Social Capital Reading List

By Elaine Pofeldt

March 27, 2025

Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It: Learning Moments from an Everyday CEO of a Multi-Billion-Dollar Company

As the former CEO of WD-40, Garry Ridge took inspiration from a letter a devoted father sent him about the power of legacy. He built a culture that is famous for allowing every team member to thrive and experience psychological safety. He believes the onus is on the CEO to become the type of leader willing to do all that it takes to build and lead a culture like this. This type of leadership starts in your heart but also includes your head and your hands, as in your actions and behaviors. Through it all, he underlines the importance of humility. Any Social Capital leader who is looking for a reminder of why servant leadership is so important will find it in this powerful book.

March 20, 2025

Unicorn Team: The Nine Leadership Types You Need to Launch Your Big Ideas with Speed and Success

With the combined value of the world’s valuable brands down 20% since last year, it’s more important than ever to get product launches right. In Unicorn Team, Jen Kem, who was part of the leadership teams of Oprah Winfrey Network, Blue Cross Blue Shield and Oracle, shows how to get it right. It’s about having the right combination of talent on your team — Visionizers, Strategizers and Mobilizers, as she describes it. It’s also important to allow room for experimenting by setting aside “failure money” — five to 10 percent of your budget that you’re willing to invest in experiments and can afford to lose. Anyone who wants to be effective in building a Social Capital brand will benefit from her insights.

March 13, 2025

Essential: How Distributed Teams, Global AI, and Global Shifts Are Creating a New Human-Powered Leadership

As the conversation on how to integrate AI into our lives in a human way moves forward, leadership strategists Christie Smith, Ph.D., and Kelly Monahan, Ph.D., explore how to use tools like generative AI with teams that are increasingly autonomous. In an era when many workers are voting with their feet and starting businesses, employees are returning to unionizing, and anti-trust authorities are cracking down on consolidation, companies need to find new ways to lead, argue the authors. “Stakeholders are no longer willing to put up with the refusal of owners to share power, collaborate openly or embrace the values of those who do the heavy lifting,” they write. Leaders who transform their companies with a human-centric approach, while augmenting human skills with tools such as AI, will have an edge, as they see it.

March 6, 2025

Calling In: How To Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel

Lorretta Ross, a single mother who had to drop out of Howard University, could have turned away from a rapist who reached out to the rape crisis center where she worked. She’d been subjected to sexual violence, and the request infuriated her. Instead, she adopted a philosophy that guided her through the decades to come, holding him accountable but with a spirit of love. Ross eventually became a MacArthur Genius fellow, known for work that tapped into shared values versus a desire for punishment, such as deprogramming white supremacists. It’s a must-read for Social Capital leaders who want to heal the division in society today.

February 27, 2025

Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love

In an age of income inequality, many Social Capital leaders are putting their teams’ financial wellness front and center. Financial Feminist author Tori Dunlap has been a leading voice in encouraging women to learn about their finances and take ownership of them. If you’re an employer looking to help women advance, go straight to the chapter on “Earning,” which offers important insight to the factors holding many women back and will spark ideas on how to offer meaningful support. It’s time that employers recognize the reality that women’s unpaid daily responsibilities outside of work are often steeper than for male counterparts, even as they serve as the main breadwinner in many homes.

February 20, 2025

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Creating an Epidemic of Mental Illness

Teens’ mental health started declining in 2010 — and that’s part of a trend that’s continuing. One factor is all the digital exposure they have via video games, social media, mobile phones and other technology. That’s important news for the employers who will be hiring them someday. In The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt explains how young people became part of one of the biggest social experiments in history — and what to do about the harm done to an entire generation. If you’re a Social Capital leader who cares about youth, we recommend putting this book at the top of your reading list.

February 13, 2025

Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right With Our AI Future

If you use LinkedIn, you can thank Reid Hoffman, who co-founded the professional networking site and is now a venture capitalist. In Superagency, co-authored with his writing collaborator Greg Beato, he makes the case that AI can be used in an egalitarian way that will help society, offering benefits such as personalized tutoring and faster cures for disease. He foresees a world where AI supplements human intelligence but doesn’t replace it. While not everyone will agree with Hoffman’s optimistic perspective — even Hoffman has called for "edufare" to help displaced workers obtain better skills — he brings a valuable insider’s perspective to the issue and how it is relevant to Social Capital CEOs.

February 6, 2025

Love and Work: How to Find What You Love, Love What You Do, And Do It For the Rest of Your Life

Love and work are almost synonymous for Social Capital leaders, many of whom feel the call of a higher purpose as they fulfill their roles every day. But it’s not always a linear path. Sometimes, we’re working toward what matters but we’re in the wrong role on a team. Or we’re leading a team that got burned by bad bosses of the past and isn’t quick to trust us. Or our job needs a redesign so we can do our best work. In Love and Work, respected researcher Marcus Buckingham shows how to escape the binding ties of conformity that keep many high-potential leaders trapped, and design a career that lets you achieve your highest potential at the office and when you go home.

January 30, 2025

Rethinking Two Weeks’ Notice: Changing the Way Employees Leave Companies for the Better

For employees departing for new opportunities, giving two weeks’ notice has been the standard for decades. Bob Glazer challenges that in Rethinking Two Weeks’ Notice: Changing the Way Employees Leave Companies for the Better. In this latest book, the CEO of Acceleration Partners offers fresh ideas on making parting conversations with employees more productive. It’s based on a four-part system he outlines built on psychological safety, honest communication, respect and commitment to a win-win. If you’re looking for ways to reinvent your organization, you’ll find Glazer’s insights both challenging and inspiring.

