My personal recommendations for books that inspired me.
Leadership
This book showed me what real feedback culture looks like. The Get-Stuff-Done wheel, caring personally while challenging directly, and deliberate growth management. And the best one: You cannot give a damn about others if you don’t give a damn about yourself.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Leadership
A massive help for my gut feeling in leadership. It taught me how to navigate egalitarian versus hierarchical cultures, high-context versus low-context communication.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Leadership
Very CEO-heavy, but it gave me a lot. Understanding different leadership archetypes, what real ambition looks like, and why a leader has to appreciate organizational architecture.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Leadership
I could barely put this down. It forced me to look at my own habits: goal obsession and the false need to always be right. The first 70 percent of what made you successful will not get you through the remaining 30 percent. You have to learn to let go.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Leadership
Not a design book, but a dependable standard you should read when stepping into a new role.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Leadership
This fundamentally shaped my coaching style. As someone who leads teams and orgs, I don’t want to spoon-feed answers to my teams. I want to stay curious and ask better questions.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Leadership
Clear thinking on what separates good from great organizations. Technology is just an accelerator, not the driver. Real strategic priorities show in disciplined budget allocation.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
My bible. Hands-on, practical, and grounded without the academic bloat. I buy this for every team I run.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
If you have done design research for years, there is little new here. But it gives product teams a clear, shared vocabulary around desirability, viability, and feasibility. I use it as a foundation for cross-functional collaboration with business partners.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
Saved me countless headaches. I give this to every senior stepping into a lead or director role. Hands-on rules: Check your ego at the door, explain decisions in business terms, and stop acting like you are the user.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
A great practical guide on giving and receiving critique in collaborative teams. It covers the cultural dynamics behind feedback and shows what structured critique looks like. I recommend this to anyone building or scaling a design team.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
A hands-on playbook for how design actually functions inside business structures. It breaks down centralized versus decentralized models, team topologies, and recruiting without getting lost in theory. Essential for anyone structuring execution and scaling an in-house design practice.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
The book I hand to non-designers and business stakeholders who have no idea how we actually work and synthesize messy problems.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
Helped me stop obsessing over tiny everyday mistakes. Making mistakes is normal. What matters is getting better at failing so you can move forward.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
This book took my understanding of design out of the methodology bubble and anchored it in business reality. Most managers try to design variance out of the system; design starts by embracing the unknown. I also use it to connect with business stakeholders.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Design
This book taught me that simplicity is not always the answer. Sometimes you have to embrace complexity instead of chasing another neat shortcut.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Systems
My foundational reference when designing agentic AI systems that work semi-autonomously on behalf of users.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Systems
Strategic design at its best. The real challenge is dark matter: organizational culture, governance, regulations, and financial incentives. This put design on equal footing with business strategy for me, far beyond surface design strategy.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Systems
Taught me how complex organizations actually function: nonlinear dynamics, self-organization, and resilience. My biggest takeaway: A chaotic growing company is not necessarily a broken one.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Systems
Asks the hard questions about design and ethics: persuasive versus coercive patterns, and where we draw the line between security and liberty.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Systems
A brilliant breakdown of trust, credibility, and status hierarchies. Helped me understand how teams, leaders, and customers evaluate trustworthiness.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)Systems
A book I would give any leader driving transformation: how to design change programs, map stakeholders, and earn trust by delivering real value first.
Get the book (Bookshop.org, opens in a new tab)This site loads its typefaces from Adobe Fonts, which receives your IP address. I count visits with Pirsch, without cookies. Neither loads unless you agree. Change it any time under »privacy settings« in the footer. Privacy policy