Leadership Lounge Business Book Club
A free online book club for business owners and leaders who want to read more and think better. One book at a time, 30 focused minutes, every Thursday at noon Pacific.
No lectures. No homework pressure. Nobody quizzing you on the chapters you didn’t get to. Just four hosts and a room of business owners talking honestly about what we read — and what it actually changes about the work.
It started as a New Year’s resolution to read more. It’s become the habit our members say they protect. We start on time and we end on time, so you’re back to your day by half past.
Bring a coffee, bring your lunch, bring a Slim Jim. We’re about to get social.
How it works / Current book / Past books / Your hosts / Questions / Join
How it works
Read at your own pace
We announce the book and a light weekly target. Behind? Come anyway — half the room usually is.
Show up Thursday at noon
Thirty minutes on the livestream, Pacific time. Camera optional. Listening is a perfectly good way to attend.
Leave with one thing you’ll use
Every session lands on the same question: what does this change on Monday morning?
Just need the link to the live stream?
Join Live
Current book
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
In these sessions, the Leadership Lounge is reading “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action” by Simon Sinek.
Link to the paperback | Link to the e-book | Link to the Audio Book
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Author: Simon Sinek | Published: October 2009 | Publisher: Portfolio / Penguin
New York Times bestseller — the book behind one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time
Sinek asks why a small number of leaders and organizations are more innovative, more influential, and more profitable than their peers — and earn loyalty that outlasts any single product. His answer is the Golden Circle: most organizations communicate from the outside in, starting with what they do and how they do it. The ones that inspire start from the inside out, with why they exist.
The book separates leading by inspiration from leading by manipulation — price cuts, promotions, fear, and novelty that buy a transaction but not commitment — and shows how a clear, consistently lived why shapes hiring, culture, and decisions as an organization grows.
Book Club Fit: High — the Golden Circle is simple enough to apply in the first session, and every member can test it against their own company's messaging, hiring, and decisions.
Reading this because something on your team feels off? Our free Catalyst for Clarity evaluations give you a straight answer in about five minutes.
Ch. 1–2: Are you inspiring your team or just manipulating compliance
Ch. 3–5: The Golden Circle and why Apple built a movement
Ch. 6–7: Why your hiring and culture must reflect your why
Next up: Start with Why
Live every Thursday, 12 PM Pacific
Meet Your Hosts
Shannon McCoy
Executive coach and facilitator whose steady energy keeps every conversation moving and sends members home with something they can use right away.
Allen Edwards
Business consultant and Cdaeris founder with a gift for connecting ideas across industries and turning big-picture thinking into practical steps.
Chris Duncan
Sales consultant and straight-shooter who brings practical, real-world application to every book and keeps each discussion grounded in what works.
Jay Jacobson
Funeral director, author, and entrepreneur who believes great leadership isn’t simply taught, but practiced in the moments that matter most.
Past books
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
In these sessions, the Leadership Lounge read “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable” by Patrick Lencioni.
Link to the paperback | Link to the e-book | Link to the Audio Book
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Author: Patrick Lencioni | Published: April 2002 | Publisher: Jossey-Bass
New York Times bestseller — now in a 20th Anniversary Edition
Told as a business fable, the book follows a new CEO who inherits a Silicon Valley company with better talent, more cash, and stronger technology than its competitors — and a leadership team that cannot get out of its own way. Lencioni uses her first months to lay out a model of five stacked dysfunctions: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. Each one rests on the one beneath it, which is why teams that skip the foundation keep relitigating the same decisions.
The closing section turns the fable into a toolkit — how to build vulnerability-based trust, make conflict productive instead of polite, and hold peers accountable without waiting for the manager in the room.
Book Club Fit: High — the fable reads fast, so the weekly load is light, and the five-dysfunction model gives the group shared language. Members can name which dysfunction is live on their own team and bring it straight into the discussion.
The entire playlist on our discussions around The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Third Edition by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler & Emily Gregory
In these sessions, the Leadership Lounge read “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Third Edition” by Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler & Emily Gregory.
Link to the paperback
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Third Edition
Author: Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler & Emily Gregory | Published: October 2021 | Publisher: McGraw Hill
New York Times bestseller — more than five million copies sold
The definitive playbook for high-stakes dialogue — the moments when opinions differ, stakes are high, and emotions run strong. The authors break down how to notice when a conversation turns crucial, keep yourself and others feeling safe enough to stay in it, and move from heated debate to shared decisions. The third edition adds new guidance for virtual and digital conversations and two more decades of field research.
Book Club Fit: High — everyone has a crucial conversation they're avoiding. The tools map directly to client, partner, and team situations, and each chapter gives concrete skills members can practice the same week.
The entire playlist on our discussions around Crucial Conversations
This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans by Seth Godin
In these sessions, the Leadership Lounge read “This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans” by Seth Godin.
Link to the paperback | Link to the e-book | Link to the Audio Book
This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans
Author: Seth Godin | Published: October 2024 | Publisher: Author’s Equity
Thinkers50 Best New Management Book for 2025
Godin’s take on strategic thinking focuses on adaptability and intentionality over rigid planning. Characteristically punchy and aphoristic — less a traditional business book and more a series of short, thought-provoking provocations about how leaders think about the future. Works well in short reading sessions.
Book Club Fit: High — Godin’s style is built for debate. Short chapters mean members can come prepared with specific passages.
The entire playlist on our discussions around This Is Strategy
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
In these sessions, the Leadership Lounge read “The Let Them Theory” by Mel Robbins
Link to the paperback | Link to the e-book | Link to the Audio Book
Companion Guide:
“Leading with Let Them – The Let Them Theory Companion Guide” by Mel Robbins & David Gerbitz
Book Club Companion Guide:
“The Let Them Theory Book Club Guide” by Mel Robbins & Sawyer Robbins
The entire playlist on our discussions around The Let Them Theory
Every book we have read, plus what is on the shelf next: see the full Cdaeris reading list.
Questions about the book club
Is it really free?
Yes. No fee, no pitch at the end, nothing to buy. Cdaeris sponsors it because we like the conversation.
Do I have to finish the book?
No. Read what you can. The discussion is built around a light weekly target, and plenty of people show up having read none of it.
What if I miss a week?
Nothing happens. Every session is recorded and posted on this page, so you can catch the one you missed and walk back in the following Thursday.
Do I have to be on camera or speak?
Not at all. Camera optional, speaking optional. Listening is a perfectly good way to attend.
How long is each session?
Thirty minutes — Thursdays at 12:00 noon Pacific. We start on time and end on time.
Who is it for?
Business owners, founders, and the people running teams inside them. There is no seniority bar — the useful question is whether you want to think about the work, not what your title is.
What are you reading right now?
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek. Every session is posted on this page as we go.