The Core Shelf

#	Book	Author	Why It’s Here
1	Start With Why	Simon Sinek	The foundational question every leader and entrepreneur must answer before strategy, hiring, or communication. “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”
2	Think Again	Adam Grant	The most underrated leadership skill: updating your beliefs with evidence. Dr. Kershner teaches this in Capstone as the antidote to the Dunning-Kruger trap.
3	Dare to Lead	Brené Brown	Vulnerability isn’t weakness — it’s the operating system of high-trust, high-performance teams. The research backs it completely.
4	Mindset: The New Psychology of Success	Carol Dweck	The book behind the Growth Mindset assessment above. Changed how Dr. Kershner teaches failure, feedback, and potential.
5	Good to Great	Jim Collins	Level 5 leadership and the Hedgehog Concept — the most rigorous longitudinal study of what separates truly great organizations from merely good ones.
6	The Dip	Seth Godin	The shortest book on knowing when to push through and when to quit strategically. Essential reading for every entrepreneur at an inflection point.
7	Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us	Daniel Pink	Autonomy, mastery, and purpose — the actual drivers of human performance. Evidence-based and immediately applicable to how you lead your team.
8	The Black Swan	Nassim Nicholas Taleb	How to think rigorously about uncertainty, risk, and the events that change everything. Taleb sharpens your strategic paranoia in the best possible way.
9	The Five Dysfunctions of a Team	Patrick Lencioni	Dr. Kershner references Lencioni constantly. This is the team-health framework — absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, inattention to results.
10	Deemed Essential	Claude B. Kershner IV	It belongs on this shelf. Dr. Kershner’s own work on leadership, entrepreneurship, and what it takes to build something worth keeping.

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The Intellectual Backbone

These are the books behind the DBA — the academic and philosophical DNA of the show’s research base.

• Antifragile — Nassim Taleb | Systems that grow stronger under stress — the leadership principle for the AI era
• Corporate Entrepreneurship & Innovation — Morris, Kuratko, Covin | The academic foundation of the Entrepreneurial Orientation framework
• The Servant as Leader — Robert Greenleaf | The original text. Everything servant leadership traces back here.
• Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter — Liz Wiseman | Intelligence amplifiers vs. diminishers — a framework Dr. Kershner uses in executive coaching

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Additional Shelf

These books have shaped Dr. Kershner’s thinking on leadership, management, business, and faith. Classroom-tested, field-validated, and personally recommended.

Book	Author	Why It Matters
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There	Marshall Goldsmith	The habits that drive early success often become the ceiling on later leadership. Goldsmith’s behavioral coaching framework is essential for any high-achiever who’s hit a plateau.
Radical Candor	Kim Scott	Care personally, challenge directly. The book that changed how Dr. Kershner thinks about giving feedback — and how to create a culture where people can.
The Leadership Challenge	Kouzes & Posner	Five evidence-based practices of exemplary leadership. One of the most researched leadership frameworks available — classroom tested at MDC for years.
Built to Last	Jim Collins & Jerry Porras	Visionary companies vs. merely successful ones. The prequel to Good to Great — both belong on the same shelf.
Traction	Gino Wickman	The Entrepreneurial Operating System in book form. If you run a business and haven’t read Traction, this is your next read. Dr. Kershner recommends it constantly to operators.
My Utmost for His Highest	Oswald Chambers	A daily devotional that has shaped Dr. Kershner’s thinking on character, calling, and what it means to lead from a place of genuine conviction. A spiritual cornerstone.
Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills	Andrew J. DuBrin	The academic backbone of the leadership curriculum at MDC. DuBrin bridges research and practice better than almost anyone.
Understanding Management	Daft & Marcic	The management textbook Dr. Kershner teaches from — rigorous, readable, and organized around how real managers actually work.
Strategic Management	Hill & Schilling	The big strategy text. Used in advanced business courses; covers competitive advantage, industry analysis, and strategic leadership at depth.

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Learning Beyond the Shelf

Some of the most impactful learning Dr. Kershner has done isn’t through books — it’s through structured courses taught by world-class professors and practitioners.