7 New Company Culture Books Reshaping Leadership in 2025

Discover cutting-edge Company Culture Books by authorities like Daren Martin and Garry Ridge, bringing fresh perspectives in 2025.

Updated on June 28, 2025
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The Company Culture landscape changed dramatically in 2024, as organizations realized that traditional engagement tactics no longer suffice. Early adopters in Company Culture are already embracing data-driven approaches, ownership mindsets, and authentic leadership to build workplaces that thrive beyond perks and slogans.

These 7 new books come from authors with deep experience guiding Fortune 500 firms, small businesses, and diverse industries through culture transformations. Their insights blend behavioral science, leadership lessons, and practical frameworks, offering you authoritative guidance grounded in real-world success. From psychological safety to measurable culture metrics, these works reflect the most current thinking shaping workplaces today.

While these cutting-edge books provide the latest insights, readers seeking the newest content tailored to their specific Company Culture goals might consider creating a personalized Company Culture book that builds on these emerging trends. This option adapts expert wisdom directly to your unique context and challenges.

Best for leaders fostering ownership culture
Daren Martin’s latest work offers a distinctive approach to transforming company culture by turning employees into true owners of their work and outcomes. This book captures emerging insights into employee engagement and organizational design, laying out a clear framework that guides leaders through naming, crafting, casting, and cultivating a culture of ownership. Designed for those ready to move beyond surface-level engagement, it addresses the urgent need to rebuild company foundations for sustainable growth and satisfaction. By focusing on the underlying behaviors that create a thriving workplace, this book serves as a valuable guide for business leaders aiming to foster lasting commitment and elevate their organizational performance.
2025·144 pages·Company Culture, Leadership, Employee Engagement, Organizational Development, Workplace Culture

The research was clear: traditional approaches to company culture weren't working, and Daren Martin's decades of hands-on experience with Fortune 500s and small businesses led to this book as a blueprint for change. You learn how to shift your organization from a group of employees into a community of owners who take real responsibility for growth, engagement, and profitability. Martin breaks down culture building into four actionable steps—Call it by the Right Name, Craft it, Caste it, and Cultivate it—each with clear guidance on how to embed ownership mentality across your team. If you're tired of surface-level culture talk and want practical ways to ignite deep commitment and accountability, this book will challenge your assumptions and offer a fresh path forward.

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Best for cultivating psychological safety
Imagine creating a workplace where people genuinely enjoy meaningful work alongside supportive colleagues. In "Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It," Garry Ridge, former CEO of WD-40 Company, shares his personal journey and leadership lessons that transformed his company culture. The book draws on fresh insights into psychological safety and leadership responsibilities, offering a candid look at how to become a leader who builds thriving communities at work. This narrative guides anyone eager to cultivate a positive, enduring company culture rooted in real experience and practical wisdom.
2025·256 pages·Company Culture, Leadership, Employee Engagement, Psychological Safety, Team Building

Garry Ridge's decades of leadership at WD-40 Company led him to craft this book as a candid reflection on building a thriving company culture. You gain insights into fostering psychological safety, cultivating enthusiasm, and embracing humility as a leader. The book offers vivid moments—like lessons from a hotel fire alarm or a knight’s armor adventure—that reveal practical leadership truths. If you want to understand how to inspire meaningful work and positive legacies within your team, this book provides relatable stories and grounded principles to guide you.

Publishers Weekly Bestseller
USA Today Bestseller
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Best for custom culture strategies
This AI-created book on company culture is tailored to your knowledge level and the specific aspects you want to explore. You share what matters most to you about evolving culture trends and leadership in 2025, and the book focuses solely on those areas. This personalized approach helps you engage more deeply with the newest discoveries and relevant strategies shaping workplaces today.
2025·50-300 pages·Company Culture, Leadership, Employee Engagement, Organizational Development, Psychological Safety

This tailored book explores the latest discoveries and evolving dynamics shaping company culture in 2025. It delves into emerging research and innovative practices that influence leadership, employee engagement, and organizational identity. By focusing on your specific interests and background, this personalized guide examines how new insights are transforming workplace environments and cultural development. The content reveals fresh perspectives on fostering authentic connections, nurturing psychological safety, and cultivating ownership mindsets within diverse teams. Crafted to align with your goals, the book offers a focused exploration of cutting-edge culture strategies that are reshaping businesses today. It invites you to engage deeply with the material most relevant to your unique context, matching the pace of change in the modern workplace.

