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ASCENT Book Recommendations



image of book cover Man's Search for Meaning

By Viktor E. Frankl

Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl’s memoir of his experiences in Nazi death camps and his resulting branch of therapy centered on meaning has riveted generations of readers. Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward.

​image of book cover Play to Win

By Larry Wilson and Hersch Wilson

Play to Win is a guide to living with meaning, passion and purpose. Thriving in the world of work means continually evolving, changing, adapting and learning to deal with uncertainty. Reinventing ourselves is possible through our own mix of unique ability, authentic courage and choice. Play to Win is filled with insights and tools to help us navigate the demands of our work and life.​

​image of book cover The Power of Full Engagement

By Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

Full engagement draws on four separate, but related, sources of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Everything we do requires energy. Energy is the x-factor that makes it possible to fully ignite our talent and skill. Without the right quantity, quality, focus, and force of energy, we are compromised in any activity we undertake. Time management is no longer a viable solution. The paradigm has shifted. The number of hours in a day is fixed, but the quantity and quality of energy available to us is not. It is our most valuable personal resource and the key to enduring high performance, as well as to health, happiness, and life balance.

​image of book cover Fierce Conversations

By Susan Scott

The idea behind Fierce Conversations is to "come out from behind ourselves" and deal with reality, which lives in the perceptions each of us hold within a given relationship. Since no one person has the absolute truth or complete reality within a relationship, the path forward is authentic dialogue. Fierce conversations are designed to improve relationships by interrogating the reality of the different perspectives of each person in relationship and strive for mutually beneficial results minus the emotional barriers that keep us in avoidance.

​image of book cover Mastering Leadership

By Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams

For most leaders today, complexity is outpacing our personal and collective development. Most leaders are in over their heads, whether they know it or not. The most successful organizations over time are the best led. While this has always been true, today's complexity and uncertainty puts leadership effectiveness at a premium. Mastering leadership shows us the path forward for developing more effective leaders - individually and collectively - and leveraging that leadership to produce the outcomes that really matter that address our most pressing challenges.

​image of book cover Leadership and Self-Deception

By The Arbinger Institute

Leadership and Self-Deception invites us into awareness of our tendency to see the world around us in a distorted way. Self-deception blinds us to our true motivations and unwittingly sabotages the effectiveness of our efforts to achieve the results in relationships and organizations that will bring greater satisfaction and increased happiness. It explores the power of mindset and the tendency to trap ourselves in a "box" of endless self-justification and failure to take full responsibility. Gratefully, the book shows us the way out of "the box".

​image of book cover Dare to Lead

By Brené Brown

Dare to Lead invites us to take off our armor and show up as value-based and high trust leaders. Brown teaches us how to build capacity for increased vulnerability and confronts the myth that it equals weakness. In fact, the opposite is true: acts of courage are impossible without first putting yourself in a vulnerable position. Dare to Lead provides the tools and practices to help us become more skilled in leading with vulnerability and trust.

Over the years ASCENT content has been built by internal state practitioners and in partnership with external practitioners to enhance program content and development. ASCENT uses materials created by external practitioners with their permission. 


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