Forge Reads
Forge Reads is a small collection of books that have shaped how I think about leadership, responsibility, and decision making. Some of them are leadership books by definition, others are not, but all of them challenged the way I approach pressure, discomfort, and growth. This page is for anyone who wants to step into leadership with intent and is willing to be shaped by the work along the way.
Explore the reads. Apply the lessons. Step into the forge.
Iron-Sharpened Leadership – John L. Gronski
This is a book about leadership when it actually matters. Not theory, not slogans, but responsibility, character, and decisions that affect real people. Gronski writes from lived experience, and it shows. The focus is on service, accountability, and earning trust over time. If you believe leadership is something you prove through action, not position, this book stays with you.
This is the best book about Leadership, in my opinion.
Read more about it here.
The Dichotomy of Leadership – Jocko Willink & Leif Babin
Leadership rarely fails because of bad intent. It fails because leaders push good ideas too far. This book explores those tensions with honesty and precision. When to step in, when to step back. When to push, when to listen. It’s practical, sometimes uncomfortable, and especially useful once you already carry responsibility and feel the weight of decisions.
Read more about it here.
The Comfort Crisis – Michael Easter
This isn’t a leadership book in the traditional sense, and that’s exactly why it belongs here. It looks at how modern comfort slowly erodes resilience, clarity, and the willingness to do hard things. The lessons apply directly to leadership, even if the word itself is rarely used. Leaders who avoid discomfort avoid growth, and this book makes that hard to ignore.
Read more about it here.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
This book has nothing to do with leadership on the surface, and yet it quietly shapes how you see people, choices, and impact. It’s a reminder that lives intersect in ways we rarely understand in the moment and that meaning often becomes clear only in hindsight. I come back to this book because it slows you down and changes how you judge others, including yourself. For anyone in leadership, that perspective matters more than most frameworks.
Read more about it here.
Animal Farm – George Orwell
This is a short book that stays uncomfortably relevant. On the surface it’s a political fable, but underneath it’s about power, trust, and how easily ideals erode once authority goes unchecked. Every time I revisit it, I notice something new about silence, complicity, and how leaders justify their behavior over time. For anyone in or moving toward leadership, it’s a reminder to pay attention to who gains power, how they use it, and what quietly gets rewritten along the way.
Plus: The cover by Shepard Fairey looks awesome.
Read more about it here.
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