The Illinois Leadership Center has something awesome for you: the Cavenaugh Leadership Library! One fun resource our library offers is different games and activities that one could bring to an RSO or team meeting to help facilitate an icebreaker or team building exercise. There are also multiple books with even more ideas on activities to do if you are struggling to find something that fits your purpose! Beyond that, the library also contains various landmark publications, current research, and books that are there to help readers make practical steps to better their everyday lives. All of our texts have been carefully selected to help readers fill any gaps in their leadership knowledge and competencies. The contents of the Cavenaugh Leadership Library are even updated as more up to date or valuable publications are released! As a workshop facilitator for the ILC, I come into the office and browse our selection for useful leadership materials whenever I like. Thankfully, anyone with an I-card is welcome to do the same! All are invited to come browse the library in person, which is located in 290 Illini Union, or check out our online catalog and get some tailored recommendations. Books may be checked out for two weeks by students and for a month by professional staff, but can be renewed or returned easily. Come find the perfect read for you!
What I’m Reading & Three Other Great Picks from Our Library
I am currently reading Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. The book aims to figure out how and why we misunderstand others, especially those who we do not know. Gladwell tells of many controversial examples from history, especially highlighting the death of Sandra Bland, to help the reader understand how people tend to overestimate their ability to understand what others are thinking and make accurate judgments about them. One quote from Gladwell that especially stood out to me was this:
“The conviction that we know others better than they know us- and that we may have insights about them they lack (but not vice versa)- leads us to talk when we would do well to listen and to be less patient than we out to be when others express the conviction that they are the ones who are being misunderstood or judged unfairly” (p. 49-50).
Besides Talking to Strangers, here are some other books that are definitely worth checking out!
- The Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson et al.
- Designing your life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans
Our Brand New ILC Book Club
The Illinois Leadership Center is launching a book club starting in the Spring 2023 Semester!
The club specifically begins on February 1st and offers both self paced and in person options. Two books will be discussed during this semester, the first being The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times by Michelle Obama and the second being Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by Adrienne Maree Brown. Michelle Obama’s work contains insightful and powerful stories that can help us all through uncertain periods in our lives, while Adrienne Maree Brown’s work focuses on building systems of change through resistance. If either of these titles interest you, feel free to join the ILC in this new endeavor to further leadership competency across the UIUC Campus!
