The Big Splash

Ahn, Angela. The Big Splash. Book 2 of the Julia on the Go! series. 2025. 176p. ISBN 9781774882078.

Julia and her Vipers swim team are thrown into disarray when their beloved Coach Marissa has to leave due to a family emergency. She is replaced by the stern and humorless Coach Nathan. His strict methods, devoid of any fun, lead to discontent among the team, with some members even quitting. To add to their woes, Coach Nathan tasks them with organizing a car wash fundraiser in a very short time, a task met with little enthusiasm.

However, the team's perspective shifts when they discover that an impending increase in pool rental fees threatens their practice time and even the team's existence. Julia steps up to lead the fundraising efforts, rallying the Vipers to action. In the process, she gains a deeper understanding of her perceived nemesis, Olivia, and the seemingly cold Coach Nathan. This experience teaches Julia that initial judgments can be misleading, and that working together can lead to unexpected discoveries and stronger team bonds.

Leadership Case Studies in Education

Northouse, Peter G. and Marie Lee. Leadership Case Studies in Education. 3rd Ed. 2022. 152p. ISBN 9781071816820. 

Leaders face dilemma every day, and though everyone agrees that leadership is essential, not everyone agrees on the definition of what leadership is. As a result, many theories of leadership have been developed over the years to attempt to answer the most important questions: what is leadership, and how do organizations help leaders emerge? In this short book, fifteen leadership theories are summarized, along with case studies for both the K-12 and college environments.

From the trait approach to adaptive leadership, this short book explores the diverse leadership theories that have been created over the years, looking at how people have described leadership and what characteristics they identified as important for leaders to possess. Anyone in a leadership position or aspiring to lead an organization will appreciate the advice contained in this book, even if ultimately one's leadership style will never be determined by theories but rather by facts on the ground.

Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

Kotter, John and holger Rathgeber. Our Iceberg is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions. 2005. 147p. ISBN 978-0-312-36198-3. Available at 650.1 KOT on the library shelves.

 Managing people and problems is one of the most important functions of a business. These processes are not always smooth and efficient. In this fable, the author presents the story of a penguin named Fred. Fred lives on an iceberg who noticed that the iceberg may split as winter comes to Antarctica. The result would be the destruction of the iceberg and the decimation of the entire penguin community. Fred first brings this problem to one of the penguin leaders, who humors him by taking a look but soon becomes convinced that something must be done.

As the story weaves around solving the iceberg problem, several business management concepts are introduced and the penguins demonstrate how they apply them in a "real life" scenario to improve the life of their community and solve their rather dangerous issue. Readers interested in leadership advice and in future management need to read this book to see how the penguins adapted and ensured the survival of their group.

Dare to Lead

Brown, Brené. Dare to Lead. 2018. 320p. ISBN 9780399592522. Available at 658.4 BRO on the library shelves.

What is a leader? Are leaders born, or do they develop their leadership abilities over time? What does it mean to be a leader? In this provocative book, Brown discusses the characteristics that all leaders possess, and explains how effective leadership is achieved. She begins by defining the word leader as someone "who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential" (p. 4). Effective leaders are those who can harness the capabilities and skills of the people they work with and channel them in a productive and positive direction.

She identifies several characteristics of effective leadership. A leader needs to embrace vulnerability. Courage and fear are not exclusive, and it's okay for leaders to not know all of the answers. Leaders approach problems by remaining curious, by staying focused on the problem but knowing when to take a break from problem-solving and returning at a later time. More than anything, leaders own the process and "listen with the same passion with which [they] want to be heard" (p. 10). They acknowledge other ideas, and give credit where it is due. A leader is self-aware and possesses self-love. Fear underpins many of the ineffective behaviors and underperforming corporate culture, and poor leaders fail not because they experience fear, but because they do not respond to it properly. Leaders have the difficult conversations because they either lead to improvement or to significant changes that benefit the team.

When taken together, these characteristics are indicative of how successful a leader will be guiding their team forward. Those who lead teams or who aspire to lead will benefit from reading Brown's advice to fostering a sense of courageous yet vulnerable climate where honesty and integrity are valued and contribute to the functioning of the enterprise.