As we settle into summer—with beach towels, iced coffees, and vacation auto-replies—it feels like the perfect time to share a reading list. But not just any list: This one is curated for leaders who want to grow, reflect, and challenge their thinking during the quieter pace of summer.
At Insight Experience, our work—and our writing—is deeply influenced by some of the best thinkers in leadership and organizational development. Over the years, these books have surfaced in our blog posts and conversations, shaping how we think about developing leaders, fostering communication, and driving results.
Here are five books that continue to inspire our work and shape how we think about leadership.
The Leadership Pipeline
Featured in our Insight Experience Leadership Journey resource, The Leadership Pipeline, a classic by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel, outlines the critical transitions leaders must make as they grow—from managing self to managing others, managing managers, and beyond. It reinforces the idea that each step on the leadership ladder requires a shift in mindset and behavior.
We often design programs with these pivotal moments in mind, which ensures that leaders have the opportunity to practice and prepare for what’s next.
The most recent edition of The Leadership Pipeline is the third edition (pictured above), titled The Leadership Pipeline: Developing Leaders in the Digital Age, published in 2024. This edition introduces Kent Jonasen as a co-author, alongside Charan, Drotter, and Noel. It updates the original leadership framework to address modern challenges such as digital transformation, employee empowerment, and global uncertainty.
Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World
In her blog post on creating a feedback culture, Bethany Bremer highlighted Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall for its thought-provoking take on conventional wisdom. One standout insight: While feedback has long been seen as essential, what people may truly crave is meaningful attention and thoughtful coaching, personalized input that helps them grow.
It’s a perspective that complements our approach to simulations and leadership development: giving leaders space to reflect, receive targeted feedback, and apply insights in context.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
If you haven’t read Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you’ve probably absorbed its ideas by osmosis—through managers, mentors, motivational posters, or maybe that dusty copy on your bookshelf you keep meaning to get to. Covey’s “7 Habits” are leadership canon at this point, referenced in classrooms, boardrooms, and, in our case, blog posts.
In a piece on the leadership benefits of taking a walk, Krista Campbell drew on Covey's wisdom to highlight how simple habits, like stepping away from your desk, can shift thinking and unlock new ideas. Covey’s principles of intentionality and alignment continue to resonate with the leadership behaviors we model in our programs.
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
This blog post on self-directed professional development explores how a growth mindset fuels leadership growth. Carol S. Dweck’s research in Mindset: The New Psychology of Success underscores that leadership emerges through experience, reflection, and a willingness to grow.
Our programs aim to create those “stretch moments” that reinforce learning, reflection, and new behaviors. When leaders adopt a growth mindset, they’re more open to feedback, experimentation, and change, all key to success in simulations and in real life.
The Fearless Organization
Amy Edmondson’s research into psychological safety, captured in The Fearless Organization, is foundational to how we think about leadership. In fact, Julie Danielson referenced her research directly in her blog post on the intersection of psychological safety and the Business Cycle of Leadership™. Edmonson’s insights help explain why some teams thrive under pressure while others stall. More recently, she has emphasized that the ultimate goal of psychological safety is not comfort but candor (Edmondson & Kerrissey, 2025), creating an environment where disagreement can be voiced and explored productively.
In our simulations, leaders frequently face moments where they must decide whether—and how—to foster trust, openness, and accountability. Edmondson’s book is a must-read for any leader focused on building teams that take risks, speak up, and innovate.
These books offer thought-provoking ideas as well as reminders of what it takes to grow as a leader. Whether you’re navigating a new role, leading through change, or building team trust, the themes they explore—mindset, feedback, intentionality, communication—mirror the very challenges our simulations are designed to surface.
As you carve out space for reflection this summer, consider revisiting a classic or picking up something new. And if these titles have inspired you as they have us, let us know.
What’s on your summer reading list?
References:
Edmondson, A. C., & Kerrissey, M. J. (2025, May–June). What people get wrong about psychological safety. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2025/05/what-people-get-wrong-about-psychological-safety
