Big change starts with new ways of thinking. Here are the voices, ideas, and organizations we turn to.
This is a curated collection of the books, podcasts, organizations, and thinkers that have shaped our work and inspired our clients. Whether you’re leading change in your community or just trying to make sense of complexity, we hope something here resonates. We update this regularly based on what’s sparking ideas in the field.
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Visit our full online bookstore for all book recommendations.
What’s Our Problem: A Self-Help Book for Societies
A fun book to make sense of why our nation feels so fractured. It draws on history, psychology, neuroscience, and politics along the way. Packed with fun illustrations and not too dense, aiming to reshape how readers see today’s chaotic world.Strategic Doing: Ten Skills for Agile Leadership
A great process to navigate complex, networked challenges by using agile strategy and simple rules to design effective cross-boundary collaborations. Through case studies and practical tools, it introduces a new discipline of leadership focused on unlocking innovation in loosely connected systems.Thinking, Fast and Slow
An exploration of how our minds actually work, revealing the hidden biases, shortcuts, and two competing modes of thinking that shape every decision we make. Blending research with examples, it permanently changed how leaders, policymakers, and everyday readers understand judgment, risk, and human behavior. -
Adam Grant
Organizational PhycologistBrene Brown
Leading thinker on trust and relational dynamicsDaniel Kahneman
Relational Intelligence Researcher and CoachDavid Graeber
Anthropologist and social theoristElinor Ostrom
Commons governance and cooperative systems pioneerEsther Perel
Relational Intelligence Researcher and Coach
Jane Jacobs
Grassroots city-systems visionaryYuval Noah Harari
Big-picture storyteller of human systems -
99% Invisible
Stories about how hidden design shapes our livesAmerica Dissected
Clear-eyed conversations about public health, policy, and powerDare to Lead
A great breakdown of leadership in work and lifeEcosystems for Change
How communities redesign systems to drive long-term impactExponential View
Discussions around changes that are having outsized impacts on out societyFreakonomics Radio
Unexpected ways incentives and systems shape everyday lifeHidden Brain
A pop science take on the social science of our mindsPitchfork Economics
A critical analysis of current economic thinkingWork Life
Conversations around organizational theory and leadershipYour Undivided Attention
How technology reshapes attention, democracy, and human behavior
UNFTR
A left-leaning analysis of how we shaped ourselves into modern America. -
Apolitical
Connecting public servants around innovative governanceCivic Makers
Designing participatory civic processes and public-sector innovationDepartment of Civic Things
Helping governments through digital transformationESHIP Alliance
Strengthening local entrepreneurial ecosystems nationwideEngaged Local Government Leaders
A practitioner community for government innovatorsHealthy Democracy
Advancing citizen deliberation and democratic renewalInstitute for Local Self-Reliance
Building resilient local economies and democratic infrastructureNesta
Experimenting with new models for social and civic innovationStrong Towns
Championing financially resilient and people-centered communities -