January 23, 2025

Our Robotics Future: The ultimate guide to the transformative power of automation, robotics and AI

You’ve seen the headlines that say robots are going to take our jobs, but are they accurate? Elad Inbar will lead you to question that assumption in Our Robotics Future. Inbar, CEO of RobotLAB, a robotics industry pioneer since 2007, offers powerful insight into how automation and robotics will transform the companies and jobs of the future and can make them better. Readers will learn how and when to integrate these powerful machines into their daily operations, tapping Inbar’s insights from working with big brands such as LG Electronics, SoftBank Robotics, Hilton, Marriott, Disney and Universal Studios. If you’re trying to stay ahead of the curve, this book offers valuable insider’s information.

January 16, 2025

It’s Not Your Business to Succeed: Your Role In Leadership When You Can’t Control the Outcomes

No matter how great a leader you are, there’s one thing you can’t control: the universe. Even the best-laid strategies, processes and execution won’t necessarily guarantee you the outcomes you want. In It’s Not Your Business to Succeed, entrepreneur and pastor Brandon West reframes this reality as an opportunity to focus on doing things well and on our higher purpose. As he shows, success isn’t only about achieving key performance indicators — it’s about the journey and the “how” of getting there. If you’re frustrated that you’re not further along in achieving your Social Capital goals, this will be a refreshing and valuable read.

January 9, 2025

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty

If you’ve ever wondered why some countries are rich while others are poor — and why some ascend as other collapse — you’ll find some interesting and unexpected answers in Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. MIT economics professor Daron Acemoglu and University of Chicago economist James Robinson — Nobel Prize winners for 2024 — show that man-made institutions are a big determinant, looking at examples like North and South Korea. Although this book was originally published in 2012, it’s very apropos for any Social Capital leader trying to make sense of what’s going on in the world today.

December 19, 2024

Creative Insecurity: Lean into the Unknown and Unleash Your Inner Misfit

If there’s one skill every Social Capital business leader needs, it’s the ability to embrace the unknown and thrive in uncertainty. In Creative Insecurity: Lean into the Unknown and Unleash Your Inner Misfit, James M. Sweeney, the serial entrepreneur who founded healthcare giant Caremark, offers a guidebook to running counter to the crowd and “getting comfortable with discomfort, propelling an off-balance state into forward motion and mitigating risk.” Even if you’re an intrapreneur within a big corporation, you’ll find inspiration in his chapters on succeeding with the “no-quit” gene, differentiating yourself as a “monopoly of one,” and recognizing that being first is more important than being right.

December 12, 2024

The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation

With the movement accelerating to break up Big Tech companies like Google, some are asking if this is the best way to help the public share in the wealth created in Silicon Valley. In The New Goliaths: How Corporations Use Software to Dominate Industries, Kill Innovation, and Undermine Regulation, James Bessen, an economist and technologist who is executive director of the Technology & Policy Research Initiative at Boston University, offers an alternative outlook — one based on forcing those companies to share their technology, data and insights. If you’re looking ahead to how AI and other technologies will shape the workplace in the future, and how they can be managed for the public good, this book will shed interesting light.

December 5, 2024

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI

The flow of information has a powerful influence on our daily lives — and world-changing events. In Nexus, renowned historian Yuval Noah Harari (who also authored Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind) explores how societies throughout history have managed, used and suppressed information to reach their goals, for better or worse. Taking readers through the witch hunts, Naziism, Stalinism and many other eras when the flow of information could mean life or death, Hariri raises powerful questions relevant to any Social Capital leader about how we will manage information in the future and how it can be used to create a better world where people come first. As he sees it, we’re on a precipice, where getting the answers right could determine the future of civilization. Don’t miss this bestseller.

November 21, 2024

Leading from Anywhere: The Essential Guide to Managing Remote Teams

Many Social Capital leaders have embraced remote work, aware of how important it is to employees trying to balance their responsibilities to family and their community and how it can help organizations tap into talent around the globe. But sometimes, leading a remote team can be challenging, requiring skills that are outside the traditional leadership toolkit. In Leading from Anywhere, David Burkus, a consultant and former business school professor, offers insights on how to pull it off successfully. If you’re thinking about bringing employees “back to the office” for the sake of your office culture but are on the fence about whether it is best for your team, read this book before you decide.

November 14, 2024

The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry

Presidents and CEOs have always been interdependent — yet at odds at the same time. In The Power and Money, an historian and former White House aide during the administration of President George W. Bush looks at both the friendships and enmities that shaped many of the policies that affect our daily lives today. With federal government rules dictating how leaders can run their workplaces, conduct mergers and acquisitions, price products sold abroad, and more, corporations need a strategy for dealing with Washington in order to thrive, he argues. However, everyday Americans often get left out of the equation when these two powerful forces come together — and they’re left to contend with the aftershocks, like higher prices and limited competition. If you’re looking to contribute to a better world through your business, being aware of the forces behind the scenes is essential. Social Capital leaders of any political party will find valuable insights from both presidential history and current events shaped by leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and Warren Buffet.

November 7, 2024

On the Edge: The Art of Risking Everything

Like it or not, our lives in the U.S. are heavily influenced by professional risk takers — like the hedge fund managers and venture capitalists who shape much of the business environment. In On the Edge, Nate Silver — a New York Times bestselling author and founder of presidential-election forecast site Silver Bulletin — looks at how power brokers like entrepreneur Peter Thiel, now-convicted cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried and Open AI CEO Sam Altman are shaping the world. What they have in common, he argues, is not only a high tolerance for risk but an appreciation of uncertainty, an affinity for numbers, a distrust of conventional wisdom and an insatiable competitive drive. If you need a powerful reminder of why you’re doing all the work of building a Social Capital company where people are the ultimate bottom line, and what the alternative could be, pick up this fascinating book.

