What We're Reading

You Can Culture: Four Lasting Habits to Grow Your Leadership and Cultivate a Thriving Workplace

“Tobias Sturesson offers readers a journey through the real life experiences of numerous organizational leaders dealing with reputational risk, scandal and toxic cultures – and via his own personal and compelling story of challenge and redemption – in order to distill a short list of mindsets and everyday practices that can place us all on a path to building and sustaining healthy, ethical and effective organizations. This readable book is both practical and inspiring!”

• Mary C. Gentile, Ph.D., Founder & Director, Giving Voice to Values; NDDCEL Advisory Board

Higher Ground:  How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World

“Alison Taylor brings clarity to the topics of ESG, ethical leadership, and corporate culture. Providing both clear observations, and practical and useful advice.” 

• Ellen Hunt, Principal Consultant & Advisor, Spark Compliance Consulting; NDDCEL Advisory Board

• NDDCEL Faculty Director Jessica McManus Warnell notes, “I had the opportunity to speak with Alison at a recent conference - her remarks on navigating complexities of business in a global and changing world energized a room full of business executives and management scholars. Recommended!”

Unlearning Silence:  How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully

“Elaine Lin Hering demonstrates that while silence may be “golden”, it stops us from saying what needs to be said and encourages us to silence others. This is the leadership book that will help you understand how you silence others, and when and how you should speak up.” 

• Ellen Hunt, Principal Consultant & Advisor, Spark Compliance Consulting; NDDCEL Advisory Board

Ethics and Compliance for Humans

“I co-host an online ethics and compliance book club [with professionals from a variety of industries] and this book by Adam Balfour was selected as the 2024 Book of the Year.”

• Ellen Hunt, Principal Consultant & Advisor, Spark Compliance Consulting; NDDCEL Advisory Board

10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People

“We often struggle to motivate adolescents (ages 10-25). Professor David Yeager shares the latest research, showing us what we often get wrong - and how leaders, parents, and educators can tap into the science of the mentor mindset to help young people thrive. A must-read for all of us leading and supporting the next generation.”

• Christopher Adkins, Ph.D., Associate Teaching Professor and Academic Director of Leadership Development, Mendoza College of Business; NDDCEL Faculty Fellow

To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

“Throughout the book, John O’Donohue, an Irish teacher and poet, explains blessings as a way of life.Two in particular align with our NDDCEL and resonate with me: on the grace and wisdom necessary for leadership, and on the need for heart and soul in our work.”

• Monica Allgaier, Manager, CFO Advisory, Technical Accounting & Reporting, Deloitte UK; NDDCEL Advisory Board

Want more inspiration?

Below are some selections from our TBR piles, and a roundup of some of the best lists we’ve seen to welcome 2025:

The Arts of Leading: Perspectives from the Humanities and the Liberal Arts

Edward Brooks and Michael Lamb, Editors

"A fascinating collection of essays premised on the idea that the arts and humanities show and support ethical leadership in its many forms, cultures, and contexts. In a time of rising polarization and tech-fueled disruption, when the public is yearning for trustworthy leaders, The Arts of Leading is essential reading." — Daniel R. Porterfield, President and CEO, Aspen Institute

Beyond Shareholder Primacy: Remaking Capitalism for a Sustainable Future

Stuart L. Hart

“Beyond Shareholder Primacy argues that capitalism has reformed itself twice before and is poised for a third major reformation. Retelling the origin story of capitalism from the fifteenth century to the present, Hart argues that a radically sustainable, just capitalism is possible, and even likely, in our lifetime.” - Stanford University Press