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<p>Many leaders recommend developing a 'professional library' throughout your career. What are those time-honored classics as well as new titles that redefine the subject of (fill in the blank). I'm sure this will be a fun and informative topic that'll spark some discussion on the subject, as well as promote professional reading/development and well rounded "professional library." Of course, today when we speak of "books" we may also include: audio books; videos/ documentaries; mp3s, or any other format or delivery method, the important thing here is content/substance. Here's just a few ideas on subject matter: military/government; business; leadership; success & achievement; human behavior/psychology; philosophy; management; finances; training/systems/ technical, or anything else applicable, and the titles, well... we'll leave those up to you. Hopefully, this helps spur some thought on professional reading and development, and will prove helpful; now let's get this thing started, thank you for all that you do, and... see you all in the discussion threads! </p>
Posted in these groups: 
Military Career
Mentorship
Professional Development
Military History
Professionalism
Military Career Mentorship Professional Development Military History Professionalism
Edited 10 y ago
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 85
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1) tongue & quill, it's not just a reference book.
Also, no joke... the enlisted bible should be their Air Force Pamphlet 36-2241 (Promotional Fitness Study Guide).
I also found myself reading "The Definitive Performance Writing Guide" a lot as a young SSgt.
2)Essential Manager's Guide by Robert Heller & Tim Hindle;
The Psychology of Selling: The Art of Closing Sales by Brian Tracy;
Unfortunately, this has been a reference for me in business more often than not: Practical Aviation Law by J. Scott Hamilton
FAA's FAR/AIM/AMT.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
3)The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them & People Will Follow You by John C Maxwell.
A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards.
4) See all above.
5)See 3 but add the Bible. If you're looking for it, you can find a lot on this subject in there.
Also: The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types by Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson (If you've never looked into this personality type study....I suggest you read up on it)
6)Again...the Bible. Add: Foundations of Pentecostal Theology by Van Cleave.
Studying various books on the subject of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is a good subject to be knowledgeable of for effective leadership and mentorship.
7) See 5 & 2
8) In the civilian aviation world....I go to ASA for these items. I'm not a Gleim or Jepp fan. I used to distribute ASA...so I got a hefty discount also.
Of course there are tons of other books. The textbook I used for my first business management class in college coupled with lectures from the Dean of the college who taught that course...was life changing for my management style, and career altering for transitioning out of the military. It was like taking a course on translating military experience into civilian speak. All the transition seminars were worthless compared to that class. Still if I had to pick 3 books essential for all leaders, military or civilian, these would be my top picks:
Wisdom of the Enneagram
A Tale of Three Kings
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
Also, no joke... the enlisted bible should be their Air Force Pamphlet 36-2241 (Promotional Fitness Study Guide).
I also found myself reading "The Definitive Performance Writing Guide" a lot as a young SSgt.
2)Essential Manager's Guide by Robert Heller & Tim Hindle;
The Psychology of Selling: The Art of Closing Sales by Brian Tracy;
Unfortunately, this has been a reference for me in business more often than not: Practical Aviation Law by J. Scott Hamilton
FAA's FAR/AIM/AMT.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
3)The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them & People Will Follow You by John C Maxwell.
A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards.
4) See all above.
5)See 3 but add the Bible. If you're looking for it, you can find a lot on this subject in there.
Also: The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the Nine Personality Types by Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson (If you've never looked into this personality type study....I suggest you read up on it)
6)Again...the Bible. Add: Foundations of Pentecostal Theology by Van Cleave.
Studying various books on the subject of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs is a good subject to be knowledgeable of for effective leadership and mentorship.
7) See 5 & 2
8) In the civilian aviation world....I go to ASA for these items. I'm not a Gleim or Jepp fan. I used to distribute ASA...so I got a hefty discount also.
Of course there are tons of other books. The textbook I used for my first business management class in college coupled with lectures from the Dean of the college who taught that course...was life changing for my management style, and career altering for transitioning out of the military. It was like taking a course on translating military experience into civilian speak. All the transition seminars were worthless compared to that class. Still if I had to pick 3 books essential for all leaders, military or civilian, these would be my top picks:
Wisdom of the Enneagram
A Tale of Three Kings
21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership.
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Col (Join to see)
TSgt Larson, wow... great list! It's great that you included reference material, I also have a number of reference manuals to include a copy of the tongue and quill. I can't say enough good things about John C. Maxwell, and Brian Tracy and Robert Kiyosaki are great choices as well, I often recommend all three of them to round out a reading list. Again, excellent list... thanks for taking the time to share with us all!
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We Were Soldiers Once and Young by LTG Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway
A timeless narrative on combat leadership, and one of my all time favorite books.
