We don't keep an exhaustive list, we keep a returned-to list. Books that have shaped our thinking on leadership, culture, coaching, and the patterns that keep teams stuck.
Below are the short lists each of our principals returns to most. Email [email protected] if you'd like notes on where to start depending on what you're trying to solve.
Tina's favs
Tina's returned-to list, pattern-level books on coaching, change, and the work underneath the work.
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Immunity to Change
Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey
Why smart people don't change, and what to do about it.
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An Everyone Culture
Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey
What deliberately developmental organizations actually look like in practice.
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Co-Active Coaching
Henry Kimsey-House et al.
The foundational text behind much of how we coach.
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The Advice Trap
Michael Bungay Stanier
Stay curious longer, rush to action more slowly.
Lindsey's favs
Lindsey's list for the field, leadership books that hold up on a job site, in a crew truck, and in real shop-floor conversations.
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Extreme Ownership
Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
The accountability book that lands with operators who don't read leadership books.
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Crucial Conversations
Patterson, Grenny, McMillan & Switzler
Practical scripts for the conversations leaders avoid.
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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Patrick Lencioni
Still the cleanest map of where teams quietly come apart.
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Drive
Daniel H. Pink
What actually motivates people once compensation is fair.
Ivanette's favs
Ivanette's list for strategy and alignment work, books for leaders translating board-level direction into Tuesday-morning decisions.
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Good Strategy / Bad Strategy
Richard Rumelt
How to tell the difference, and why most organizations get it wrong.
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The Advantage
Patrick Lencioni
Organizational health as the multiplier most strategy work ignores.
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Leadership on the Line
Ronald Heifetz & Marty Linsky
Adaptive leadership for the leaders who feel the heat.
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The Practice of Adaptive Leadership
Heifetz, Grashow & Linsky
The working manual for the work above.
Related reading
Psychological Safety in the Workplace
What psychological safety actually is, why it drives performance, and the leader behaviours that build or erode it.
CultureHow to Build a High-Trust Team Culture
Trust isn't built in a workshop. It's built in the small, repeated patterns leaders show up with every week.
DiagnosisSigns Your Team Has a Blind Spot Problem
Six signs that your team is being shaped by a pattern nobody is naming, and what to do about it.
Ready to surface what's hiding in your culture's blind spots?
Book a free Hidden Threats Assessment. We'll show you the language to name what others avoid, whether or not we end up working together.