summershortsI don’t care that my calendar marks a day later in June as the official start of Summer.  Memorial Day has passed, the temperature and humidity in Chicago are rising and tennis with my sons is a regular evening activity. Oh, and the list of outside chores is now long enough to choke the proverbial horse.  (Note: no horses were choked in the writing of this post.)

Given the shift in seasons, I’m excited to bring back my Shorts feature here every Friday from June until the end of August.

This Week’s Shorts:

Business Beach Reading

For those interested in improving creativity, planning and decision-making, I’m recommending: Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono.  If you’ve not read it, or it’s been awhile, my Blue Hat Self is suggesting that this is required reading.  The approach is compelling and easy to grasp. Putting the Six Thinking Hats technique to work requires discipline and a good facilitator to manage, but the concept is most definitely enhanced by learning about it under a beach umbrella with your favorites cold drinks close at hand.

Leadership Tips of the Day:

I published my Mea Culpa on my challenges in managing two formal blogs (one here at Management Excellence and the other at my Building Better Leaders site) and am now focused on a Leadership Tip of the Day approach over at BBL.  In cased you missed these relatively short (for me) posts, here they are:

Great Resource of the Week:

Author Steven Pressfield’s website/blog. Pressfield is one of the great historical fiction writers of our day and for anyone with an interest in history or writing…or just reading great posts from a super-smart and engaging individual, I highly recommend this site.  And if you’ve not read his phenomenal The War of Art and taken to heart his powerful advice for overcoming resistance in your life, this book is an absolute must read.

Enjoy your weekends!  I’ll see you next week with a fresh cup of Leadership Caffeine!

-Art