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Culture Innovation
3,000+ Books Created
Best for measuring organizational health
What happens when a seasoned CEO combines decades of leadership experience with a fresh, measurable approach to company culture? Walt Brown’s Attract or Repel introduces the BITE Index, a simple yet potent tool to evaluate your organization's health through employee Buy-in, Inclusion, Trust, and Engagement. This 2025 release offers a pragmatic roadmap for leaders eager to move beyond vague cultural ideals, focusing instead on metrics that matter and promises that empower your workforce. Whether you’re wrestling with remote team challenges or talent wars, this book provides a clear framework to magnetize your company and build the culture you envision.
2025·240 pages·Company Culture, Organizational Health, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Remote Work

The research was clear: traditional methods to maintain workforce motivation weren't delivering the results organizations needed. Walt Brown, a seasoned CEO and consultant, presents a straightforward yet effective approach centered around the "BITE Index," a seven-question survey measuring employee Buy-in, Inclusion, Trust, and Engagement. You’ll learn how to identify organizational health and translate survey insights into actionable promises that foster a thriving culture, especially relevant for managing remote teams and addressing labor shortages. This book suits leaders who want a tangible way to assess and enhance their company’s culture beyond abstract ideals.

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Best for data-driven culture insights
What makes "Culture Analytics" unique among company culture books is its foundation in the largest behavioral research study analyzing over 220 employee behaviors across 60 organizations worldwide. Hani Nabeel offers a structured, evidence-based framework to quantify and influence culture through people analytics and behavioral science. The book’s detailed exploration of key culture indicators and their impact on business outcomes provides senior HR professionals and business leaders with clear guidance on leveraging data to improve areas from employee engagement to psychological safety. By bridging rigorous research with practical application and real-world case studies, this book advances the conversation on company culture toward measurable, strategic action.
2024·352 pages·Company Culture, People Analytics, Behavioral Science, Employee Engagement, Talent Retention

Hani Nabeel draws on the largest behavioral research study ever conducted to offer a data-driven roadmap for understanding and shaping company culture. You’ll learn which employee behaviors most significantly impact organizational health and how to apply people analytics and behavioral science to uncover actionable insights. The book guides you through identifying key culture metrics and leveraging predictive analytics to improve talent acquisition, retention, engagement, and inclusion efforts. Real-world examples from firms like Barclays and Pfizer illustrate how to translate complex data into practical interventions that enhance business performance. This book benefits senior HR professionals and business leaders aiming to ground culture initiatives in solid evidence rather than intuition.

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Best for small business culture builders
The Handyman Freedom Formula Volume #1 offers a fresh take on company culture specifically for the handyman industry, combining mindset shifts with actionable business growth strategies. Allen Lee and co-authors Lori Zimbardi and Bob Goff present a practical guide that moves beyond typical management advice, focusing instead on nurturing hope and a new vision within small businesses. This book lays out a clear path from starting a handyman venture to expanding it with a capable team, allowing owners to step back and lead more effectively. It's an insightful resource for those seeking to transform not just their business operations but the culture within their companies.
2024·112 pages·Company Culture, Business Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Team Building

Allen Lee, alongside Lori Zimbardi and Bob Goff, crafted this book to guide individuals navigating the handyman industry with a fresh mindset and transformative company culture. You’ll find a clear roadmap that starts from the spark of launching a handyman business to scaling it effectively by building a team that allows you to step back. The authors emphasize shifting perspectives, focusing on hope and vision rather than just operations, and they include practical insights on leadership and employee engagement tailored for this niche. If you’re aiming to grow a handyman business while fostering a positive workplace culture, this book offers concrete frameworks to help you do just that.

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Best for custom culture foresight
This AI-created book on future company culture is tailored to your background and interests, focusing on what lies ahead in workplace dynamics. You share your current knowledge, specific culture challenges, and goals, and the book is crafted to explore the latest trends and discoveries relevant to you. Personalizing this content helps you stay informed and prepared for evolving organizational needs in 2025 and beyond.
2025·50-300 pages·Company Culture, Organizational Change, Leadership Trends, Employee Engagement, Future Workplaces

This tailored book explores the rapidly evolving landscape of company culture as organizations prepare for 2025 and beyond. It examines emerging trends, new research, and cutting-edge insights that shape workplace dynamics, focusing on your unique background and interests. By tailoring content specifically to your goals, it reveals how to anticipate cultural challenges ahead and foster adaptive, forward-thinking organizational environments. The approach connects the latest discoveries in leadership, employee engagement, and organizational development with your specific context, offering a personalized learning experience that keeps you ahead in an ever-changing culture landscape.

