Leaders Meet, Discuss Books at Read 2 Lead
The Read 2 Lead book club met for the first time Oct. 18 at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center.
On Thursday evening, Oct. 18, a sweeping cross-section of 16 leaders turned out at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center for the first monthly Read 2 Lead book club discussion. Founded by Emily Harman and Kim Mozingo, the club is focused on generating dialogue among leaders. The group discussed The Starfish and The Spider by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better turnout. There was so much energy in the room because of our diversity.” commented Harman, who opened the meeting.
Leaders from all three counties represented academia, non-profits, the defense industry, the insurance and finance industries, churches, small business, and government civil service. The meeting, scheduled from 7 till 8:30 p.m., ran past 9 p.m.
Of the diverse cross-section, one participant commented, “It feels so good to hear from people outside of my line of work, to know that we’re dealing with the same kinds of issues.”
The discussion revolved around the idea of striking the right balance between centralization (the Spider – very structured, hierarchical organizations like the military) and decentralization (the Starfish – think of concepts like Craigslist and Wikipedia) and how to apply ideas in the book to their work. Topics were wide ranging, covering such varied ground as developing leaders who assume risk for the benefit of the people they work with in order to provide them with the freedom to innovate, to learning how to work around detractors.
Each person shared at least one action item they wanted to implement from the reading. The concept of autonomy, or having control over certain aspects of work, came up repeatedly. Leaders, they felt, were responsible for finding out what really motivates people so they can contribute to their fullest potential and for removing roadblocks as needed.
On the agenda was determining how frequently to meet and selecting the next book. The idea of meeting quarterly was considered, but the group learned so much from their dialog that they decided to meet monthly.
“Prior to tonight’s meeting, people asked me to consider setting up alternate meeting times such as early morning or lunch. But taking an idea from the book and from our lively discussion, I think we leave that up to other leaders, in true Starfish [decentralized] form.” remarked Mozingo.
The next Read 2 Lead meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The group selected Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink as their next leadership book.
For more information, connect with Read 2 Lead on Facebook at www.facebook.com/somd.read2lead, join their LinkedIn group, Read 2 Lead, or contact [email protected].
