2021 Director's Reading List

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think
by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund

342 pages
When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty - we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

The Headspace Guide to Meditation & Mindfulness
by Andy Puddicombe

224 pages
Accessible and portable, The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness offers simple but powerful meditation techniques that positively impact every area of physical and mental health: from productivity and focus, to stress and anxiety relief, sleep, weight-loss, personal relationships...the benefits are limitless. The result? More headspace, less stress. Andy brings this ancient practice into the modern world, tailor made for the most time starved among us.

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
by Cal Newport

304 pages
In Digital Minimalism, Newport proposes a bold solution: a minimalist approach to technology use in which you radically reduce the time you spend online, focusing on a small set of carefully-selected activities while happily ignoring the rest.

He mounts a vigorous defense for this less-is-more approach, combining historical examples with case studies of modern digital minimalists to argue that this philosophy isn't a rejection of technology, but instead a necessary realignment to ensure that these tools serve us, not the other way around.

Pessimist to Positivist: 12 Steps to a Happier Life
by Christina M. DeBusk

39 pages
Are you looking for ways to change your attitude so that you look at the glass as being half full versus half empty? In Pessimist to Positivist, you'll learn the exact 12 steps that will help you achieve this goal...giving you a lifetime of happiness as a result!

Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times
by Donald T. Phillips

193 pages
You think you have it rough?

Only ten days before Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861, the Confederate States of America seceded from the Union taking all Federal agencies, forts, and arsenals within their territory. To make matters worse, Lincoln, who was elected by a minority of the popular vote, was viewed by his own advisors as nothing more than a gawky, second-rate country lawyer with no leadership experience.

What Lincoln did to become our most honored and revered president is history, how he can help you to run your organization is not.