisors aiming to foster inclusive and effective leadership within college staff teams.

Leading from the Margins: College Leadership from Unexpected Places by Mary Dana Hinton

This offers a compelling exploration of how individuals from marginalized backgrounds can become effective leaders in higher education. For supervisors, this book provides insights into fostering inclusive leadership and understanding the diverse experiences of staff members. It serves as a practical guide for creating supportive environments that recognize and nurture the potential of all team members, ultimately contributing to a more equitable and dynamic academic community.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

This book is a compelling exploration of the common pitfalls that hinder team performance, presented through an engaging narrative. The book outlines five key dysfunctions—absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results—and provides actionable strategies to overcome them. For supervisors, this book offers valuable insights into building cohesive and high-performing teams. By understanding and addressing these dysfunctions, supervisors can foster a collaborative environment that enhances communication, accountability, and collective success within their teams.

Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace by Gordon MacKenzie

This book offers a whimsical yet profound exploration of maintaining creativity within bureaucratic environments. Drawing from his 30-year tenure at Hallmark Cards, MacKenzie uses the metaphor of the “giant hairball” to represent the tangled mess of corporate policies and procedures that can stifle innovation. He advocates for “orbiting” this hairball—staying connected to the organization's core values while avoiding entanglement in its restrictive norms—to foster originality and creative freedom. For supervisors, this book provides valuable insights into balancing institutional traditions with the need for innovation. It encourages leaders to create environments where staff can thrive creatively without being hindered by excessive bureaucracy, ultimately leading to more dynamic and effective teams.

Communication

A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger

This book emphasizes the transformative power of asking thoughtful, ambitious questions to drive innovation and problem-solving. For supervisors of college staff teams, this book offers practical strategies to cultivate a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement, encouraging teams to challenge assumptions and explore new possibilities.

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg

This book explores the art and science of effective communication, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and aligning with the type of conversation—practical, emotional, or social—to foster genuine connections. For supervisors, this book offers valuable insights into enhancing team dynamics, resolving conflicts, and building a collaborative work environment through improved communication skills.

The Language of Trust: Selling Ideas in a World of Skeptics by Michael Maslansky, Scott West, and Gary DeMoss

This book offers a compelling framework for effective communication in today's skeptical environment. Grounded in extensive consumer research, the book emphasizes the importance of aligning messages with the audience's perspective, advocating for communication that is personal, plainspoken, positive, and plausible. For supervisors, this book provides valuable insights into building trust and fostering open dialogue within diverse teams. By applying its principles, leaders can enhance transparency, encourage authentic engagement, and create a collaborative environment that resonates with staff, students, and faculty.

Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen

This book offers a practical framework for navigating challenging discussions by focusing on three core components: the “What Happened?” conversation, the feelings conversation, and the identity conversation. For supervisors, this book provides tools to address sensitive topics constructively, fostering open communication, reducing defensiveness, and strengthening team cohesion.

Getting Past No: Negotiating with Difficult People by William Ury

This book offers a practical, five-step strategy to transform adversarial interactions into collaborative problem-solving. For supervisors, this book provides tools to navigate challenging conversations, manage resistance, and foster a cooperative work environment.

Change Management

Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

This book presents a concise and engaging parable that illustrates how individuals can adapt to change in their personal and professional lives. Through the story of four characters navigating a maze in search of cheese—a metaphor for what we desire in life—the book highlights the importance of flexibility, proactive behavior, and resilience in the face of change. For supervisors,  this book serves as a tool to facilitate discussions around change management, encourage adaptability among team members, and foster a culture that embraces transformation and continuous improvement.

Leading Change by John P. Kotter

This book presents an eight-step framework for implementing effective organizational transformation, emphasizing the importance of leadership in guiding change initiatives. For supervisors, this book offers practical strategies to navigate institutional changes, foster team alignment, and embed new approaches into the organizational culture, ensuring sustainable success in the evolving landscape of higher education.

Sludge: What Stops Us from Getting Things Done and What to Do about It by Cass R. Sunstein

This book investigates the pervasive issue of bureaucratic obstacles—termed “sludge”—that hinder efficiency and access within organizations. Sunstein advocates for “sludge audits” to identify and mitigate these unnecessary frictions, thereby enhancing organizational effectiveness and respecting individuals' time and dignity. For supervisors, this book explores streamlining administrative processes, reducing inefficiencies, and fostering a more productive and supportive work environment. Implementing the principles outlined in Sludge can lead to improved staff morale, better allocation of resources, and a more agile institution capable of adapting to change.

Diversity and Inclusion

Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color by Lorgia Garcia Pe簽a

This book is a powerful blend of memoir and manifesto that challenges the systemic inequities within academia. Drawing from her experiences, García Peña advocates for “teaching in freedom,” a practice that centers activism, social justice, and the lived experiences of marginalized communities to create liberatory educational spaces. For supervisors, this book offers invaluable insights into fostering inclusive environments that prioritize equity and belonging. By embracing García Peña's principles, leaders can work towards dismantling oppressive structures and cultivating communities where all members feel seen, heard, and empowered.