October 31, 2024

Free Birds Revolution: The Future of Work and the Independent Mind

Miles Everson has a unique window on the trends shaping the world of independent work, as CEO of MBO Partners, a company that connects enterprises with independent professionals who have the expertise they need. And, as he shows in Free Birds Revolution: The Future of Work and the Independent Mind, the growing trend toward self-employment shows no signs of slowing down, with many people craving the freedom and authenticity of doing their own thing and looking to leave behind the dated brick-and-mortar world. With many of the most talented workers opting to go indie, he shows how forcing talent to go back to the office is beside the point. What’s more important for Social Capital CEOs to understand is how to tap into the growing army of independent professionals. Everson is an enthusiastic and expert guide, taking readers on an entertaining, rock-and-roll-inspired journey through one of the defining trends of the modern workplace: the “unbundling” of work from full-time jobs. He shows how interlocking trends like the growth of digital technology, the fractionalization of our culture, greater knowledge flow around the world and shrinking labor force are transforming what it means to work, giving leaders a powerful telescopic view into the future.

October 24, 2024

The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More

Communicating like a trial lawyer might not seem to be the route to building a better company — and world. But Jefferson Fisher, a trial lawyer and founder of his own law firm, may change your mind. He has attracted legions of followers with his YouTube videos on better communication. In The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More he offers insights valuable to any Social Capital leader looking to build true communication in the workplace and reduce toxic conflicts. The book covers topics like why you should never “win” an argument, how to take a “less is more” approach to conversation, how to communicate with intention, and the best ways to overcome conflict. If you’re looking to take your communication skills as a leader to the next level, this book will be a great source of insight.

October 17, 2024

The Problem with Men: Insights on Overcoming a Traumatic Childhood from a World-Renowned Psychologist

Ronald F. Levant is past president of the American Psychological Association and professor emeritus at the University of Akron. In The Problem with Men: Insights on Overcoming a Traumatic Childhood from a World-Renowned Psychologist, Dr. Levant explores questions you may have asked yourself when working with male leaders who aren’t bringing out the best in their team: Why are some men so problematic, incapable of expressing how they feel or to understand or respond appropriately to the emotions of others? Why do they explode in rage or resort to violence when their manhood is questioned? How do societal expectations of men play into toxic behaviors? Dr. Levant offers interesting answers, based on his many years of developing a field of psychology devoted to men and masculinity and his own experiences being raised by an abusive father. He also offers insights into leaders such as President Biden, Trump, Putin, Netanyahu and more. If you see male leaders as a key part of the equation of building a better world and believe that healing is possible for those who lack qualities such as empathy, you’ll find The Problem with Men full of helpful insight.

October 10, 2024

Dark, Dirty, Dangerous: Building the Vibrant Future of Manufacturing

Discussions on closing the racial wealth gap often focus on promoting home ownership and financial literacy. In Dark, Dirty, Dangerous: Building the Vibrant Future of Manufacturing, Karla Trotman adds a powerful idea to the conversation: supporting manufacturing. Trotman is CEO of Electro Soft, the black-owned electronics manufacturing firm founded by her parents. She shares what she has learned about building a thriving business where she has had the opportunity to offer livable wages, introduce career opportunities for those without a college degree, and break barriers for women and minority entrepreneurs — while building generational wealth. She also offers insights to how government policies can support the manufacturing sector and bring it back to American shores. If you’re concerned about America’s future, this is must-read.

October 3, 2024

Beginner’s Pluck: Build Your Life of Purpose and Impact Now

With the world changing at an unprecedented pace, the Social Capital leaders who can learn the fastest will be most effective. That requires a beginner’s mind. In Beginner’s Pluck, Liz Forkin Bohannon, co-founder and CEO of Sseko Designs — an international purpose-driven fashion brand creating employment for women around the world — offers an entertaining guide. Chock-full of practical strategies for embracing your inner beginner, it shows how “dreaming small” can bring big results and offers some fresh ideas on how to train yourself to choose curiosity over criticism.

September 26, 2024

Go Ask Your Mothers: One Simple Step for Managers to Support Working Moms for Team Success

As CEO of Sarah Wells Breast Pump Bags, author Sarah Wells has been on the front lines of helping working mothers make their lives work. In Go Ask Your Mothers, she shares critical insights into how to attract and retain female employees. It starts with communicating in new ways about the challenges they face (she offers her own roadmap for starting the conversation) and delves into proven strategies leaders can use to ensure they don’t lose the talented women they’ve invested in when a baby arrives. With so many Social Capital leaders working hard to ensure they create environments where all employees feel welcome, Go Ask Your Mothers will be a valuable addition to many a reading list.

September 19, 2024

Teeming: How Superorganisms Work Together to Build Infinite Wealth on a Finite Planet (and your company can too)

How do you scale a Social Capital company in a way that benefits all the people on your team, not just those at the top of the pyramid? Teeming offers some fascinating answers to that question from the worlds of animals and insects. Tamsin Woolley-Barker, an evolutionary biologist, shows how hierarchical structures can serve organizations only to a certain point before they collapse under the weight of complexity and instability. Fortunately, other living creatures, such as ants and termites, have already come up with alternative structures based on collective intelligence, distributed leadership, swarm creativity and regenerative value.

