1. Cashman, K. (1998), Leadership from the Inside Out. Provo, UT: Executive Excellence Publishing.

Cashman's (1998) book, Leadership from the Inside Out, has its foundations on the principles of interpersonal relationships enunciated by Carl Rogers since his first writings in 1937-1938. I think Cashman relies more on "name dropping" to validate various ideas in his book. Cashman (1998, p. 15) in his introduction to his book proposes that the reader "will take a reflective journey to foster the personal awakening needed to enhance our leadership effectiveness." I elaborate below my readings of Rogers to validate this statement.

2. Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin

Everyone must read this 301 page when they get a chance, tiny text, almost like a pocket book. It’s got something for everybody, irrespective of their background or interests. According to John Dewey, reflective thinking is a kind of thinking that consists in turning a subject over in the mind and giving it serious and consecutive consideration.

Read more.

3. Gilbert, T. F. (1978). Human competence: Engineering worthy performance. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company

This Gilbert classic is a must read for anybody interested in learning about how human potential might be transformed into human capital. Gilbert elegantly discusses various key issues and starts the discussion by focusing on value, accomplishment, and environmental supports (data, instruments, and incentives), characteristics that are more commonly attributed to nurture, and an individuals repertory of behavior (knowledge, capacity, and motives), characteristics that are popularly attributed to nature or self. In this seminal work, he describes performance engineering, discusses competence, measurement of competence, human behavior (the behavior engineering model), troubleshooting performance with the ACORN test, knowledge maps, and various strategies that are equally applicable in schools and the industry.

Read more.

4. Matthews, C. (2002) American: Beyond our grandest notions. New York: The Free Press

I think some of you might enjoy the book. The book certainly alludes to various leadership traits. Chris observes that American’s "like men of action instead of intellectuals." I personally don’t believe this is true. Moreover, "definitions" might be a less negative word than "notions" in the title. Nevertheless, I will second most of the ideas he portrays in the book. Chris identifies ten notions (organized as ten chapters in his book) that seem to make America what it is today. They are:

5. Rogers, C.R. (1942), Counseling and Psychotherapy. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

In this first book Counseling and Psychotherapy, Rogers underscores his conviction that the potential for enriching oneself lies with the individual. Rogers (1942, p. 436) concluded that among other changes, the client "of his own choice selects the 'more weighty satisfactions,' around which he can integrate his activities, implements his new choices by means of positive plans and acquires the confidence in his ability to direct his own life."

6. Rogers, C.R. (1969), Freedom to Learn. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company.

He developed his ideas on non-directive counseling further with his numerous publications and shifted the focus away from tests, cumulative records and counselors to the learner and conditions that can facilitate learning. In this book Freedom To Learn Rogers (1969, pp. 105-304), argues that the aims of education should be the facilitation of learning and development of individuals who are open to change. At the present time, a knowledge-based economy that relies more on globalization and efficient dissemination, access and analysis of information has replaced the old industrial economy based on assembly-line production. By focusing on personal change and growth, leaders and individuals will be able to cope reasonably with the challenges of this information era.

7. Rogers, C.R. (1980), A Way of Being. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

This paradigm shift globally, away from an industrial era, makes these Rogerian principles, which enunciate the concepts of interpersonal relationships, human development and significant learning assume added significance because they attempt to develop the whole person. In his book A Way of Being, Rogers (1980, pp. 194-195) argues that the values that individuals experience are likely to be enhanced over those which are imposed. Instead of seeking to control by authority, if individuals are provided the right conditions, they will be "more effective and constructive." (ibid, p. 201).

Rogers' (1980, p. 39) "home-grown brand of existential philosophy" provides the "necessary and sufficient conditions" for significant personality change. His ideas on relationship and its importance for the growth and development of individuals were built over years of genuine self-reflection and observation of his interviews with his clients. Rogers has repeatedly highlighted the importance of personal attitudes over professional training in these writings. Although these characteristics such as genuineness, caring, and empathy might be thought of as being subjective, relationship inventories designed by Barrett-Lennard (1962, quoted by Rogers, 1969, pp. 116-117) have found that individuals who possess high degree of these traits score high on these inventories and are able to bring out the best in people they interact with.

8. Senge, P. et al (2000). Schools That Learn. New York: Doubleday.

In Chapter I titled "Orientation" (pp. 3-58), Senge et al use the term "learning orientation" to refer to the concept of involving everyone in the system for expressing their aspirations, building their awareness, and developing their capabilities together (p. 5).

They argue that learning is a process that should help individuals make the right connections. To do this effectively, it is important for educators to be aware of the inner scaffolding (my italics) of learners. This inner scaffolding of learners includes their individual and social experiences, the individuals’ emotions, will, aptitudes, beliefs, values, self-awareness, purpose, and more. (p. 21)

Read more