If you have read my blog for more than a few months, you know I love the Catalyst Conferences. I have spoken at the last six in a row. I’ll be speaking again at the Atlanta conference, which will be held on October 5–7, 2011.

The Atlanta conference is Catalyst’s biggest one. More than 13,000 next generation leaders will attend. It always sells out. (If you have ever been, you know why.) If you haven’t registered, you can do so between now and Friday, June 17th and get 38% off the regular ticket price. I’ll tell you how at the end of this post.

Last year, at the Chick-fil-A Leadercast, I had the privilege of interviewing Jim Collins, author of the mega-bestselling business book, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t. Since he is so research-driven in his approach, I expected him to be dry and academic. However, I found him surprisingly passionate and engaging.

In this 10-minute interview, I talked to him about his most recent book, How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In. I asked him five questions:

Last year I attended the Chick-fil-A Leadercast in Atlanta, Georgia. I also had the privilege of hosting the “Backstage Video” program. I interviewed each of the speakers, including Jim Collins, author of Good to Great; Dr. Ben Carson, the Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital; and Dan Cathy, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Chick-fil-A.

I attended numerous events last year, but this one was in my top three. Why? Because it provided the inspiration and practical how-to information leaders need to take their leadership to the next level.

As I have written before, I will be attending the Chick-fil-A Leadercast on May 7, 2010. This is a one-day leadership event that will take place in Atlanta, Georgia and will be broadcast to 500 host locations throughout the country via satellite or internet downlink. They are expecting nearly 70,000 attendees, between the live site in Atlanta and the rest of North America.

A few weeks ago, while attending the Catalyst Conference, I had the opportunity to have breakfast with Dan Cathy, President and COO of Chick-fil-A, and Mark Miller, VP of Training and Development for Chick-fil-A. I experienced first-hand their passion for leadership and for enriching the lives of the people in the the communities where their stores are located.

Rather than reviewing one book this week, I thought I would share my favorite business books. I get asked this question regularly, most recently when I was lecturing at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Business School earlier this week.

I have blogged on this topic previously. However, it has been almost two years. Since that time, my list has changed. Only four of the previous ones are on the new list. However, all twenty (the previous list and this one) are excellent.

Thankfully, the election is over. We now have clarity about who is going to lead our country for the next four years. I have never personally witnessed such excitement and hopefulness following an election (though I acknowledge that not everyone shared that sentiment).

In the Western literary tradition, the silver bullet was the only weapon that could destroy certain types of monsters. As a result, it became a metaphor for a singular solution that solves a giant problem.