Gilt Free: Ditching Your Gilded Cage For Good; By Keren Eldad

Many Forbes readers may have checked the boxes for what society may mark as being successful, whether it’s a job title or number in your bank account or access to certain rooms. Executive coach Keren Eldad writes in her new book Gilt Free, “You can do all of this—check every box, play every part perfectly—and still feel like you’re drowning. Which renders success a moot point. Because success without freedom isn’t success at all. It’s a cage. Gilded, perhaps. But a cage nonetheless.”

For leaders of all levels who are ready to choose authenticity over perfection and meaning over performance, Eldad’s latest book is a deep dive into what real transformation takes. Not the kind that looks shiny on the outside, but the deeper, soul-level work that requires radical self honesty in order to build a more solid foundation that can no longer sustain abandoning oneself in order to appear successful to others. The process may be uncomfortable, and true transformation doesn’t come without costs (in terms of potential impacts on relationships, status, etc.). Yet if you’re ready to journey beyond mere insights or epiphanies into taking the real action steps (what Eldad refers to as “anti-rules”) that are required to build a life of freedom directed by your internal compass, let Gilt Free be your guide.

Black Public Joy; By Jay Pitter

We both influence the spaces we occupy and are ourselves shaped by those spaces. Have you thought about how you might show up differently in public spaces versus private? Have you considered how the design of public spaces may either encourage community building or discourage it? How do everyday expressions of public joy (think: the fashion we wear, music we play, or movements we make) help shape belonging in public spaces?

Public space expert and adjunct urban planning professor Jay Pitter’s book is a story of belonging, of feeling safe enough to take up space, and freeing ourselves from the judgement of others. It opens with Pitter sharing a childhood memory where her mother reprimanded her as a child for breaking out in dance at a mall. She writes, “All I knew was that she believed that for Black people, especially poor Black people like us, our survival and dignity hinged on presenting well in public.” Pitter has spent a lifetime unpacking how design, policy, and social attitudes shape who gets to experience joy and where. This is a handbook on igniting public joy.

The Soul Instinct; By Beatrice Dixon

Many entrepreneurs have built businesses based on having a big dream, but for Beatrice Dixon, cofounder and CEO of The Honey Pot Company, her business was born from a literal dream. After nearly a year of suffering from painful bacterial vaginosis that neither OTC or prescription medicine could cure, her deceased grandmother shared a herbal remedy she would need to cure the condition. Using her pharmaceutical background, Dixon used those ingredients shared by her grandmother to formulate a concoction that cured her in mere days. Soul Instinct is her story of how making smaller-batch washes in her kitchen in 2014 has grown into a nine-figure brand stocked in more than 33,000 stores across the U.S. (think: Target, Whole Foods, CVS, Walgreens). Dixon has become one of the few Black women to raise nearly $500 million through private equity and venture capital.

Her personal story and professional journey are intertwined, offering readers nuggets of wisdom on how to trust your instincts, bet on yourself, build community, and choose yourself—even if the path ahead hasn’t yet clearly revealed itself.

A Woman’s Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering; By Elinor Cleghorn

“Mothers make history. Without mothers, and people who mother, there would be no history,” writes cultural historian Elinor Cleghorn in her latest book, A Woman’s Work. Yet the history of motherhood has remained largely untold, and the narrative is not often driven by the people who do the actual mothering.

This book explores the history of motherhood as an institution and of mothering as an experience (centering the efforts of birth mothers, caregivers, midwives, as well as activists and community leaders). With a researcher’s gaze, Cleghorn pieces together the history of motherhood in the Western world, shedding light on Roman and Medieval maternal experiences, the impact of religion on motherhood, the strategies used to shut midwives out of “real” medicine surrounding maternal care, the role of class and race on maternal care, and more. If you want to better understand our society and human history, this is a glimpse from the perspective of how motherhood in its many forms has shaped us.

Shut Up And Read: A Memoir From Harriet’s Bookshop; By Jeannine A. Cook

This is a must-read for any book lover. Raised by a blind librarian, Jeannine Cook always wanted to open a bookshop. She made it happen just six weeks before the Covid pandemic in a tiny Philadelphia storefront. Cook called it Harriet’s Bookshop, named after historic heroine Harriett Tubman, the abolitionist, freedom fighter, spy, and suffragist. This is the story of how Harriett’s Bookshop became a cultural hub that sparked literary art salons around the globe and book events for authors from Michelle Obama to Jerry Seinfield—despite obstacles such as lockdowns, book bans, and big-box competitors. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to overcome obstacles and build something you believe needs to exist, this book is for you.

Poisonous People: How To Resist Them And Improve Your Life; by Leanne ten Brinke, Ph.D.

The old adage says that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. In Poisonous People, Leanne ten Brinke points out that only a few people cause the most harm. She says we may give some of these darkest personalities a lot of authority because many embody traits we think it takes to be a “strong” leader, such as confidence, charisma or a “winner takes all” mentality.

The good news, she argues, is that we have more power than we think to protect ourselves. She offers science-backed strategies on how to do just that, but the conclusions she comes to are less about making big, structural changes and more about learning to perceive leadership in a new way. She writes, “It will mean shifting our own values, making different choices when we vote, select a boss, choose a romantic partner, and follow on social media.”

Backtalker; By Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw

In this memoir, scholar and writer Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw offers an intimate glimpse into the experiences that shaped her. Crenshaw is the woman who pioneered equality concepts, such as intersectionality, that shifted how Americans think about race and gender. From an early age, she embodies a life of speaking up against injustice, despite the personal costs—whether it’s being denied a role in her kindergarten school play or later when she pushed back against the criticism aimed at Anita Hill for testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee against Clarence Thomas. If courage is contagious and you’re wanting to use your voice for a larger cause, you’ll find a role model within these pages.