DorobekInsider.com: Hear the July 2009 Federal News Radio Book Club meeting – Fired Up or Burned Out

Today was the fourth “meeting” of the Federal News Radio Book Club on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s In Depth with Francis Rose program where we discussed Fired Up or Burned Out: How to reignite your team’s passion, creativity, and productivity by Michael Lee Stallard. The book was recommended by Martha A. Dorris, the acting Associate Administrator Citizen Services and Communications for the General Services Administration. It was a great discussion among Dorris,Stallard, Rose and myself. You can hear the full conversation here.

One of the goals of the Federal News Radio Book Club is to ensure that the books that we select have application to helping government managers and contractors do their jobs more effectively. And that is one of the reasons why I try to have a senior government person — in addition to the author of the book — join us during the book club “meetings.” And Dorris did a particularly good job connecting the book to the government.

My take aways from the book — and our “meeting”:

* Leadership matters… It seems elementary, but it is leaders can play a remarkably powerful role in the success of an organization

* Don’t underestimate the ’squishy’ issues: Relationships and connection are very important to building a successful team.

* Trust feeds leadership — and the ’squishy’ issues: Our first Federal News Radio Book Club book was Stephen M.R. Covey’s The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey. [Read more and find a link to the book club session here.] It is a theme that keeps coming up — in our book club meetings… and in government.

And some additional resources: Here is the Fired Up or Burned Out Web site and you can read Michael Lee Stallard’s blog at www.michaelleestallard.com… and Stallard wrote about his DC adventures on his blog here.

Love to hear your thoughts about the session and/or the book.

And I’m always looking for interesting books.

Our next book club meeting is on July 17 — and it is a good one — appointment listening, as we say in radio. More on that tomorrow.

Previous Federal News Radio Book Club “meetings”:

* The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey. Read more and find a link to the book club session here.
* What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis. Read more and find a link to the book club session here.
* Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World by Don Tapscott. Read more and find a link to the book club session here.