David Clutterbuck’s and Peter Hawkins’s Best Reads of 2021
David Clutterbuck and I both enjoy an eclectic mix of books and have enjoyed many wonderful titles this year. Here are our top 10 reads across a number of topics.
As always, we have both enjoyed an eclectic mix of new titles this past year. Here are our top 10 reads.
First, three books about how we think and make decisions
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The author brings together the teachings of her Native American heritage, her life as a single Mother of two girls and being a professor of Botany to gently help us see the world more ecologically and indigenously.
Think Again, by Adam Grant & Noise, by Daniel Kahneman and colleagues. Two tours de force by giants in the field of human cognition, taking different perspectives on how and why individual and collective decision-making is so often flawed.
Thinking the Unthinkable by Nik Gowing and Chris Langdon. Explores how and why we tend to avoid dealing with difficult issues and what to do about it.
Next two books on systems and systemic thinking
Coaching Systemically by Paul Lawrence – explores systemic thinking from multiple perspectives.
Upheaval by Jared Diamond draws on case studies of how nations coped with crisis to draw conclusions about how organisations and societies can learn to adapt and thrive.
Two on aspects of awareness
The Body in Coaching and Training by Mark Walsh – a useful overview for anyone working with Gestalt, ontology, or mindfulness; or wanting to use themselves more in their coaching practice.
Supersenses by Emma Young. If you thought there were just five or six senses, you’d be wrong. Young identifies and explores 32 human senses. I found it broadened my mindfulness dramatically to experience consciously such a wide range of sensory inputs.
One general title on coaching
WeCoach by Passmore et al – the biggest collection yet of coaching tools and techniques in one volume.
One on teams
Team Human by Douglas Rushkoff – “being human is a team sport”. Rushkoff argues cogently that the impact of much technology has been to undermine our instinct for collective endeavour. He helps us in ’Understanding humanity as one big, interconnected team.’
And three intriguing outliers
The Handshake by Ella Al-Shamahi. The handshake is something we take for granted, but the meaning and impact of handshaking varies dramatically from culture to culture. A gripping read (yes pun intended!)
Becoming Mandela by Trevor Waldock. Trevor moved from being a UK coach to developing young community leaders across Africa. These are letters to his sons and a great guide in how to be an Elder, rather than a Leader.
No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention by Reed Hastings (Netflix founder and CEO and Erin Meyer Instead Professor. Not an exemplar for others necessary to follow but many provocative ideas for how to run a company like an elite sports team.
And also this year we both enjoyed reading new updated editions of each other’s books on Team Coaching:
Coaching the team at work. (Second edition, 2020) by David Clutterbuck
Leadership Team Coaching: Developing Collective Transformational Leadership (fourth edition, 2021) by Peter Hawkins
What books have you enjoyed reading this year and can recommend to be added to our 2022 reading list?
The book I wrote with Nick Smith in 2006 and then in 2013 “Coaching, Mentoring and Organizational Consultancy: Supervision, Skills and Development.” Maidenhead: Open University Press/McGraw Hill, continues to be used by many coach supervisors all around the world.
You can read about new developments in Coach Supervision in both the 2020 book I wrote with Eve Turner Systemic Coaching: Delivering Values Beyond the Individual. London: Routledge.
and about supervision more generally, in 5th Edition of Supervision in the Helping Professions: Maidenhead: Open University Press McGraw Hill, which I co-wrote with Aisling McMahon.