10 Books You Should Read This Summer 2025

SUMMER begins today. It’s time to select a few books to make you think and supercharge your leadership.

The top summer reading list for leaders this year includes books on systems thinking, personal growth, self-knowledge, and psychological distancing for better decision-making. This year, we’ve also added a few books for the entrepreneur.

Here are ten suggestions for creating your reading plan.

  On Character: Choices That Define a Life by General Stanley McChrystal - (May 2025)

How to measure a life? After a career of service, retired four-star general Stanley McChrystal had much to contemplate. He pondered his successes and failures, his beliefs and aspirations, and asked himself, Who am I, really? And more importantly, who have I become? When I die, how will I be measured? In the end, McChrystal came to a conclusion as simple as it was profound: the reality of who we are cannot be recorded in dates or accomplishments. It is found in our character—the most accurate, and last full measure, of who we choose to be. On Character offers McChrystal’s blueprint for living with purpose and integrity, challenging us to examine not just our deeds but who we become through them.

  The Systems Leader: Mastering the Cross-Pressures That Make or Break Today's Companies by Robert E. Siegel - (June 2025)

A groundbreaking blueprint for mastering “cross-pressures” in a rapidly changing world, teaching leaders to execute and innovate, think locally and globally, and project ambition and statesmanship alike—from a Stanford Business School lecturer and consultant to some of the biggest and most innovative CEOs. Part of the problem is that these challenges, while acutely felt, are rarely articulated in a way that makes them graspable and actionable. Robert E. Siegel has witnessed the impact of these cross-pressures from different perspectives. As a lecturer in management at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, an operator, a venture capitalist, and a consultant, he sees countless teams of managers, at all sorts of companies, struggling to lead their companies into the future.

  Lean Learning: How to Achieve More by Learning Less by Pat Flynn - (June 2025)

Navigate the chaos of information overload and supercharge your efficiency with Lean Learning, a groundbreaking guide that reveals a counterintuitive approach to success: winning by learning less. From an early age, we’re taught that more is better. More money, more information, more skills. But times have changed. What was once valuable has now become a burden, and if information alone were the answer, we’d all be exactly where we want. In today’s fast-moving world, the difference between success and failure is not in what you know but in what you do with what you know. Lean Learning equips you with the tools to do just that, propelling you towards your goals with greater efficiency, purpose, and results.

  Firm Feedback in a Fragile World: How to Build a Winning Culture with Critical Conversations by Jeff Hancher - (June 2025)

Turn dreaded workplace feedback into opportunities for growth and trust with Firm Feedback in a Fragile World, your guide to fostering stronger teams and a thriving workplace through effective, confident communication. “We need to talk.” It’s a phrase that can fill us with dread. For many, the statement signals conflict or criticism. But what if it didn’t? What if feedback and conversations in your workplace inspired growth, built trust, and created thriving teams? In Firm Feedback in a Fragile World, Jeff Hancher redefines how we approach feedback in the workplace. Combining relatable stories, research, and practical tools, Hancher offers a roadmap to turn feedback from a source of tension into a powerful leadership tool. As a military veteran, corporate leader, and leadership coach, he provides actionable insights that help leaders and employees alike navigate feedback with confidence and clarity.

  Go One More: Find the Clarity to Make Intentional, Life-Changing Choices by Nick Bare - (June 2025)

Stop holding yourself back and make a powerful impact by taking control of your life and transforming your mindset around health, relationships, and success. Growth doesn't happen overnight; it's a choice. You must wake up every day and choose growth. These decisions compound over time, and with ruthless consistency, the outcomes are life-changing. Whether training for a marathon, leading a family, or starting a business, being intentional with everything we do is essential for success. Nick Bare shares a simple philosophy for helping people tap into the clarity and resolve they need to keep progressing: go one more.

  G.O.A.T. Wisdom: How to Build a Truly Great Business--From the Founders of Beekman 1802 by Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell - (July 2025)

Have you ever wanted to create a business that's not only good but great? Have you ever felt as though you're destined to do something bigger and more significant with your life? If so, you should know that you don't need millions in funding, a marketing department, or influencer status. If you have an idea, the determination to bring it to life, a deep and abiding belief in your product, and a devotion to your customers, you already have the humble starting point behind one of the world's fastest-growing and most beloved brands: Beekman 1802. In this book, for the first time, Ridge and Kilmer-Purcell present the twelve principles that made the biggest difference in their entrepreneurial journey, and show how these principles are relevant for anyone ready to defy the odds and grow a brand that matters

  The Science of Leadership: Nine Ways to Expand Your Impact by Jeffrey Hull and Margaret Moore - (July 2025)

The Science of Leadership: Nine Ways to Expand Your Impact presents a game-changing synthesis of 50 years of leadership research as a comprehensive guide for seasoned and aspiring leaders, and anyone who wants to help their boss become a better leader. Authors Jeffrey Hull and Margaret Moore, leadership coaches and leaders of the Institute of Coaching, translate academic research and their extensive experience in leading and coaching into a practical, self-coaching roadmap for your own growth in these times of exponential change and disruption. This book organizes the science of leadership (15,000+ studies and articles showing what improves individual, team, and organizational performance) into nine capacities which build upon each other. Each capacity is brought to life by real-life stories, a science overview, practices, and ways to deal with overuse. These capacities are organized into three levels with increasing complexity: Self-Oriented, Other-Oriented and System-Oriented.

