At 4xi, we believe in the constant quest for knowledge and learning, the importance of understanding the perspectives of others and learning from those perspectives.
The 4xi Thought Leadership Book Series continues with the third in the series brought to you by 4xi's Design, Strategy, and Innovation expert, Melanie Corey-Ferrini. Check out her favorite reads and their impact on her work below.
"I am an avid reader of information provided by others with new and unique viewpoints into the human experience and innovative approaches – environmental, personal, cultural, and/or purposeful."
Foreword
The readings below are a variety of books, magazines, and articles that have impacted my thinking about Design4Life© and towards leadership in projects and with companies, and for my own thirst and curiosity in new and innovative approaches that facilitate community and collaborative thinking.
As the co-creator of 4xi's Design4Life©, as well as, an entrepreneur creating new companies, keeping informed about how design, architecture, new innovations, and creative business approaches are key to looking at design with a holistic and ever-changing lens.
Keeping up to date on current thinking, being purposeful in the world, pushing the limits of project innovation and creation, and guiding projects to a new dimension is how I like to help others with their own projects.
Design4Life© - People, Place, Purpose + Possibilities
by Robert Kegan, Lisa Lahey, Andy Fleming, and Matthew Miller from HBR Magazine (April 2014)
How One Closet Helped Kickstart A Local Economy by Kirsten Dirksen, Contributor
A Pattern Language: Towns Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series by Christopher Alexander
In designing their environments people always rely on certain "languages," which, like the languages we speak, allow them to articulate and communicate an infinite variety of designs within a formal system that gives them coherence. This book provides a language of this kind. It will enable a person to make a design for almost any kind of building, or any part of the built environment.
by Francis Moore Lappé and The Small Planet Institute
Despair is humanity’s worst enemy, I believe, so we—the whole Small Planet team—have created an easy-to-digest tour of inspiring ways US cities, states, and farms are stepping up to meet the climate crisis. Plus we explore key lessons from abroad. Knowing that hope has power—as it organizes our minds toward solutions.
Resilience Matters, Reimagining The Future In A Tumultuous Year Edited by Laurie Mazur
"Over the last three decades, Island Press has published seminal works on resilience, ecosystems, and sustainable urban design. As our cities confront turbulent times, much depends on how resilience is defined and implemented. Seeing an opportunity to shape that outcome, Island Press launched the Urban Resilience Project in 2013, with the support of The JPB Foundation and The Kresge Foundation.
The project’s goal is to advance a holistic, transformative approach to thinking and action on urban resilience in the era of climate change, an approach grounded in a commitment to sustainability and equity."
In this perennial bestseller, embraced by organizations and industries worldwide, globally preeminent management thinkers W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne challenge everything you thought you knew about the requirements for strategic success.
Recognized as one of the most iconic and impactful strategy books ever written, BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY, now updated with fresh content from the authors, argues that cutthroat competition results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool.
Based on a study of 150 strategic moves (spanning more than 100 years across 30 industries), the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors but from creating "blue oceans"--untapped new market spaces ripe for growth.
In Abundance, The Future Is Better Than You Think, space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, digital manufacturing synthetic biology, and other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous 200 years.
We will soon have the ability to meet and exceed the basic needs of every person on the planet. Abundance for all is within our grasp.
Breaking down human needs by category—water, food, energy, healthcare, education, freedom—Diamandis, and Kotler introduce us to innovators and industry captains making tremendous strides in each area.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at the best knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”—Theodore Roosevelt
Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly.
Based on twelve years of pioneering research, in Daring Greatly, Brené Brown Ph.D., MSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.
In Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi, the specific steps—and inner mindset— he uses are laid out to reach out to connect with the thousands of colleagues, friends, and associates on his Rolodex, people he has helped, and who have helped him.
Ferrazzi's form of connecting to the world around him is based on generosity, helping friends connect with other friends. Ferrazzi distinguishes genuine relationship-building from the crude, desperate glad-handing usually associated with “networking.” He then distills his system of reaching out to people into practical, proven principles.
If you see a topic that strikes a chord for your team or business, please let us know, 4xi Global Consulting can help. Don't forget to leave your book recommendation in the comments!
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