Exec reading list: June 28-July 5

This week's strongest executive-reading signal is Richard Hua's recommendation of Ron Carucci's Harvard Business Review article on change resistance. Hua connected the article to his own experience scaling EQ@Amazon from a 12-person group to more than 70,000 members, then summarized the operating lesson as: "resistance isn't defiance. It's data." 1

The rest of the week is useful but thinner. Hua also pointed readers to Adam Grant's Give and Take and Vanessa van Edwards' article on hand gestures. 2 3 Ethan Evans mentioned that his next audiobook is Chris Voss's Never Split the Difference, but he framed it as a personal listening-queue note, not a formal book recommendation. 4 Evans also recommended a Danielle Letayf article on building professional authority through podcast guesting, though the captured source leaves the exact article URL and exact publication time unresolved. 5

Read this issue as a digest of visible public recommendations from June 28 to July 5, not as a complete map of private executive reading.

Item positioning: Ron Carucci's "Leaders, Treat Resistance to Change as Valuable Data" is an HBR leadership article about treating employee pushback as diagnostic information, rather than as a problem to overpower. Harvard Business Review published the article on April 20, 2026, and categorized it under managing yourself, leadership and managing people, and motivating people. 6

Hua's June 30 LinkedIn post is the clearest reading recommendation of the week because he did more than pass along a link. He took Carucci's frame and put it against his own Amazon story: when Hua tried to bring EQ into a data-driven company, some people questioned whether emotions belonged in business. 1 Hua said the shift came when he realized, "resistance isn't defiance. It's data." 1

Hua's version of the framework has four moves: name the loss out loud, repeat the message well past what feels necessary, hand people a real decision instead of post-facto "input theater," and get curious before correcting by asking, "what are you seeing that I'm not?" 1 That sequence is useful for managers because it treats resistance as information about what people think they are losing: status, competence, autonomy, identity, or predictability.

Carucci's article makes a similar distinction. The captured HBR description says leaders often label pushback as "just resistance," which means they have already judged the problem to be the person instead of the signal that person is sending. 6 For managers handling AI adoption, reorgs, process changes, or new operating metrics, this is the item to read first.

Item positioning: Adam Grant's Give and Take is a business and organizational psychology book about givers, takers, and matchers, and about why helping others can contribute to professional success when givers also protect their own sustainability. Hua recommended it in his July 2 Substack article "Four Free Gifts that Are Priceless." 2

Hua framed the book as the research layer under a personal philosophy. He wrote: "Then I read Adam Grant's book, Give and Take, and it also became a science. Grant spent years studying who experiences the most success in business: givers, takers, or matchers. He found that givers showed up disproportionately at the top." 2

For the target reader, the useful part is not the broad moral claim that people should be generous. It is the operating question: where can a manager give help that costs little but creates real option value for someone else? Hua also referred to Grant's "five-minute favor" concept in the same article, which makes the recommendation more tactical than inspirational. 2

Item positioning: Vanessa van Edwards' "20 Hand Gestures You Should Be Using" is a practical communication article about using gestures intentionally during speaking. Hua cited it in his Substack article "How to Not be a Boring Speaker," which was published on June 25 and resurfaced through Hua's LinkedIn activity on June 28. 3

Hua's reason for recommending it was specific: "Here are 20 hand gestures from people researcher Vanessa van Edwards that you can add to your toolbox. I read this article years ago, and I've personally incorporated a number of them into my repertoire." 3 He also cited a TED-talk comparison in which more popular speakers averaged 465 hand gestures in 18 minutes, compared with 272 for less popular speakers. 3

That makes the van Edwards piece a good pre-meeting read, not a deep strategy read. Use it before an all-hands, exec review, roadmap pitch, or conference talk where the goal is to make abstract content easier to follow.

Item positioning: Chris Voss's Never Split the Difference is a negotiation book associated with tactical listening and high-pressure conversations. Evans mentioned it on June 30 in a LinkedIn post about how he learns while busy, writing: "Audio in the car - next up is Never Split The Difference (revisiting)." 4

This belongs in the digest, but it should not be over-weighted. Evans did not say why he was revisiting the book, and he did not present it as advice to readers. The honest use is simple: if an experienced Amazon leader is returning to a negotiation book, managers who face cross-functional disagreement may want it back on their shortlist.

Item positioning: Danielle Letayf's article is about building authority outside a person's company and immediate network, especially by booking oneself as a guest on relevant podcasts. Evans recommended it in a LinkedIn post about networking, visibility, and career option value. 5

Evans' framing is stronger than the available bibliographic detail. He wrote that Letayf had written "a great article" about building authority outside a company and direct network, particularly through podcast guesting. 5 He also said the article would walk readers through how that work could help them get their "next role, client, or one day a board seat." 5

The caveat is material: Evans' public post used a shortened buff.ly link, and the underlying article title and destination were not verified in the available public record. The public LinkedIn timestamp also showed only a relative "1w" label, so the item may sit near the June 28 window boundary. 5 Treat it as a useful career-growth pointer, not as the week's cleanest reading record.

Start with Carucci if the live problem is change resistance. Hua's application gives the HBR piece a clear manager-use case: listen for the loss behind the pushback before trying to persuade people through it. 1 6

Read Grant when the question is relationship capital. Read van Edwards when a presentation is coming up. Put Voss and Letayf on the watchlist if the week ahead involves negotiation, visibility, or external authority-building, but keep the evidence distinction in mind: Hua's items are stronger recommendations; Evans' items are lighter public reading signals. 2 3 4 5