  Blindspotting: How To See What's Holding You Back as a Leader by Martin Dubin - (July 2025)

As leaders, we all hit a point when things stop going well. A problem emerges that we think we can handle but discover we can't. The tools that got us this far somehow stop working. We don't understand; what are we missing? What we don't see is what we can't see: we have blindspots. It's a known fact that we're often not great judges of ourselves, even when we think we are. Sometimes we're simply unaware of a behavior or trait that's causing problems. Other times, where we see normal, effective behavior, others see tremendous deficits. Bottom line: until we uncover these blindspots, we can’t move forward or deliver on our goals as leaders. Blindspotting provides a framework for understanding six types of blindspots, then takes you inside coaching sessions with profoundly relatable leaders going through the process of learning to recognize their own blindspots. Along the way, you get the practical guidance you need to identify and manage those same blindspots in yourself, unlocking high performance and great leadership.

  Scaling Innovation: How Smart Companies Architect Profitable Growth by Madhavan Ramanujam and Eddie Hartman - (August 2025)

The brutal truth: most startups and scale-ups don't fail because of bad products. They fail because they never figure out how to grow fast―and profitably. Some chase market share at all costs, burning cash on customers who won't pay enough to sustain the business. Others over-monetize too soon, pushing away the customers they need to reach scale. Still others obsess over customer loyalty, missing larger markets and monetization potential. And then there are those who assume a great product will sell itself, only to realize too late that pricing, packaging, positioning and value selling matter just as much. The true winners take a different approach. They adopt a Profitable Growth Mindset, refusing to choose between market expansion and monetization―instead, they dominate both. Instead of relying on instinct or momentum.

  Distancing: How Great Leaders Reframe to Make Better Decisions by L. David Marquet and Michael A. Gillespie - (August 2025)

Be yourself. Be fully present. Be in the moment. This is a message we hear constantly. While this may be beneficial some of the time, the biggest obstacle to making wiser decisions that actually drive lasting success is ourselves. Being fully immersed in our own limited point of view biases our decisions toward defending our previous actions and maintaining our self-image. We need to exit our me-here-and-now self and get an outside perspective that sees us and the situation we are in objectively. We need a coach. This book shows us how to become our own coach by using a mental technique called psychological distancing.

For Entrepreneurs

  Founders, Keepers: Why Founders Are Built to Fail, and What it Takes to Succeed by Richard Hagberg and Tien Tzuo with Gabe Weisert - (June 2025)

Based on decades of empirical research and data, Founders, Keepers gives founders a practical roadmap for navigating the inevitable challenges that come with startup growth. It’s a brutal paradox—the same founder attributes required to put a startup in motion will invariably blow it up. The difference between success and failure lies in the personal journey that every founder must pursue to avoid their own worst impulses. Steeped in nearly forty years of research in leadership psychology, Founders, Keepers begins with the same personality assessment Rich Hagberg, a psychologist and executive management coach, gives his clients. Hagberg and Tien Tzuo, founder and CEO of Zuora, help founders build a Swiss Army knife of practical tools that will give them a much better chance of making it to the next level of success.

  From Founder to Future: A Business Roadmap to Impact, Longevity, and Employee Ownership by John Abrams - (June 2025)

From Founder to Future is an essential guide for mission-driven leaders seeking to reshape their businesses for inclusivity, longevity, and positive impact. Whether you're a retiring owner planning your exit, a young entrepreneur building for the future, or an employee working in a purpose-driven business, this book offers a blueprint for creating enduring, values-driven enterprises in the emerging regenerative economy. Learn how to transition leadership, implement shared ownership, and preserve your organization's core values—setting the stage for your business to thrive for generations to come. This visionary but practical handbook offers mission-driven business owners a roadmap for ensuring their company's lasting impact, building leadership internally, and fostering participatory management.

  Soul Venture: A True Life and Death Journey Into the Startup Culture by Ashwin Gulati - (January 2025)

Soul Venture isn't your typical business book—it's a wake-up call. In this gripping exploration, Ashwin Gulati dismantles the myths, ambitions, and raw realities that drive an entrepreneurial culture where 97% of start-ups are destined to fail. When Jensen Huang, co-founder of the $2 trillion tech giant Nvidia, admits he wouldn’t go through it again, it makes you wonder: Why would you? So why do entrepreneurs keep lining up? Why do venture capitalists continue to encourage them? What exactly isn’t working? Soul Venture turns the conventional wisdom upside down: It’s not just about business—it’s about you.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 08:18 AM
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