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Raise your hand if you tune out a little when you hear the word “leadership.”

Raise your hand higher if you tune out completely.

OK, I see a lot of fully extended armpits out there. Thank you for your candor. And for wearing deodorant today.

For the sake of this post, and because it’s 4:12 and I want some, let’s use the word “chocolate” wherever we’d use the word “leadership”.

I am passionate about chocolate. I feel endlessly curious about all the chocolate theories, studies on chocolate, and watching people come into their own…as chocolatiers.

There must be a lot of other chocolate fans out there, because chocolate is one of the most popular subjects of popular nonfiction. We can never write, or read too much about chocolate, at least according to publishers.

I just finished teaching a quarter on Leadership Strategies for the University of Washington’s Nonprofit Certificate program. My wonderful co-instructor, Laura Pierce, and I had to choose a small number of quality books on leadership for the students to read and workshop for the class.

The eager and talented students did an amazing job with their final presentations. And as I watched, I wondered: how many other really useful and excellent books on chocolate are there that I don’t know about?

So I thought I would ask you fabulous folks: What are your favorite/most influential chocolate books?

I’ll start a list – please continue it in the comments!

• The Practice of Adaptive Leadership by Ron Heifetz et. al.
• Good to Great, by Jim Collins
• Switch: how to change when change is hard, Chip and Dan Heath

lore m. dickey, PhD
March 20, 2012 at 8:31 am  - Reply

Ethical Leadership by Walter Fluker

Andrea John-Smith
March 20, 2012 at 11:48 am  - Reply

Leadership on the Line, Marty Linsky and Ron Heifetz. It is full of little book marks. Saved me during a really tough time.

Jill Sheldon
March 20, 2012 at 6:02 pm  - Reply

Thanks for the suggestion Lore. Will have to look into that one. What did you love about it?

Jill Sheldon
March 20, 2012 at 6:03 pm  - Reply

Andrea – I totally agree. Anything by Heifetz et al is super helpful, and great for times when we have to be tough.