Summer Reading Recommendations

I’ve just wrapped up three weeks in a row of travel to spend time with clients, host WPG’s Law Firm Leaders Roundtable and attend a conference. It’s been energizing to be face to face again, and while the logistics of traveling are still a little hectic, I love the uninterrupted time to read on airplanes.

As we enter the summer season and hopefully have some quieter days and vacations mixed in with work travels, I encourage you all to take some time for summer reading. Here are some recommendations to help you build your summer reading list:

• The Truth about Leadership: The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know: Leading during these chaotic and strange times is challenging. Leaders today need to be optimistic, proactive, trusted and clear, and they need to demonstrate values-based decision making. James Kouzes and Barry Posner go back to their thirty years of research to provide the ten enduring truths of leadership.
• Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers: Fred Reichheld’s NPS 3.0 is filled with case studies and stories about successful companies that build dramatic customer and client loyalty by focusing on how to enrich their customers’ lives. The companies that live the Golden Rule and treat customers the way they would treat a loved one see enduring success.
• Flying, Falling, Catching: An Unlikely Story of Finding Freedom: This story about the unlikely friendship between Henri Nouwen, a Franciscan priest and prolific writer, and a troupe of trapeze artists was one I picked up for pure pleasure and surprisingly found lessons that apply to life and work. During his time traveling with The Flying Rodleighs, Nouwen recognizes in this small community a beautiful illustration of the power of feedback, communication, resilience, forgiveness, practice, teamwork and friendship as well as the recognition that everyone’s gifts are required for the show to go on.
• Malibu Farm Cookbook: Recipes from California As the local farmer’s markets and produce stands have reopened with beautiful locally grown fruits and vegetables, I have loved revisiting this favorite cookbook for inspiration. The Saffron Israeli Couscous with Corn and Sugar Snap Peas, Raw Brussels Sprouts with Almonds and Grainy Mustard (I also added fresh sliced strawberries) and Shrimp with Farro and White Beans have been favorites on our table recently. And I just ordered the companion cookbook, Sunrise to Sunset: Simple Recipes All Day.
• And for any poetry fans, I’ve been rereading my well-worn copy of the Collected Works of Carl Sandburg and gifting to some poetry-loving graduates H.D. Selected Poems, Home Body, and Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972.