September 12, 2024

The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter

Many companies are in transition, and that means so are their leaders. How do you keep the momentum going on your Social Capital goals when you shift to a new role? A lot has to do with how you handle the first three months. In The First 90 Days, Michael Watkins, a well-known executive coach, updates and expands upon his bestselling work, showing how to accelerate your learning, match your strategy to the situation, achieve crucial early wins, create alignment, build alliance and “accelerate everyone.” Social Capital leaders have no time to waste, and this book will help you make the most of every opportunity to keep moving forward on your goals as you take on new professional challenges.

September 5, 2024

Leading with Significance: How to Create a Magnetic, People-First Culture

Horne LLP, a respected accounting and professional services firm, is known for its award-winning people-first culture. Joey Havens, managing partner of strategic growth, played a big role in creating it. In Leading with Significance, he lets other leaders peek under the hood. What you’ll see will resonate if you are already running a Social Capital company: Most employees don’t care about their paycheck and benefits alone. They come to work for a sense of belonging, purpose and self-realization. If you’re looking for road-tested strategies for attracting and retaining talent in a people-first culture, you’ll find this book is chock full of them — along with lively case studies showing what Horne’s philosophy looks like when implemented day to day. Don’t miss this essential guide for Social Capital leaders.

August 29, 2024

10 to 25: A Groundbreaking Approach to Leading the Next Generation—And Making Your Own Life Easier

Every generation of workers has its own ways of working. The challenge for leaders is finding ways to motivate team members of every age, down to the teenagers who are on the front lines of many businesses. In 10 to 25, the renowned developmental psychologist offers precise strategies for understanding young people ages 10 to 25 and tapping into what gets them motivated, like the desire for status and respect. Yeager shows how to tap into best practices such as transparency and the need for purpose and belonging — principles that underpin many a Social Capital company.

August 22, 2024

Autocracy Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World

The dictators of the past were easy to identify by their violent tactics. But today’s dictators are financial structures designed to steal from everyday people, surveillance networks and sophisticated propaganda — and include corrupt companies around the world, as Anne Applebaum explores in Autocracy. These autocrats share one thing: a desire for power and money — and the ability to get away with it. If you sometimes ask yourself why you work so hard to build a Social Capital company, Applebaum’s work will remind you of why it’s so important for business leaders to offer an alternative. Our future depends on it.

August 15, 2024

What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets

Should everything be available for sale to the highest bidder? Are there parts of our lives that market values should never enter? In What Money Can’t Buy, philosopher Michael Sandel looks at questions that many Social Capital leaders must consider as they grow their companies and impact. He looks at tricky situations like those where some members of society can buy their way out of the queue, offering and accepting incentives, how markets crowd out morals, insurance markets built around bets on life and death and others that are full of gray areas. If you’re tired of summer beach reading and looking for something deeper, What Money Can’t Buy will give you the intellectual stimulation you’re seeking.

August 8, 2024

Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive by Giving More Than They Take

In Net Positive, former Unilever CEO Paul Polman teams up with sustainable business champion Andrew Winston to make the case that business should be the main driving force to tackle societal problems such as climate change, income inequality and the divisiveness that is holding us back. They outline a new social contract where leaders, their employees and communities focus on giving back to the world more than they take, providing valuable details on how to do this. Net Positive’s approach is tightly aligned with the philosophy many Social Capital companies embrace and reading it is a great way to reinvigorate your commitment to building a company that puts people first.

August 1, 2024

Talent, Strategy, Risk: How Investors and Boards Are Redefining TSR

In the past few decades, long-term corporate value was defined almost solely in terms of shareholder profits. But Social Capital leaders are redefining the equation. In Talent, Strategy, Risk, Bill McNabb, former chairman and CEO of Vanguard, teams up with Dennis Carey, vice chairman of Korn Ferry, and well-known business advisor Ram Charan to look at the upside that comes when companies shift their mindset to one focused on long-term value creation. People are a big part of this, playing a critical role in spotting new opportunities and adding to a company’s competitive advantage. If you’re looking for ideas on building the kind of future-focused company where the best talent wants to stay, you’ll find many ideas on how to do that.

July 25, 2024

The Power of Strangers: The Benefits of Connecting in a Suspicious World

What if, instead of averting your eyes in the elevator, you said, “Hello”? In The Power of Strangers, journalist Joe Keohane explores what happens when we reach out to the people around us, instead of simply minding our business or assuming they are dangerous. At a time when loneliness has reached epidemic proportions around the globe, Keohane suggests a path forward, one that fosters connection, empathy, happiness and even brain health. It’s a model that every Social Capital leader can embrace.

July 18, 2024

These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs – and Wrecks – America

If you need a booster of the energy that led you to work in the Social Capital sector, it can be helpful to consider the alternative. In These Are the Plunderers, you’ll find a vivid reminder of what happens when companies put people and their well-being last. Gretchen Morgenson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and Joshua Rosner, a policy analyst, team up to analyze how a focus on profits above all happens in many companies backed by private equity funds. Through diligent reporting, they show how this approach leads to job losses, reduced worker benefits and pension returns, higher healthcare costs and business bankruptcies. It’s definitely not a feel-good book, but it is a powerful reminder of why you do the work you do.

July 11, 2024

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Understanding what makes a product, service or idea sticky is critical in business — but it’s not easy to grasp. In Contagious, Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger unlocks the code to what makes something viral. If you’re looking to spread the word about your Social Capital company and what it stands for, check out his immediately actionable ideas for helping to spread information. His strategies and tactics can save you hours of time and wasted effort, so you can stay focused on the big picture.

