My 2016 Christmas Reading List
Every year I create a list of books I think you should read. Sometimes the books I include are very purely about small group ministry, discipleship, spiritual formation or leadership. Other times, the books I include may seem pretty far afield (innovation, design, leadership, or strategy). You’ll just have to trust me. I wouldn’t include a book I didn’t think would be added to your toolbox and contribute in a trajectory-altering way.
This year my reading list is a combination of books I’ve just read (or am reading now) and a few that are on my stack and I’ll read over the next few weeks. You may want to keep these books in mind and pick up one or two yourself!
Simply Brilliant: How Great Organizations Do Ordinary Things in Extraordinary Ways by Bill Taylor. This is a read and then read again kind of book. Taylor is the author of two of my favorite reads in the last 10 years: Practically Radical and and Mavericks at Work.
The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals by Chris McChesney. McChesney was my favorite speaker at the 2016 Global Leadership Summit. I called this “the most important book I’ve read this year.” You can read my review right here.
The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues by Patrick Lencioni is a great read and an important one if you do any hiring or recruiting, I have no doubt this framework will quickly make it into our set of hiring and recruiting practices. You can read my review right here.
Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss. Ferriss is the author of a number of books, most notably The 4 Hour Work Week.
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly. The co-founder of Wired magazine, Kelly is a kind of a sage. I love thinking about the changes that are arriving. This will be a good addition to my stack.
Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development, a new book from Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck. If you’re building a ministry of any kind, leadership development is essential. You can read my review right here.
Intentional Living: Choosing a Life that Matters by John Maxwell. If you haven’t read Maxwell latest, this really ought to be on your list. I feel like it should be required reading for all small group coaches. You can read my review right here.
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis. Lewis is the author of a number of popular and important books over the last number of years including Moneyball, The Big Short and The Blind Side. This one sounds fascinating and I can’t wait to get started.
Reading List for Christmas, 2013
Reading List for Christmas, 2014
Reading List for Christmas, 2015
Image by Catface27
