Hear the Federal News Radio Book Club: The SPEED of Trust

So I’ve have been going on and on and on and on about the Federal News Radio Book Club talking about The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey.

This week on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s In Depth with Francis Rose program, we had a really wonderful discussion this week with Covey, Dave Wennergren, the Defense Department’s deputy CIO, Rose and myself about this book. If you couldn’t listen on Wednesday, we have it posted online here. You can listen to the entire hour. You can also hear it here:

Rose is also going to be replaying the conversation this coming Thursday or Friday.

If you want a taste of the book, listen to the conversation — Wennergren did such a good job making sure we tied the book in to the challenges facing agencies these days. We spoke to him about the program earlier on Federal News Radio’s Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris. But you can also read excerpts over at Federal Computer Week’s November 17, 2008 issue. They have three parts:

• Organizational success: A matter of trust: Leaders will reap dividends if they align their organizations with core principles and behaviors that increase trust.
• The 4 cores of credibility: The key to building trust in organizations is alignment — linking an organization’s design around those cores and behaviors.
• The 13 behaviors for cultivating trust: These behaviors stem from character, competence, or a combination of the two.

Again — you can hear the entire book club discussion here. I’d love to hear your thoughts about the book… about the book club format… and about future books that we can select.

A very special thanks to Rose for agreeing to adopt the book club idea… to Covey for agreeing to participate — he was really great — but particularly to Wennergren. I’m a huge Wennergren fan anyway, but… he just was so helpful every step of the way with this process — coming up with the book… and then participating in each and every part of it.

So… which book next?

FCW excerpt of ‘The SPEED of Trust’ — in preparation for Wednesday’s Federal News Radio Book Club

The Federal News Radio Book Club is coming up this week — listen on Federal News Radio 1500 AM. But, as I mentioned earlier, we are working with Federal Computer Week on this project. In the Nov. 17 issue of FCW, there is an excerpt of the Federal News Radio Book Club book, The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey. In face, they have several excerpts:

• Organizational success: A matter of trust: Leaders will reap dividends if they align their organizations with core principles and behaviors that increase trust.
• The 4 cores of credibility: The key to building trust in organizations is alignment — linking an organization’s design around those cores and behaviors.
• The 13 behaviors for cultivating trust: These behaviors stem from character, competence, or a combination of the two.

You can also read FCW editor in chief John Monroe on why he selection this particular section of the book here:

As the title indicates, this book is about trust — as it works with individuals, relationships, organizations, markets (in the case of businesses) and society as a whole. For FCW’s purposes, I selected an excerpt that focuses on how leaders can improve the level of trust in their organization.

Covey describes trust as one of the “hidden variables” in the formula for organizational success. An organization that fosters a high level of trust reaps “trust dividends” that have eventually improves the organization’s performance.

Read Monroe’s full post here.

In addition to the book excerpt, FCW has an interview with Dave Wennergren, the Defense Department’s deputy CIO, about books. As I have mentioned, Wennergren is one of the brightest people I know, a keen leader, and an avid reader… and he helped us select the first Federal News Radio Book Club book. As I mentioned, I got to talk to Wennergren on Federal News Radio about why he was fascinated by The SPEED of Trust. (You can hear that interview here.) FCW’s Mary Mosquera spoke to Wennergren about… why books?

Wennergren: While CIOs can often feel like they’re alone on a windy corner, there are actually lots of other people working on similar issues. Understanding best practices, successful management approaches and new ideas can inspire you, help set a coherent course, avoid unnecessary pitfalls and deliver better results. Even just talking about what you’ve read and learned helps build relationships, heightens trust, and aligns behaviors and expectations in an organization. You’re better able to do your job, and your team is confident, inspired and ready to move forward.

Read FCW’s full interview here.

And reminder… the Federal News Radio Book Club is Wednesday, Nov. 19 on Federal News Radio 1500 AM’s In Depth with Francis Rose program.

I posted additional resources over the weekend:

I have had several people who e-mailed me to ask if they need to be some place specific to participate in the book club. The answer is yes — just be near your radio or steaming FederalNewsRadio.com on your computer on Thursday, Nov. 19 for In Depth with Francis Rose, heard on Federal News Radio 1500 AM and federalnewsradio.com between 1-3p ET. On Nov. 19, we will have Covey on the program… also joining us will be Dave Winnergren, the Defense Department’s deputy CIO and one of the best readers — and best managers. More on that in just a moment… I will also be there as will, of course, Francis Rose.

Your comments on the book are always welcome.

The Federal News Radio book club ahead this Wednesday…

Coming up this Thursday Wednesday… the first Federal News Radio Book Club. (Earlier I said the incorrect day — it is Wednesday!) Our first book is The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey. [More about the Federal News Radio Book Club here… and here… and if you have an Amazon.com Kindle eBook, you can have the book downloaded in minutes.]