June 27, 2024

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

One challenge for any Social Capital company is adapting and staying relevant while remaining true to its values. No Rules Rules is, in essence, an in-depth case study on how Netflix pulled it off, becoming an entertainment juggernaut while continuing to reinvent its culture. Its model is one where people come first, freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, and constant innovation keeps work fun If you’re searching for insights on how to keep a culture fresh, look no further.

June 20, 2024

Crossing the Desert: The Power of Embracing Life’s Difficult Journeys

Payam Zamani came to the U.S. as a refugee from Iran and ended up orchestrating a billion-dollar IPO. However, he found that building great wealth left him disconnected from his spiritual beliefs. His answer was to launch a private equity firm, One Planet Group, that is focused on online technology and media businesses that improve society and give back to communities. In Crossing the Desert, he shares the story of fleeing from Iran and, eventually, creating a company named one of San Francisco’s best places to work. It’s a story that will inspire any Social Capital CEO.

June 13, 2024

The Art of Gathering

People are at the heart of Social Capital companies, and how they come together matters. In The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker, a facilitator of high-profile business gatherings, offers a roadmap for making your team’s meetings, conferences and events better — and countering the global epidemic of loneliness and isolation along the way. Many leaders miss opportunities to make meetings memorable, she points out, but it’s possible to reclaim those chances to connect by tapping into the deeper purpose of coming together and finding new ways to make them unforgettable. The Art of Gathering makes those pursuits much easier.

June 6, 2024

Love Is Just Damn Good Business: Do What You Love in the Service of People Who Love What You Do

Is it possible to build a business culture around love? Steve Farber, a consultant to Fortune 500 leaders, shows that it’s not only possible but natural. It’s about identifying your passions, creating a culture built on innovation and joy, making customers love how you treat them, focusing on serving the needs of others and opting to do the work you love. As Farber demonstrates, team members inevitably serve customers better if they love the work they do — along with the experience of going to work. This is an area where Social Capital companies have a powerful edge.

May 30, 2024

The Whole Story: Adventures in Life, Love and Capitalism

John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods for 44 years, is an American icon who has inspired countless entrepreneurs with his commitment to doing good while building a sustainable business. In The Whole Story: Adventures in Life, Love and Capitalism, Mackey, who retired in 2021 but continues to inspire, shares the story of how he turned a tiny health food store in Austin into an empire of 540 stores with $22 billion in sales. It’s a story built on idealism, shared passion and putting people first — an idea that is sure to resonate with Social Capital leaders everywhere.

May 23, 2024

Wall Street’s War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Destroyed the Working Class and What to Do About It

Not very long ago, most working-class Americans could afford the basics of life, such as housing, food and shelter, from their salaries. Now many lead a precarious, paycheck-to-paycheck existence, in which a constantly escalating cost of living is pushing many out of the middle class. Author Les Leopold, founder of The Labor Institute, a nonprofit that designs research and educational programs on occupational safety and health, argues that one factor is mass layoffs used to bring more profits to shareholders at employees’ expense. He believes there is a better way, one where workers matter, and it’s built on practices such as new pay structures for corporate officers. This book is chock full of innovative ideas for Social Capital leaders on how organizations can continue to grow and scale without leaving their workers behind.

May 16, 2024

The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Vision will only get you so far in business. If you want to build a high-impact Social Capital company, you need to be able to execute on that vision. In The 4 Disciplines of Execution, Chris McChesney, global practice leader of execution for Franklin Covey, and coach Jim Huling share best practices for putting your best ideas into action. The 4 Disciplines are: 1. Focus on the Wildly Important, 2. Act on the Lead Measures (based on the 80-20 rule), 3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard and 4. Create a Cadence of Accountability. The 4 Disciplines platform, used by organizations such as Whirlpool, Dekalb Medical Center and Marriott, is known for helping clients rally their teams around a breakthrough they hope to achieve, activating frontline teams and creating organizational transparency. Any leader who has been looking to drive results will find valuable takeaways in every chapter.

May 9, 2024

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection

Social Capital companies are focused on people — their employees, their customers and their communities. And the heart of any people-centric business is communication. In Supercommunicators, author Charles Duhigg, a reporter for The New Yorker magazine, shows how to improve the quality of communication with all the people you work with by understanding which of three conversation types you are having: practical, emotional or social. It is only when you find common ground that you can truly connect with your team and unlock their potential, as this important book underlines.

May 2, 2024

The Power of Vulnerability: How to Create a Team of Winners by Shifting INward

You already know that you should be creating a sense of safety for your team, breaking out of organizational hierarchy to unlock every individual’s potential, and embracing authenticity. But sometimes it’s hard to close the knowing-doing gap. In The Power of Vulnerability, coaches Barry Kaplan and Jeffrey Manchester offer immediately actionable insights on the “how.” Social Capital leaders who want to raise their game will find that The Power of Vulnerability is an invaluable guide to building a stronger team by leaning into the one gift we all share: our humanness.

April 25, 2024

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout

Burnout is an epidemic, and many Social Capital companies are looking to prevent it — as we explored in our story “Well-Being and Companies Slaying the Burnout Dragon.” Leaders can play a role in helping team members to take a more conscious approach to work by encouraging them to do fewer but more meaningful things, work at a natural pace, and “obsess” over quality. In Slow Productivity, Newport, one of today’s leading voices on productivity, shows how to free everyone on your team from busywork and allow them to focus on work that really matters.

