Our series of book recommendations to empower talent and fuel brands.

Why Perpetual recommends it
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman and Kaley Warner Klemp, is a more introspective entry in the leadership canon, built around the idea that most leadership dysfunction traces back to operating from fear, ego and scarcity rather than genuine curiosity and abundance. The authors frame leadership maturity as a series of specific, learnable commitments rather than personality traits.
Commitments like taking responsibility for your own experience and speaking candidly sound simple on paper, but the book pushes leaders to notice how often they default instead into blame, drama or being right, especially under pressure. The authors are candid that this work is uncomfortable precisely because it asks leaders to look at their own reactivity rather than fixing everyone around them first.
What sets this book apart from more tactical leadership guides is its insistence that the inner state of a leader, curious versus defensive, abundant versus scarce, shows up in every decision and every relationship, whether the leader is aware of it or not.
We find this a useful complement to our executive coaching work, because it targets the internal patterns that keep resurfacing across a leader’s career regardless of which company or team they’re leading.
- Leadership dysfunction often traces back to operating from fear and scarcity, not lack of skill
- Being right feels good in the moment but is one of the most expensive leadership habits
- Conscious leadership starts with taking responsibility for your own reactions, not managing others’ first
- Curiosity is a practised commitment, not a fixed personality trait
A simple starting practice is noticing, in your next disagreement, whether your first instinct is to be curious about the other person’s view or to defend your own, and naming that choice out loud.
We give this book three and a half out of five stars.