The Inclusive Organization: Real Solutions, Impactful Change, and Meaningful Diversity by Netta Jenkins

This book offers a practical framework for embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into the core of organizational culture. Drawing from her extensive experience in DEI leadership, Jenkins provides actionable strategies, reflective exercises, and real-world examples to guide leaders in fostering inclusive environments that promote employee engagement and organizational growth. For supervisors, this book serves as a valuable resource to develop customized DEI roadmaps, enhance team cohesion, and create a culture where all members feel valued and empowered. By implementing the insights and tools presented, college leaders can drive meaningful change that benefits both individuals and the institution as a whole.

Troubling the Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging by Ben McBride

This book is a compelling blend of memoir and manifesto that challenges readers to confront implicit biases and engage in the transformative work of radical belonging. Drawing from his experiences in communities like Oakland and Ferguson, McBride offers practical frameworks—such as the “four Ps” (Powerful, Privileged, Persecuted, Prevented)—to help individuals and organizations build inclusive environments. For supervisors, this book provides insights into fostering equity, inclusion, and authentic connection within diverse teams. By embracing McBride's principles, leaders can cultivate a culture where every member feels valued and empowered to contribute meaningfully to the Reed community.

Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success by Tia Brown McNair, Susan Albertine, Nicole McDonald, and Thomas Major, Jr.

This book challenges higher education institutions to shift their focus from questioning students' readiness for college to examining how colleges can better prepare themselves to serve the students they enroll. This book offers practical strategies to cultivate equity-minded leadership, enhance student support systems, and promote a culture of inclusion and continuous improvement. By implementing the insights from this work, supervisors can play a pivotal role in transforming their institutions into student-ready colleges that prioritize student success and equity at all levels.

From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education by Tia Brown McNair, Estela Mara Bensimon, and Lindsey Malcolm-Piqueux

This book provides a practical framework for higher education leaders to transition from aspirational equity discussions to actionable strategies that advance racial justice on campus. Drawing from campus-based research projects, the authors offer guidance on building equity-minded cultures, utilizing disaggregated data to identify and address disparities, and aligning institutional priorities to support equitable student outcomes. For supervisors, this book serves as an essential resource to foster inclusive environments, implement data-informed practices, and lead systemic change that promotes equity and belonging for all members of the academic community.

The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy by Scott E. Page

This book presents a compelling argument that diverse teams—particularly those with varied cognitive perspectives—consistently outperform homogeneous groups when tackling complex problems. Page introduces the concept of a “diversity bonus,” demonstrating how differences in how individuals think, process information, and approach challenges can lead to enhanced innovation, problem-solving, and predictive accuracy. This book explores the tangible benefits of fostering both cognitive and identity diversity within teams. By leveraging diverse perspectives, supervisors can enhance team performance, drive innovation, and create more inclusive and effective organizational cultures.

The Power of Bridging: How to Build a World Where We All Belong by john a. powell

This book offers a transformative approach to fostering connection across differences by addressing concepts like “othering” and “belonging.” For supervisors, this book provides practical strategies to cultivate inclusive environments, enhance team cohesion, and promote a culture where every member feels valued and connected.

Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and Other Organizations for Human Flourishing by Jessica Riddell

This book presents a compelling framework for transforming higher education institutions into environments that prioritize human flourishing. Drawing from her extensive experience in governance, administration, and scholarship, Riddell introduces ten conceptual tools—termed “hope circuits”—designed to rewire organizational mindsets and behaviors, fostering systems that support equity, inclusion, and resilience. For supervisors, this book offers practical strategies to navigate institutional challenges, cultivate a culture of hope, and implement systemic changes that enhance both staff well-being and organizational effectiveness. By embracing the principles outlined in Hope Circuits, leaders can inspire their teams to engage in meaningful work that contributes to a more just and compassionate academic community.

Run to Win: Lessons in Leadership for Women Changing the World by Stephanie Schriock

This book offers a practical and inspiring guide for women aspiring to lead, drawing from Schriock's experience as president of EMILY's List. While centered on political campaigns, the book's insights into building confidence, assembling effective teams, and overcoming systemic barriers are applicable across various leadership roles. Supervisors can utilize this resource to support and mentor emerging female leaders, fostering an inclusive environment that encourages diverse voices and leadership styles.

Project Management

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

This book offers a practical framework for creating lasting behavioral change through small, incremental improvements. By focusing on systems rather than goals, Clear emphasizes that consistent 1% improvements can lead to significant transformations over time. For supervisors, this book provides insights into fostering a culture of continuous improvement and personal development. Implementing Clear's strategies can enhance team productivity, encourage positive habits, and support professional growth within the academic environment.

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande

This book illustrates how simple checklists can dramatically reduce errors and enhance performance in complex environments such as medicine, aviation, and construction. For supervisors, this book offers practical insights into improving organizational efficiency, fostering accountability, and enhancing team collaboration through the implementation of well-designed checklists.

Emotional Intelligence

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Time Management

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