April 18, 2024

The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder

Stanford professors Robert Sutton, author of The No-Asshole Rule, and co-author Huggy Rao tackle the forces that make it hard to get anything done in a large organization in this insightful book. Offering ideas on how to identify, diagnose and eliminate “destructive friction,” they embrace the powers of civility, caring and even love in the workplace — and allowing for certain types of friction that will help everyone on the team get better at what they do. Running a Social Capital company, at its essence, means busting through inertia, and you’ll learn plenty about how to do that in these pages.

April 11, 2024

Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations

Wish you could reduce internal rivalries on your team and get everyone to work together more smoothly as you build your Social Capital company? Culture of Growth will show you how. Author Mary Murphy, a social psychologist, builds on her mentor Carol Dweck’s pioneering work in showing how to nurture the talent and intelligence of everyone on your team and avoid the cults of genius that can demotivate those who aren’t among the anointed few. If you’re looking to scale your impact, this book is the playbook you need.

April 4, 2024

Radical Humility: Be A Badass Leader and A Good Human

Urs Koening, a seasoned executive coach, professor and ultra-endurance champion, got a crash course in people-centered, collaborative leadership when he became a NATO Peacekeeping Commander. The result is the Radical Humility framework he shares in this book — designed to help leaders shift from a “Heroic,” top-down style of leadership to “Humble.” If you’re looking to add to your leadership toolkit and take your Social Capital company to the next level, this practical and actionable book will be a powerful asset.

March 28, 2024

The Boldly Inclusive Leader: Transform Your Workplace (and the World) by Valuing the Differences Within

As the concept of diversity, equity and inclusion evolves, many Social Capital leaders want to stay current on the latest thinking. Minette Norman, a former Silicon Valley executive, makes that easy in The Boldly Inclusive Leader, showing how to support a feeling of belonging among everyone on your team, the best ways to create psychological safety, the best ways to spark group innovation, how to cultivate empathy and compassion, and how leaders set the tone for everyone else’s behavior. Any Social Capital leader who aims to build an equitable workplace will want to read, and re-read, this valuable book.

March 21, 2024

Bold Kindness: A Caring, More Compassionate Way to Lead

Cathy Thorpe has expanded Nurse Next Door, a home-care franchise, to more than 300 locations in Canada, England and Australia. In Bold Kindness, she reveals the secrets to building a culture where even the smallest kindnesses matter. It is all about creating what she describes as an engaged, empowered and self-led team. For Social Capital leaders who are looking to attract caring and compassionate employees, this bold new book offers a blueprint for creating exactly the kind of culture where they’d like to work.

March 14, 2024

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power and The Twenty-First Century’s Greatest Dilemma

Many of us are already experiencing the impact of AI — a force with the power to create tremendous wealth but also shake up the existing world order. In The Coming Wave, Suleyman — who was a co-founder of the AI company DeepMind — offers insight into how leaders can use a “containment” strategy to make the most of this technology while minimizing its capacity for harm. If you’ve been looking to get more done in less time in a Social Capital organization, The Coming Wave is an excellent primer on getting the most out of AI and avoiding its pitfalls.

March 7, 2024

You Don’t Have To Be Ruthless to Win: The Art of Badass Selfless Service

The world of commercial real estate is known for sharp-elbowed competition. Author Jonathan Keyser, founder of the firm KEYSER, found he was soaking up values he didn’t like when he rose through the ranks of the industry. Then he realized he had another option — to reinvent himself as a selfless leader. Along the way to servant leadership, he grew revenue at his commercial real estate brokerage to eight figures. If you’re not happy with the culture of your industry and don’t know how to break out of unhealthy norms, Keyser is just the guide you’ve been looking for, offering principles that apply to every industry.

February 29, 2024

All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams

Even the best leaders are finding team building hard in the post-pandemic environment, thanks to challenges like labor shortages and the ongoing transition to more remote work. In All In, Mike Michalowicz — founder of Profit First accounting as well as two multi-million-dollar companies he sold — offers fresh ideas on how to find and retain great employees. The result is a book that shows leaders how to uncover the potential of every team member, nurture their talents and turn them into top performers. If you’re looking to build a team where everyone cares about the company and its mission as much as you do, this valuable book will show you how.

Reviews

February 22, 2024

Feel-Good Productivity: How To Do More of What Matters to You

Ali Abdaal is a physician, entrepreneur and productivity expert. In Feel-Good Productivity, he reveals what he learned by immersing himself in the science of productivity and studying the approaches of the world’s most productive leaders, Olympic athletes and Nobel-Prize-winning scientists. The upshot is that if your work makes you feel good, you’ll be more productive — an idea that syncs up nicely with the Social Capital philosophy of creating workplaces where human beings can thrive. If you’re looking to find new ways to achieve more of your goals as a leader and inspire your team to reach new heights, look no further than Feel-Good Productivity.

February 15, 2024

It’s the Manager: Moving from Boss to Coach

Many Social Capital companies are abandoning the hierarchical approach to leadership and embracing more collaborative environments where managers act as coaches and mentors. In It’s the Manager, Jim Clifton, chairman of Gallup, and Jim Harter, chief scientist for Gallup’s workplace management and well-being practices, pull together 52 discoveries from Gallup’s largest study on the future of work to provide guidelines on how managers can create the best possible working relationship with their direct reports. The idea is to help each team member achieve their full potential. If you’re looking to expand your repertoire as a leader, this book is a valuable and immediately actionable guide.