Tailored Blueprint
Culture Foresight
3,000+ Books Generated
Best for purpose-driven culture creators
What makes this book distinct in the company culture space is its deeply personal yet broad exploration of transforming an entire industry through values and promises. It presents a compelling framework drawn from the author's unique experiences and a century-long family story, providing fresh perspectives for those looking to reshape organizational culture in meaningful ways. This book benefits anyone engaged in leadership or entrepreneurship, especially within healthcare or aging services, by illustrating how purpose fuels sustainable change and growth.
2024·240 pages·Company Culture, Leadership, Organizational Development, Purpose Driven, Entrepreneurship

What started as a personal vow not to place a loved one in a traditional care facility led Fee Stubblefield to challenge the norms of the senior living industry. In this narrative, you explore how deep-rooted family experiences and a unique upbringing near Oregon's Lehman Hot Springs shaped his approach to organizational culture and business. The book offers you insights into building purpose-driven organizations by embracing aspirational promises that may seem destined to fail but drive meaningful change. Through candid stories and reflections, you understand what it takes to cultivate culture that serves a broader mission beyond profit, applicable well beyond senior living.

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Best for culture transformation strategists
What makes "Company Culture Getting It Right" notably different is its roots in Hector J Bordas’s extensive experience in engineering and leadership, which grounds the book's approach in practical realities rather than abstract theory. The book breaks down culture change into actionable steps like evaluating existing culture, embedding a clear future vision, and fostering transparent communication that keeps employees aligned and invested. Its focus on disrupting old patterns and aligning reward systems with cultural goals offers fresh insights for leaders aiming to drive lasting transformation. This guide is particularly valuable for managers and HR professionals dedicated to creating workplaces where innovation and employee motivation thrive.
2024·100 pages·Company Culture, Leadership, Strategy, Employee Engagement, Organizational Change

After three decades navigating civil engineering and executive leadership, Hector J Bordas offers a grounded perspective on transforming company culture beyond the usual buzz. You’ll find detailed guidance on assessing your current culture, crafting a future vision aligned with strategy, and fostering employee engagement through inclusivity and transparent communication. Chapters on disrupting norms and aligning rewards with goals provide practical frameworks for leaders ready to make structural changes that stick. This book suits managers and HR professionals eager to build motivated, innovative teams rather than those seeking quick fixes or superficial perks.

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Conclusion

These 7 books reveal three key themes transforming Company Culture in 2025: fostering a true ownership mentality, leveraging evidence-based analytics, and embedding purpose beyond profit. If you want to stay ahead of trends or the latest research, start with "Architecting A Company of Owners" and "Culture Analytics" for foundational shifts and measurable impact. For cutting-edge implementation, combine "Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It" and "Attract or Repel" to enhance psychological safety and organizational health.

Alternatively, you can create a personalized Company Culture book to apply the newest strategies and latest research to your specific situation. These books offer the most current 2025 insights and can help you stay ahead of the curve as you shape your workplace culture.

Frequently Asked Questions

I'm overwhelmed by choice – which book should I start with?

Start with "Architecting A Company of Owners" if you want to build deep engagement through ownership mindset. It's practical and challenges conventional culture ideas, making it a strong foundation.

Are these books too advanced for someone new to Company Culture?

Not at all. Books like "Company Culture Getting It Right" provide clear, actionable steps suitable for beginners and managers looking to make real changes.

What's the best order to read these books?

Begin with mindset and leadership perspectives in "Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It," then explore measurement tools in "Attract or Repel" and "Culture Analytics" to ground your approach in data.

Do I really need to read all of these, or can I just pick one?

You can pick based on your focus area. For example, choose "A Culture of Promise" for purpose-driven culture or "Handyman Freedom Formula" if leading a small business.

Which books focus more on theory vs. practical application?

"Culture Analytics" leans toward theory and data, while "Any Dumb-Ass Can Do It" and "Company Culture Getting It Right" offer practical leadership and change strategies.

Can I get Company Culture advice tailored to my specific situation?

Yes! While these books provide expert insights, you can also create a personalized Company Culture book that adapts the latest research directly to your role, industry, and goals for focused guidance.

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