Curated for thoughtful leaders
Books, apps, tools, and useful things I come back to often for leadership, writing, spiritual health, communication, and building a more sustainable way of doing meaningful work.
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Books for Thoughtful Leaders
I’ll feature a handful of favorites here, while keeping the broader shelf of books I recommend in one place.
Leadership, transition, discernment
Necessary Endings
Henry Cloud helps leaders think clearly and courageously about endings, pruning, and transition. This is a strong read when you are carrying the weight of a decision that may require letting go of a role, project, relationship, habit, or season.
The books in my Amazon storefront are books I have recommended or would recommend in the right context.
Daily stack
Apps I Use Constantly
These are the apps I come back to again and again for reading, thinking, writing, planning, study, communication, and keeping life a little more organized.
Reading notes
Readwise
My favorite app for saving highlights and notes from Kindle books, articles, and other reading, then resurfacing them in a daily review so good ideas keep coming back.
Tasks & projects
TickTick
My go-to task manager for keeping multiple projects, deadlines, and moving pieces in view. Its Gmail integration makes it easier to turn messages into work I can actually track.
Bible study
Life Bible by Tecarta
A Bible study app I especially like for comparing parallel translations. The Life Bible web experience makes side-by-side study feel fast and clear.
Journaling
Day One
For keeping multiple journals for multiple purposes: life notes, spiritual reflection, family stories, and the kind of record that can become a legacy.
Writing & publishing
Substack
A simple way to bring writing, blogging, podcasting, and email publishing together, with a network that keeps attracting serious independent voices.
Mind mapping
XMind
My favorite mind-mapping tool for leadership strategy, writing, brainstorming, teaching, and organizing ideas before they become plans.
AI-assisted work
Codex
Codex is part of the ChatGPT ecosystem: an OpenAI agent you can delegate real work to across files, tools, and workflows. I’m especially interested in how leaders who are not coders can use it to manage projects, assign tasks, create working documents, and move complicated work forward.
AI-assisted work
Claude
Claude is one of my favorite AI tools for thoughtful drafting, summarizing, reasoning through ideas, and working with long documents without losing the thread.
AI-assisted work
Manus
Manus is an AI agent platform I’m watching closely for delegated research, planning, automation, and multi-step work when a project needs more than a simple chat response.
AI voice & audio
ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs is a strong AI voice tool for creating natural-sounding narration, audio drafts, and voice experiments when a project needs more than written words on a page.
Writing polish
Grammarly
Useful everywhere I write, especially across my Mac and iPhone, for catching spelling, grammar, and clarity issues before the words go out.
Transcription & meetings
Otter
For recording and transcribing meetings, sermons, dictations, and already-recorded audio, then moving those transcripts into the rest of my workflow.
Design & communication
Canva
The design suite I use so often that I rarely need to open Adobe tools anymore. It has grown into a strong platform for communication pieces, presentations, and visual content.
Personal finance
Monarch
For tracking personal finances, planning ahead, and getting a clearer picture of the future. Its built-in AI has already helped me find savings worth more than the cost of the software.
Listening queue
Favorite Podcasts
These are shows I come back to for leadership, spiritual formation, theology, emotional health, culture, communication, and better questions.
- Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast
- CCDA Podcast
- Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast
- For People with Bishop Rob Wright
- Maxwell Leadership Podcast
- Practicing the Way with John Mark Comer
- Red Letter Christians Podcast
- Revisionist History
- Rule of Life
- Still Standing with Clarence E. Stowers, JR
- The Best of You with Dr. Alison Cook
- The Bible for Normal People
- The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast
- The Discerning Leader Podcast
- The Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast
- The Esau McCaulley Podcast
- The Holy Post
- The Place We Find Ourselves
- The RobCast
- The Ron Edmondson Leadership Podcast
- The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes
- The SkyePod
- the underview
- The Whole Person Revolution
- Theology in the Raw
- Three Black Men
- Transforming the Church with Dr. Derwin L. Gray
- Walk Humble
Web presence
Web, Writing, and Publishing Tools
Tools I recommend for maintaining a practical WordPress site, publishing consistently, collecting clear feedback, and creating a home base for your ideas without needing to become a programmer.
WordPress design
Divi
A flexible front-end WordPress design tool for building and updating beautiful pages without having to start from scratch every time.
WordPress hosting
SiteGround
Reliable WordPress-friendly hosting for people who want their website to be fast, stable, and easier to manage.
Website feedback & QA
BugHerd
A simple way for site owners, clients, collaborators, and team members to leave website feedback directly on the page and turn scattered notes into trackable tasks.
Still growing
Useful Stuff Worth Sharing
I want this page to stay curated rather than crowded. This is where I’ll add helpful things that do not fit neatly into the books, apps, or publishing categories.
Life-giving
Useful Stuff Worth Sharing
Books, gear, subscriptions, gifts, family resources, and other helpful things that do not fit neatly into the work categories.
Trying to apply one of these tools to a real website, message, or team workflow?
Resources can help, but the harder work is often deciding what belongs in your system and what only adds noise. If you want a first read on your site, communications path, or WordPress setup, start with a clarity review.