February 8, 2024

It’s Personal: The Business Case for Caring

Lorna Bornstein dreamed up Grokker, an online well-being solution, while on vacation with her husband and finding herself frustrated with the quality and availability of instructional yoga and fitness videos. She taps her experience turning her idea into a venture-backed company known for its supportive, Social Capital culture in It’s Personal: The Business Case for Caring. This recent book is a treasure trove of her ideas for CEOs who want to help team members feel more connected, create a better workplace experience for employees, improve the employer-employee relationship, lift the burden off mothers in the workforce and more. And if you want to hear more of her ideas, check out our panel, “CEOs Get Real.”

February 1, 2024

The Elephant’s Dilemma: Break Free and Reimagine Your Future at Work

GE veteran Jon Bostock led the company Big A** Fans to economic sustainability as CEO, then went on to launch Truman’s, a direct-to-consumer consumer-cleaning-products company focused on reducing waste and clutter in its industry — ultimately achieving a successful exit. Along the way, he developed an approach to leadership that helps everyone on the team achieve their highest potential. In The Elephant’s Dilemma, Bostock offers his take on how to innovate and take risks in a people-centric work environment, a welcome departure for the take-no-prisoners ethic of many venture-backed startups.

January 25, 2024

Remote: Not Distant: Design A Company Culture That Will Help You Thrive in a Hybrid Workplace

Many Social Capital companies have embraced the hybrid workplace model since the pandemic. Now that it’s here to stay in some form or other, they’re continually looking for ways to improve on a good thing. In Remote, Not Distant, Gustavo Razzetti, CEO of cultural transformation firm Fearless Culture, offers insights on how to benefit from offering a flexible workplace without losing your company culture. Razzetti offers practical and pragmatic tips that will be useful for Social Capital leaders in every industry. If your version of a Social Capital company includes employees spread out in offices around the country or the world, this book will help you build a more cohesive culture and then take it up a notch.

January 18, 2024

Becoming Trader Joe: How I Did Business My Way and Still Beat the Big Guys

Trader Joe is not only one of the most successful grocery chains in the U.S., but it is also a leader in creating a great workplace, the essence of what a Social Capital company can be. In Becoming Trader Joe, founder Joe Coulombe shares his strategies for building a business around his values and identity, putting people first, and weaving fun and innovation into the workday and shopper experience. Coulombe, whose company donates 100% of unused food to neighborhood recovery organizations, also offers insights on how to put a personal spin on philanthropy. If you’re looking for ideas on how to create a great, values-driven culture, this playbook should be your first stop.

January 11, 2024

The Rebellious CEO: 12 Leaders Who Did It Right

What do The Body Shop’s Anita Roddick, Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard and Vanguard’s John Bogle have in common? Ralph Nader, who spent much of his life bringing reform to corporate America, has found them to be shining examples of leaders who embraced the idea of caring about more than just profit and wove a people-first approach into how they ran their companies. If you’re looking for inspiration to take your company to new heights as 2024 kicks off, this book is chock full of specific ideas on how to do well by doing good that you can customize to your own company culture.

January 4, 2024

Dare to Un-Lead: The Art of Relational Leadership in a Fragmented World

Many of todays’ leadership models evolved from management theories that Henry Ford and Frederick Taylor espoused during the Industrial Age. In Dare to Un-Lead, Celine Schillinger, founder and CEO of the consultancy We Need Social and a former operations executive, argues that they are doing harm to both individuals and society and explains why that machine-like perception of the world has become obsolete. She offers an alternative way of leading companies, based on a view of organizations as living organisms, showing how to provide reliability and order amidst the complexity. It’s an approach based on liberty, equality and fraternity — principles that are very compatible with Social Capital organizations. If you are trying to transition from the dated organizational structures of the past in a Social Capital company, make sure to add this thought-provoking book to your nightstand.

December 21, 2023

Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

Many leaders believe that people either have natural talents for their jobs or not. In Hidden Potential, groundbreaking Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant challenges that assumption, showing that achieving success in one’s role is more about character and knowing how to learn than natural genius. It’s an empowering message for any Social Capital company that wants to make sure everyone on its team has opportunities to learn and grow, or that has to ask its people to step into new roles they’ve haven’t tried before. Even better, Grant offers systems and strategies for putting this empowering idea into action in any workplace. If you’re looking to unlock the full range of contributions from everyone on your team, this book is a must-read.

December 14, 2023

Move Fast and Fix Things

“Move fast and break things” is a popular rallying cry in big tech firms — but often, that mindset led to toxic workplace cultures that put profit before people. In Move Fast and Fix Things, veteran leaders Frances Frei, a former Uber executive who is now a Harvard Business School professor, and Anne Morriss , executive founder of The Leadership Consortium, show how you can move toward big goals rapidly while still putting people front and center. The foundation is trust, built by a leadership team that shows authenticity, logic and empathy at the same time. In doing so, the authors show how to build on an approach that many Social Capital companies have embraced in brand new ways.

December 11, 2023

The Advice Trap: Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever

Michael Bungay Stanier ignited a powerful conversation about the importance of coaching teams from a basis of curiosity — rather than top-down, hierarchical leadership — with his book The Coaching Habit. With The Advice Trap, Stanier, the CEO of learning and development company Box of Crayons, returns to his roots in servant leadership, guiding executives and managers on taming the “Advice Monster” — the tendency to offer un-asked-for prescriptions and opinions — so you can bring out the best ideas from your team by using curious inquiry. If you’re a Social Capital leader looking to tap the full potential of everyone on your team, this book is the ideal manual.

