Good Books to Support Good Management in Diplomacy

The theme of this calendar was inspired by Mark Twain’s quotation that: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them”. Diplomats, like many other professionals, must read, understand, synthesise and make sense of newspapers, magazines, emails, official reports and so many other things related to their daily work. But there is so much else to read both for pleasure and to deepen our knowledge. The digital revolution has successfully given us access to more and more information and taken away the time available to do so. We believe that reading one book a month is an entirely reasonable objective. Our challenge was that of selecting books that support professional development and are relevant to management in diplomacy. The selection reflects our reading history over many years and our belief that these are transformational works as they changed the way we think, live and work. Some of the 11 books we’ve selected have been in best-seller lists for many years and perhaps some may be unknown to you and we hope this will not stop you from being curious about them. Happily, books are perhaps the cheapest luxury available today (even free if your library has a copy). Reading good books was, is and will continue to be essential to personal and professional growth. This is why the 2013 Diplo calendar is a joint initiative of the Diplofoundation and the Diplomatic Institute of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Stefano Baldi and Eduardo Gelbstein

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

Enhance creativity and memory

Tony Buzan, The Mindmap Book

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

Time is more valuable than money

MTD Training, Successful Time Management

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

A Users manual for your Brain?

John Medina, Brain Rules

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

Thinking is an activity

Edward De Bono, Thinking Course

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

Discover the Genius in You

Michael J. Gelb, How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

Emotional intelligence is more important to success and happiness than

professional skills and IQ

Daniel Goleman, Working with Emotional Intelligence

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

A step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty and dignity

Stephen R. Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

Bureaucratic traps to avoid

C. Northcote Parkinson, Parkinson´s Law

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

Improving interaction between politicians and civil servants (and vice-versa)

Jonathan Lynn and Anthony Jay, Yes Minister

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

A Good Person is as Rare as a Black Swan*

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan*Juvenal ± 90 AD

Concept: Baldi-Gelbstein Illustration: Veljašević

One thing we learn from history is that we don�t learn from history

Sun Tzu, The Art of War

istitutodiplomatico.wordpress.com

Istituto Diplomatico is the structure of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) responsible for training. Its main task is to update and improve the professional quality of the MFA staff (both diplomats and non-diplomats) through courses and seminars. The Faculty consists mainly of internal staff and experts from the Ministry. The two main courses offered for diplomats are aimed at junior and mid-dle-rank officers. The main activities for non-diplomat staff relate to pre-post courses and specialized professional training. The Institute is developing a series

of self-paced online learning modules focused on the MFA’s activities and functions. Its most recent project is a blog (ISDI learning corner, available at http://istitutodiplomatico.wordpress.com/) for sharing useful information concerning diplomatic soft skills.

DiploFoundation emerged from a project to introduce ICT tools to the practice of diplomacy, initiated in 1992 at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic studies in Malta. In November 2001, Diplo was established as an independent non-profit foundation by the governments of Malta and Switzerland. Diplo has received wide

recognition for its work, including consultative status with the United Nations. Today, Diplo works to increase the capacity of small and developing states to engage effectively in international policy, nego-tiations, and diplomacy. We do this by providing capacity development programmes in areas such as Internet governance and climate change diplomacy; using and developing tools for e-participation in global governance, including remote participation in international meetings and social media for global negotiations; and providing specialised and effective academic programmes – accredited with the University of Malta - for professional diplomats seeking cost-effective and high-quality training in both traditional and contemporary diplomacy topics.