A timeless narrative on combat leadership, and one of my all time favorite books.
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In order to read, I often listen to audio books while in the car or doing things that do not require me to engage in conversation with others. Here is one of the sites I frequent to pick my next read. http://militaryprofessionalreadinglists.com/map
Military Professional Reading Lists: The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of distinction between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and...
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1SG (Join to see)
CPO (Join to see) I do not even know what radio stations are set on my radio. Book on CD stays in the slot, and currently have two new ones in the glove box ready to go when I finish this one. Glad I'm not the only one. Good to know I'm not the only one.
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We developed a library that was more tuned to our unit(s) and personnel.
Junior Enlisted
-The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History, 1775-1864: 1775-1865
-Leadership secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts
-The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
-Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield
-Up from Slavery, an Autobiography: An Authoritative Text, Contexts and Composition History, Criticism By Booker T. Washington
Junior NCOs/CGOs
-The Three Meter Zone: Common Sense Leadership for NCOs by J.D. Pendry.
-The Art of War by Sun Tzu
-Lead On! by Dave Oliver
-Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose
Senior NCOs/FGOs
-This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History by T.R. Fehrenbach
-Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram
-Warrior Politics, Why Leadership demands A Pagan Ethos, by Robert D., Kaplan
Junior Enlisted
-The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History, 1775-1864: 1775-1865
-Leadership secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts
-The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
-Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield
-Up from Slavery, an Autobiography: An Authoritative Text, Contexts and Composition History, Criticism By Booker T. Washington
Junior NCOs/CGOs
-The Three Meter Zone: Common Sense Leadership for NCOs by J.D. Pendry.
-The Art of War by Sun Tzu
-Lead On! by Dave Oliver
-Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany by Stephen E. Ambrose
Senior NCOs/FGOs
-This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History by T.R. Fehrenbach
-Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram
-Warrior Politics, Why Leadership demands A Pagan Ethos, by Robert D., Kaplan
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SGT Robert Riley
The First Salute by Barbara Tuchmann
Rebels and Redcoats by Schneer and Rankin
Very excellent books about the War of Independence.
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The Little Prince - Saint X. It's a book that says that maturity might not be what adults tend to define it as. I mean, how immature are you really, to put on the same tie every day and walk into a career that you deplore? Instead, focus on what matters most in life. I won't give it away.
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They Called Us White Chinese et al<br><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/gno/beacon/BeaconSprite-US-01-fw._V355247711_.png"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss">Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs &amp; more</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">Online shopping from the earth's biggest selection of books, magazines, music, DVDs, videos, electronics, computers, software, apparel & accessories, shoes, jewelry, tools & hardware, housewares, furn...</div></div><div style="clear:both"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>
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I have books on history, NLP, human communication, linguistics, and grammars of about 200-300 different languages.
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Col (Join to see)
PFC Graves, thanks for responding, it sounds like you have a very developed library, I have the NLP Comprehensive Training ed. by Andreas and Faulkner back home; do you have any top picks or titles that you'd recommend? ...thanks for sharing!
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PFC Thomas Graves
Yes, I recommend reading several books on NLP to get slightly different takes on the whole subject. As an officer, you will soon become aware of phrasing methods that will get the response that you want. Some good
books are Reframing by Bandler & Ginder, Mind Lines by Hall, Sleight of Mouth by Dilts, Trance-formations by Bandler & Grinder, and The Big Book of NLP Techniques by Vaknin.
books are Reframing by Bandler & Ginder, Mind Lines by Hall, Sleight of Mouth by Dilts, Trance-formations by Bandler & Grinder, and The Big Book of NLP Techniques by Vaknin.
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I believe the good that every single military man should read and have is the art of war by Sun Tzu. Also a book that I like is "get selected" written by MAJ Joe Martin and MSGT Rex Dodson.
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Col (Join to see)
SGT Kairuz, thanks for your reply, absolutely agree on the "Art of War" as a must have/must read; I haven't heard to the other book by MAJ Martin and MSG Dodson, please feel free to share any details and/or "take aways" that you like from the book... thanks again for sharing!
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SGT Robert Riley
I have that one.I use to take that on deployments with me along with Machiavelli's "The Prince"
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"On Killing" and "On Combat" by LTC Dave Grossman w/ Loren W/ Christensen. Great books
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SGT Robert Riley
The first book is outstanding. Since I am in my graduate course in psychology, I use that book as a reference on many of my papers.
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CMC Robert Young
Both good books for developing and maintaining the proper warrior mindset; and retaining your sanity in the chaos that is combat.
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