November 30, 2023

The Solution Revolution: How Business, Government, and Social Enterprises Are Teaming Up to Solve Society’s Toughest Problems

Some world problems seem so intractable it’s easy to lose hope. But there’s always hope, and, in The Solution Revolution, William Eggers, executive director of Deloitte’s Center for Government Insights, and collaborator Paul MacMillan offer a path forward, looking at how to create a more collaborative and productive economic system that is equipped to tackle massive challenges such as world hunger and crumbling infrastructure. They’re believers in erasing public-private-sector boundaries and building what they call “the solution economy.” If you’re looking for ways your Social Capital company can make even more of a difference, you won’t want to miss this compelling book.

November 16, 2023

Becoming Coachable: Unleashing the Power of Executive Coaching to Transform Your Leadership and Life

One secret weapon that many of the nation’s most successful leaders share is their willingness to keep raising their game. Many turn to executive coaches to guide them. But to get the most out of executive coaching, you have to be coachable. That’s the subject of this powerful work by Social Capital leader and executive coach Marshall Goldsmith and coaching firm CEOs Jacquelyne Lane and Scott Osman. You’ll learn what coaching can and can’t do, how to find your ideal coach and the best ways to accept feedback so you can grow as a leader. This is a must-read for any leader who hopes to lead people from a position of humility and lifelong learning.

November 9, 2023

Relentless Implementation: Creating Clarity, Alignment and a Working Together Operating System to Maximize Your Business Performance

Alan Mulally is legendary for turning around Ford Motor Co. In Relentless Implementation, he offers his ideas on getting your team truly aligned so you can put your strategy to work. The essence is about working together, and he offers 11 strategies for doing that more effectively. One key: Putting your business plan front and center by setting up a weekly business plan review meeting. He also offers valuable trips for leaders on creating accountability — a key pillar for any Social Capital company that wants to get results.

November 2, 2023

Tribe Culture: How It Shaped WD-40 Company

How can a company keep employee engagement above 90%, through good times and bad? Ask Social Capital CEO Garry Ridge, former chief executive of WD-40. In this candid look under the hood at one of America’s most successful corporate cultures, Ridge offers powerful insights on how to create a culture of belonging. One strategy that has served WD-40 well: Choosing values that connect team members to a higher purpose. Ultimately, Ridge turned what could have been merely a team into a tribe of passionate brand advocates. If you’re looking to do the same, you won’t want to put his playbook down.

October 26, 2023

Born to Shine: Do Good, Find Your Joy and Build a Life You Love

Kendra Scott turned her hobby into a billion-dollar company and, along the way, turned it into a powerful emblem of what an employee-centric company can look like. In Born to Shine: Do Good, Find Your Joy and Build a Life You Love, she shares how she used a $500 investment to turn her idea for a business into a great place to work that has been particularly supportive of women. As Scott freely admits, this is not a story of perfection but it’s one about trying, experimenting and overcoming challenges, and is full of inspiration for leaders looking to reinvent the workplace one day at a time.

October 19, 2023

Let Them See You: The Guide For Leveraging Your Diversity At Work

No one can argue with the business case for diversity. There is now a broad body of work showing that having a more diverse team contributes to greater profitability and outperformance relative to your industry. Despite that, progress has been slow. In Let Them See You: The Guide For Leveraging Your Diversity At Work, Social Capital CEO Porter Braswell, co-founder of the career advancement platform Jopwell, offers practical advice to diverse professionals on how to overcome obstacles, get recognition, create perceived value, build a personal brand and more.

October 14, 2023

Elevate: Push beyond your limits and unlock success in yourself and others

Being a Social Capital leader is all about elevating the people around you, and Robert Glazer embodies this principle. In Elevate: Push beyond your limits and unlock success in yourself and others, Glazer offers a panoply of ideas on how to tap the hidden potential of everyone around you. Success is a team sport when you’re running a Social Capital company, and the best leaders know how to bring out the best in every player, as Glazer so aptly shows.

October 14, 2023

Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business

John Mackey defined conscious capitalism for a generation of socially minded entrepreneurs as CEO and founder of Whole Foods. In Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, Mackey teams up with Conscious Capitalism Inc. co-founder Raj Sisodia to explore how four key principles — higher purpose, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership and conscious culture and management — can help build strong businesses that benefit every stakeholder they touch. It’s required reading for anyone interested in Social Capital.

October 14, 2023

Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family

Many companies aim to be family-friendly, but the practical reality may be far different for employees. In Everybody Matters: The Extraordinary Power of Caring for Your People Like Family, Bob Chapman, CEO of manufacturing company Barry-Wehmiller, reveals how to let every single person on your team know that they matter just as much as members of your own family. That means rejecting the corporate belief in rolling layoffs, sharp-elbowed cultures and rules that treat people like robots in favor of a management style that emphasizes caring, empathy and inspiration, in the true spirit of Social Capital.

October 14, 2023

The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment

In The Earned Life: Lose Regret, Choose Fulfillment, executive coach Marshall Goldsmith looks at what it takes to build a regret-free life. As he sees it, it’s all about breaking through failures of the imagination and closing the gap between what you want to achieve and what you actually accomplish. It’s a message that’s very much in sync with the Social Capital movement, which isn’t just about embracing people-centric ideals but rather living them.

October 14, 2023

WTF?! (Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key To Success

Brian Scudamore is CEO and founder of O2E, whose brands include 1-800-GOT-JUNK? In WTF?! (Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key To Success, he shares insights from more than 30 years of “failing upward” that will be helpful to any leader trying to build a people-centric culture. Scudamore’s book is a powerful reminder that to build a Social Capital company, you have to be willing to experiment and innovate, and that means accepting the possibility of making mistakes and learning from them. The alternative is standing still, and that’s not acceptable to Social Capital leaders.