Unit 1.0 – Flotilla Organization

Character in Action: The U.S. Coast Guard on Leadership: by Donald T. Phillips and James M. Loy, 2003. How does the U.S. Coast Guard create, instill, and maintain leadership throughout a 40,000 member force spread across the United States? A former Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and a best-selling author combine their knowledge of the subject to offer a formula for success. The Coast Guard is a superlative example of an organization with effective leadership, loaded with leaders at all levels. From a guardsman scraping barnacles off buoys in the Gulf of Mexico to the captain of a cutter in the Gulf of Alaska to the Commandant in Washington, they know exactly what leadership is, how it works, and why it is important.

Successful Leadership Today: by Douglas L. Drewry 1996. A collection of time-tested common sense leadership skills for today’s successful leader. Personal traits and habits, like the manner and style in which you talk and listen, are as important to leadership as the way you direct and lead others. Leadership principles and concepts are interwoven with management and personal practices in this book.

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times: by Donald T. Phillips, 1993. Lincoln on Leadership is the first book to examine Abraham Lincoln's diverse leadership abilities and how they can be applied to today's complex world'

Unit 2.0 – Flotilla Administration 1

Good Boss, Bad Boss: by Robert I. Sutton, 2010. If you are a boss who wants to do great work, what can you do about it? Good Boss, Bad Boss is devoted to answering that question. Stanford Professor Robert Sutton weaves together the best psychological and management research with compelling stories and cases to reveal the mindset and moves of the best (and worst) bosses. 

The Leadership Challenge: by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Pozner, 2007.  This book is considered by many students of leadership to be a true field guide and one of the most outstanding works by these two authors,  The Leadership Challenge uses many great stories to demonstrate how application of five leadership practices and ten behavioral commandments may create a climate in which challenging opportunities can be turned into remarkable successes.        

The Truth about Leadership: by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, 2010.   By spelling out ten fundamental truths of leadership the authors provide a clear understanding of what it takes to be an outstanding leader.  

Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, and How to Prevent Them: by Max H. Bazerman and Michael D. Watkins 2008. Insisting theirs is not 20/20 hindsight, the authors explain how many disasters are preceded by clear warning signals that leaders miss or ignore. Characteristics of predictable surprises include when leaders know a problem exists and that problem does not solve itself and gets worse, the human tendency to maintain the status quo, and the reality of a small vocal minority (special interests) that benefit from inaction.

Unit 3.0 – Flotilla Administration 2

Primal Leadership: Learning to Lead with Emotional Intelligence: by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee 2008. Since the actions of the leader apparently account for up to 70 percent of employees' perception of the climate of their organization, Goleman and his team emphasize the importance of developing what they term "resonant leadership." Focusing on the four domains of emotional intelligence--self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management--they explore what contributes to and detracts from resonant leadership, and how the development of these four EI competencies spawns different leadership styles.

Tribe. This book makes the case for the tribe and how communal benefits can be lost if we move toward a culture of competition or one of individuality. This sense of belonging is important and its loss among many crews and responders can have detrimental effects. We cannot and must not go it alone. Maintaining “tribal” connections within the Coast Guard – both unit and crew – is a key aspect of resiliency and it is this resiliency that propels our organization forward.

The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations: by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen, 2002.   Through real-life stories from people in various organizations, the authors address the fundamental problem that underlies the transformation of every major organization: How do you go beyond simply getting your message across to truly change people's behavior. Organized around an eight-step process the book shows how the best change leaders motivate people to overcome obstacles to change and produce exceptional results.  

Unit 4.0 – Flotilla Meetings

Disappearing Through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century: by O.B. Hardison, Jr. 1990. The key take away from this book is the recognition that when an entire culture understands something it becomes “invisible.” It doesn’t go away, it becomes intuitive, and it becomes culture.

