Welcome to a special episode of On the Up, Moneypenny’s podcast dedicated to exploring growth, innovation, and the strategies that drive business success.
In this unique episode, Dan Marshall takes a step back from our usual interview format to dive into something we’re incredibly excited about – the launch of our On the Up Book Club. Over recent episodes, we’ve asked each of our inspiring guests to share their essential business book recommendations, and the response has been phenomenal.
What’s covered in this episode?
Rather than letting these valuable recommendations sit scattered across individual episodes, Dan brings them together to create a comprehensive guide to the books that have shaped some of the most innovative leaders in their respective fields. This episode serves as your curated library of business wisdom, spanning workplace technology, leadership development, organisational design, and generational change.
From timeless leadership classics to cutting-edge productivity thinking, our guests have recommended books that address the full spectrum of modern business challenges. Each recommendation comes with context about why these leaders found the book transformative and how it applies to today’s business environment.
The Book Club collection
Workplace technology and human-centric design
Simon Hilton (Head of New Business, Spica Technology) and Paul Mundy (Business Development Manager, Spica Technology) bring insights from the workplace technology frontlines:
- “Un-Working: Reinventing the Modern Workplace” by Jeremy Myerson and Philip Ross – Simon’s recommendation focuses on post-COVID workplace transformation, deconstructing old workplaces and old ideas and values, and building completely new workplaces which are flexible, more human-centric, and designed for purpose. The book encompasses hybrid working, technology as an enabler, cultural and leadership changes, and design on experience.
- “Human Centric Workplace” by Simone Fenton-Jarvis – Paul’s choice emphasises understanding what people actually need in the workplace. You’ve got to understand what problems you want to solve before deploying technology. The book delves into workplace differences, including having five different generations in the workplace and how organisations can create great experiences for their people.
Organisational culture and change management
Donna Uden (Consulting Director, Empro) brings two powerful recommendations for navigating workplace transformation:
- “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson – Donna’s first recommendation is about approaching change and the consequence of closing your mind to it in personal situations and work as well. She actively uses this book in her coaching and mentoring work with consultancy teams.
- “Fish!” by John Christensen – This remastered book is about boosting morale and improving results and focuses on choosing the attitude you have in the workplace and how that can impact on success. Donna appreciates that it’s written in a really fun way.
Emma Armstrong (Founder and Managing Director, Empro) recommends:
- “Building the Story Brand” by Donald Miller – This book focuses on building a brand and how your value proposition works, and how you clarify your message with customers. Emma notes it’s been recommended by at least five people she respects hugely.
Growth mindset and exponential thinking
Callum Macrae (Marketing Director, JE Consulting) shares insights on transformational thinking:
- “Ten Times is Easier Than Two Times” by Dan Sullivan – Callum brought the actual book to the interview, explaining it completely shifted his mindset of things that you think are unattainable or not achievable. He values how it’s more psychological and changes your ways of thinking of how to do things, particularly relevant for his work with Gen Z workplace transformation.
Leadership excellence and organisational development
Peter Knight (Founder, The Property Academy) draws from his extensive business library of over 3,000 books:
- “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” and “Principle Centred Leadership” by Stephen Covey – Peter calls the Seven Habits an absolute starting point for anyone new to leadership, but his deeper recommendation is the lesser-known “Principle Centred Leadership,” which he describes as really the seven habits applied to an organisation, taking it up another level from personal to organisational level.
- “Beyond Entrepreneurship” by Jim Collins – Peter particularly recommends the first third of it for anyone in a start-up who’s looking to get into a scale-up. He emphasises that while start-up is not easy, scale-up is even harder, making this book essential for moving from an entrepreneurial type environment into a medium-sized environment.
Evidence-based leadership and workplace psychology
Charlotte Wiseman (Founder/CEO, Step Inside) brings her scientific approach to leadership development:
- “The Happiness Advantage” by Shawn Achor – Despite initial scepticism about the title and the fact her brother recommended it, Charlotte found this book transformative. It opened her mind to the power of what creating a good culture really could do in terms of how it could help performance and changed her perception of what she could just be doing as a manager, as a leader.
- “Slow Productivity” by Cal Newport – This recent publication talks about the pace of work at the moment and how current approaches are not promoting optimal performance and not helping us to think at our best. Charlotte values how it challenges assumptions about what effective working is and poses challenging questions.
Dan’s personal recommendations
In addition to guest recommendations, Dan shares two of his own recent reads:
- “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni – Recommended by Moneypenny’s head of talent, Debbie, this book offers really interesting points around ensuring that you’ve got trust and everyone feels comfortable in what they’re doing for leaders growing and building diverse teams.
- “On Leadership” by Tony Blair – Regardless of political views, Dan finds this really interesting book that looks at leadership from a different angle of someone that essentially ran a country and not a team of people in a business. He appreciates the insights into handling foreign policy, egos, building up teams where people are trying to build their own big careers and essentially take his job at different times.
Common themes across all recommendations
Several powerful themes emerge from this diverse collection:
Human-centric approaches
From Fenton-Jarvis’s workplace focus to Achor’s happiness research to Blair’s leadership insights, successful leaders consistently prioritise understanding and serving human needs.
Change and adaptation
Multiple books address navigating change – whether it’s Johnson’s cheese-moving mice, Newport’s productivity challenges, or the workplace transformation books. Leaders clearly recognise that adaptability is essential.
Evidence-based decision making
Charlotte’s scientific approach, the workplace technology focus on solving real problems, and the emphasis on understanding what actually works (rather than following trends) runs throughout these recommendations.
Exponential vs. incremental thinking
From Sullivan’s 10x concept to Collins’ scaling insights to Blair’s transformational leadership, these books encourage leaders to think beyond small improvements to fundamental transformation.
Cultural foundation
Whether it’s building story brands, creating fish-market energy, or developing principle-centred leadership, these recommendations emphasise that culture and values drive sustainable success.
Listen to the full episode
Listen to the full episode to hear Dan’s complete discussion of each book, including more context about why our guests found them valuable and how they apply to current business challenges. This episode serves as your comprehensive guide to building a professional library that can genuinely impact your leadership effectiveness and business success.
Looking for more business insights? Discover our full collection of On the Up podcast episodes, brought to you by Moneypenny.
