Patty's Bookshelf

Recommended Reading:

Let Patients Help!

A "Patient Engagement" Handbook - How Doctors, Nurses, Patients and Caregivers Can Partner for Better Care
By e-Patient Dave deBronkart (Author), Eric J. Topol MD. (Introduction), Dr. Danny Sands (Contributor)

Let Patients Help! by Dave deBronkart with Dr. Danny Sands is a valuable patient engagement handbook. This little book should be a key resource for you and your family. You’ll learn about important steps in taking charge of your own health. You’ll want to check your patient chart, ask questions, search the Internet, and engage with patient communities. Your physician should ideally welcome your research and your engagement in your own treatment and prevention. 

(See Patty's review: "Ten Steps that May Save (or Improve) Your Life")

The Chaos Imperative

How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success
By Ori Brafman and Judah Pollack

This book, The Chaos Imperative: How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success by Ori Brafman and , is a must read for anyone who wants to maximize his/her brain power. It explains how important “white space” is to our sense-making abilities. And it provides useful guidelines for injecting controlled chaos into even very bureaucratic of environments. It will help you, and your team, create the conditions for innovation to occur.

(See Patty's review: "Why Chaos Is Important for Innovation")

Alone and Invisible No More

How Grassroots Community Action and 21st Century Technologies can Empower Elders to Stay in their Homes and lead Healthier, Happier Lives
By Dr. Allan S. Teel M.D.

There are currently 5 million people in the U.S. over the age of 85. By 2050, there will be 21 million of us. Life expectancies are also increasing. There isn’t enough money, time, or people to build and staff enough nursing homes and retirement communities. But we can use high tech and high touch to empower people to live full lives at home until they die. Dr. Allan “Chip” Teel’s book, Alone and Invisible No More, tells us how.

(See Patty's review: "Customer Co-Design for Elder Independence")

Dialogue Mapping

Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems
By Jeffrey Conklin

What’s a “Wicked Problem?” It involves interlocking issues across many domains (i.e., political, environmental, economic, etc.). Only a tame problem can be “solved”—wicked problems can only be managed more or less effectively, more or less efficiently. The best we can do is to find more elegant and expedient interventions, but even the most elegant intervention on a wicked problem will make some issue(s) more wicked for some stakeholder(s). Jeff Conklin’s book, Dialogue Mapping: Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems, is a “must read” for people in groups grappling with intractable issues and/or for people who are designing products or solutions.

(See Patty's review: "How to Address “Wicked Problems”")

Engaging Everyone with Liberating Structures

GroupJazz Handbook
By Lisa Kimball

Why is jazz such a compelling art form? There’s the excitement of improvisation according to a few basic rules and the fact that the musicians really tune into one another. That’s why Jazz is so good. That’s what we need to do in our work lives: we need to have the kinds of group experiences that allow us to produce things that are better in that moment. And, when we are no longer in that environment, we can still conjure up part of that feeling and use it in order to be productive.

(See Patty's review: "How We Learn and How to Change")

Return on Customer

Creating Maximum Value From Your Scarcest Resource
By Don Peppers and Martha Rogers

Looking for a way to convince your executives to put their money (and priorities) where their mouths are? First, come up with your current and planned strategy for measuring and reporting your firm’s Return on Customer. Then, educate your execs by handing out this book. Attach your ROC plan to it!

(See Patty's review: "Return on Customer")

Chief Customer Officer

Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action
By Jeanne Bliss

The hardest aspect of customer experience work—making it easy for customers to do business with you and designing and delivering a differentiated end-to-end customer experience that will grow your base of profitable, loyal customers—is shifting your organizational culture. Every business unit and department has its own focus and its own metrics. This book, Chief Customer Officer, is an accurate and useful guide that will help anyone—whether you sit at the top or the bottom of your company—understand how to move your organization through the steps required to shift your company’s culture to deliver a great customer experience.

(See Patty's review: "Chief Customer Officer")