The 10 Laws of Trust. Each quarter, the USCG Leadership Council meets in person. This is the highest-level, decision-making body in Coast Guard; it is here where the most difficult decisions impacting the 88,000-person Coast Guard workforce are made. The 10 Laws of Trust serve as a reminder of how critical trust is in both weighing the decisions before the council and communicating our decisions. Throughout the book, Joel Peterson provides case studies and stories with an underlying message: a culture of trust gives organizations an edge.

Broad Influence. Without a doubt, an organization that does not value inclusion will fail to keep pace in today’s world. In Broad Influence, Jay Newton Small writes about the ways in which women are shaping the public and private sector alike. For the women and men in our workforce today – to those who mentor, engage, and strive for positive change – this book offers a valuable lens for understanding how to inspire a talented and diverse workforce.

Unit 5.0 – Member Development

Team of Teams: Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal examines the importance of trust to build teams organization-wide. He also explores relationships within these teams and networks. In the end, solutions and the way forward come from all levels of the organization and we must actively seek out these solutions and empower members of our team to come forward.

The Truth About Employee Engagement: Patrick Lencioni gets to the heart of why job misery is so detrimental to an organization – it damages employee engagement. After addressing the three signs – anonymity, irrelevance and immeasurement – Lencioni shares what happens when you engage your employees, including increased productivity, greater retention and a competitive advantage. All three are needed in today’s Coast Guard. As we hone in on our Duty to People, taking another look at engaging our workforce at all levels is a necessary refresh.

The Skipper & the Eagle: by Gordon McGowan 1998. In January 1946, Cdr. McGowan set about refitting the former German sail training vessel for her return to America as a war prize. With the help of her German crew and US Coast Guardsmen new to sail, he fitted her for sea, then sailed her across the Atlantic to Bermuda, and home to New York. On this last leg they met a hurricane which severely tested the ship and her mixed crew. They learned to pull together to sail and, ultimately, to save the ship.

From Boomers to Bloggers: Success Strategies Across Generations: by Misti Burmeister 2008. Boomers to Bloggers offers tips to help boomers, Xers and Yers get what they want from their careers while helping their employers and peers achieve their goals.

Unit 6.0 - Leadership 

How Life Imitates Chess:  Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom: by Garry Kasparov 2008.  Kasparov has put his powerful strategic thinking to work in business and politics, showing that a simple reliance on instincts can guide you through even the most complex challenges.  With no shortage of wit or eloquence, he has answered our hardest questions about what factors can make or break a decision-making moment.

Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work: by David Rock 2007.  Transforming performance involves listening and communicating.  The ultimate goal of quiet leadership is to empower employees.

Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure:  by David Rock 2000.  A former U.S. Marine Lieutenant, Perkins, introduces 10 key concepts he believes are essential to productive leadership, with lively anecdotes from the adverse but ultimately successful 1914 expedition to the South Pole led by Ernest Shackleton.  The entire crew survived on the ice with almost not supplies or hope for rescue after their ship drifted off course and was crushed (which contrasts with a disastrous Canadian expedition launched at almost the same time).  

Critical Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler 2011.  Critical Conversations demonstrates how learning to speak with complete candor and respect, no matter the issues or individual involved, can resolve disagreements, surface the best ideas, and help make decisions with unity and conviction.   

Critical Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMilliam and Al Switzler 2013.  Following principles provided in Critical Conversations, this book provides a practical step-by-step process for improving accountability, resolving performance issues, managing change and building relationships.  

Unit 7.0 - Resources 

What is Code?  While this isn't necessarily a book, the Bloomberg Business Week article, "What is Code"? comes close at 38,000 words!  The article notes the disconnect between those who have sharpened their technological skills but know increasingly less about what makes that technology work.  As the Bloomberg Business week editor wrote: "Software has been around since the 1940s, which means that people have been faking their way through meetings about software, and the code that builds it, for generations.  Now that software lives in our pockets, runs our cars and homes, and dominates our waking lives, ignorance is no longer acceptable."  

Epic Change: How to Lead Change in the Global Age: by Timothy Clark 2007.  Epic Change presents a strategic-level road map, along with tactical level tools, for the every-day needs of leaders who must respond to all types of adaptive challenge to remain competitive.