Leaders are readers… because leaders must be continual learners. For years I have made it a practice to ask others whom I respect what they are reading, then pick up the best books and glean from them. There is much wisdom to be wrought from others’ insights and experiences. Here is my 2009 Leadership Reading List. These authors have shaped my thinking on how to live well, love well, and lead well.
Timothy Geithner, Obama’s – and America’s – new Treasury Secretary, failed to pay more than $34,000 in taxes, which were dubbed “innocent mistakes or technicalities.”
Tom Daschle, nominee for Health and Human Services, just cleared up his “stupid mistake” by paying over $100,000 in back taxes and interest due from 2005 -2007.
God, grant us mercy. Someone once said that people get the leaders they deserve. I say you get what you tolerate. Elected officials who have made these types of “mistakes” in personal management do not bolster my confidence in their ability to oversee $800 billion in financial bailout allocations or new health care plans.
Rewarding public officials with higher office in spite of their obvious disdain for tax law only accelerates our nation’s credibility crisis.
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach…not a lover of money… He must manage his own household well….
Question for aspiring leaders: Where might I be vulnerable to large or small acts of blatant hypocrisy?
My first words out coming out of the theater were “Wow. Wow!” If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you’re missing out. Slumdog Millionaire opens with Jamal, a kid from the sprawling slums of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India, who somehow earned a seat on India’s TV show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” being brutally interrogated by 2nd rate policemen. He’s been accused of cheating to get into the final round. How did this supposedly uneducated orphan know so much?
The master storytelling and creative paneling weave together threads of poverty, hope, cruelty, initiative, destiny and love. Having lived in crowded Asian concrete jungles for over a decade, I could smell the cement, sewage and raw despair.
We decided to make a night of it, heading out for Indian food first (tandoori chicken, garlic naan and a mango lassi for me), followed by the film. Ann and I walked out elated. Definitely my vote for best picture of 2008.