I have had several people who e-mailed me to ask if they need to be some place specific to participate in the book club. The answer is yes — just be near your radio or steaming FederalNewsRadio.com on your computer on Thursday, Nov. 19 for In Depth with Francis Rose, heard on Federal News Radio 1500 AM and federalnewsradio.com between 1-3p ET. On Nov. 19, we will have Covey on the program… also joining us will be Dave Winnergren, the Defense Department’s deputy CIO and one of the best readers — and best managers. More on that in just a moment… I will also be there as will, of course, Francis Rose.

So… it’s that easy.

Some additional resources…

• This week on Federal News Radio’s Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris, we had Winnergren on the program talking about the book — why he was fascinated with it — and books in general — why they can be helpful to you… and me… and us. Near the end of the interview, he goes through some of his favorite books — just off the top of his head. Whew!
• As I mentioned earlier, Federal Computer Week in the Nov. 17 issue, will have an excerpt of The SPEED of Trust if you are unable to read the book. FCW editor in chief John Monroe explains the portion of the book that he selected here. They will also have an interview with Winnergren about books — and how they help him manage. They ususally post the magazine late Sunday night or early Monday Morning and you can find the Web table of contents for the print edition here.
• More on why trust matters… Robert Carey, the CIO for the Department of the Navy, has a wonderful blog post, Trust: The most important thing. “The discussion on organizational trust opened my eyes to a fundamental truth that exists everywhere: Trust relationships support all mission accomplishment, both internal to organizations and across organizations,” he writes. He doesn’t mention Covey’s The SPEED of Trust, but I happen to know that is one of the books. Read Carey’s full post here.
  

Finally… thoughts as you’re reading the book… send your comments or questions.
There are all sorts of ways to reach us.

• Let us know your question before the show. Just leave a message on our new comment line: 877-936-8250. You can be anonymous if that works for you. We can then ask your question or play your comment on the air. The ‘who are you’ question is less important then what you say.
• E-mail me at chris at chrisdorobek.com.
• E-mail Francis at frose at federalnewsradio.com
• Use Federal News Radio’s ‘sound off’ page.

And we’ll see you on the radio… Thursday, Nov. 19th between 1-3p ET. (We’ll, I’m on each day, but… that’s when we’ll be talking about the book.)

The Federal News Radio Book Club: The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey

Just before I left Federal Computer Week, I came up with an idea of creating a book club for feds. Now that I’m over at Federal News Radio, we’re working with FCW on the book club. But the great thing is that we get to talk to the author of these books.

Before I go through history of it, I want to let everybody know the book that we have selected. The first book club book is The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey. (I have the Amazon.com Kindle e-book version, of course.)

On Nov. 19, Covey will join us on Federal News Radio’s In Depth with Francis Rose for an hour. Joining Rose and Covey and me will be Dave Wennergren, the Defense Department deputy chief information officer and one of the wisest people that I know… and one of the most avid readers.

This idea is actually borrowed from Wennergren — and Oprah Winfrey, of course. Oprah has been having her book clubs for a few years. As an avid reader, particularly of business books, I think there are lessons that we can share. Wennergren — an avid reader. I often just follow him around writing down titles of books — but he has long used books as a way to build teams. FCW is working on a story about Wennergren as the government IT’s Oprah. Earlier, when he was the CIO at the Department of the Navy, FCW did a story about his leadership style — and we referred to his book clubs, which he refers to as Expanding Boundaries.

So when I came up with this idea, I asked Wennergren if he would be interested in participating… and if he had any good ideas for books. He is the one who suggested The Speed of Trust.

We are going to do this regularly. We’re going to try to have Wennergren involved in a few of these a year — as much as he can, is able, and his schedule allows.

I just started Covey’s book — and, to be honest, I didn’t know anything about it until Winnergren recommended it. It is essentially about how to build trust across an organization so you can accomplish your mission.

We also want to tap your thoughts. What we’re looking for are the books books that would help people in government — or who do business with government — do their jobs better.

So… the specifics…

What: The Federal News Radio Book Club… the inaugural book: The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey
When: Nov. 19 at 2p ET
Where: Federal News Radio 1500 AM and FederalNewsRadio.com

And yes — you can participate. Go read the book… and then send us your thoughts, insights and comments. What spoke to you and how you do your job? What did Covey leave out?

There are all sorts of ways to reach us.

• Let us know your question before the show. Just leave a message on our new comment line: 877-936-8250. You can be anonymous if that works for you. We can then ask your question or play your comment on the air.
• E-mail me at chris at chrisdorobek.com.
• E-mail Francis at frose at federalnewsradio.com

This is a first. It is an experiment. We welcome your thoughts on this concept. Let us know what works — and what doesn’t. And if you want to suggest future books, you can do that too by just leaving a message here on the blog as well.

Regardless, mark your calendar for two weeks from today… Nov. 19 at 2p ET.