Thinking Collaboratively is a theoretical and practical guide to thinking and learning in deep and meaningful ways within purposeful communities of inquiry. Critical thinking has long been recognized as an important educational goal but, until now, has largely been conceived and operationalized as an individual attitude and ability. Increasingly, however, a more relevant and complete cognitive construct has been emerging: thinking collaboratively. Thinking collaboratively is the means to inquire, test, and apply new understandings, and to make sense of the information that bombards us continuously. In short, thinking collaboratively is required to flourish in our highly connected world and, in this book based on more than a decade of research, Garrison provides an essential introduction to this vital concept.

Recommended by Toby Darby & Josh Wofford in Episode 8

For thirty-three years and through three editions, Bass & Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership has been the indispensable bible for every serious student of leadership. Throughout the Handbook, the contributions from cognitive social psychology and the social, political, communications, and administrative sciences have been expanded.

As in the third edition, Bernard Bass begins with a consideration of the definitions and concepts used, and a brief review of some of the better known theories. Professor Bass then focuses on the personal traits, tendencies, attributes, and values of leaders and the knowledge, intellectual competence, and technical skills required for leadership. Next he looks at leaders’ socioemotional talents and interpersonal competencies, and the differences in these characteristics in leaders who are imbued with ideologies, especially authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, and self-aggrandizement. A fuller examination of the values, needs, and satisfactions of leaders follows, and singled out for special attention are competitiveness and the preferences for taking risks. In his chapters on personal characteristics, Bass examines the esteem that others generally accord to leaders as a consequence of the leaders’ personalities.

Recommended by Toby Darby & Josh Wofford in Episode 8

This book explores the concept of “messes.” A mess is a web of complex and dynamically interacting, ill-defined, and/or wicked problems; their solutions; and our conscious and unconscious assumptions, beliefs, emotions, and values. The roots of messes can be classified as Swans (the inability to surface and test false assumptions and mistaken beliefs), Swine (the inability to confront and manage greed, hubris, arrogance, and narcissism), and Swindlers (the inability to confront, detect, and stop unethical and corrupt behavior). Working systematically with this concept and these classifications, authors Can M. Alpaslan and Ian I. Mitroff reveal that all crises are messes; one must learn to understand and manage them as such.

They then provide tools and frameworks that readers can use to more effectively deal with the crises of today and tomorrow. Drawing on ideas from research areas as diverse as human development, philosophy, rhetoric, psychology, and high-reliability organizations, this book aims to be the definitive guide for a new era in crisis management. Therefore, it is a must-have for practitioners, scholars, and students who study and deal with real-life crises.

Recommended by Toby Darby & Josh Wofford in Episode 8