What We’re Reading While Campus is Quiet: The 2026 Integrity and Compliance Summer Reading List
Richmond is finally settling into that slower summer groove, which is the perfect time to catch our breath and invest in ourselves. What better way to do that than to sit down with a good book?
At the VCU Office of Integrity and Compliance, we know the core of our ethical culture is based on how we treat each other and make decisions together. To spark some inspiration while campus is quiet, we’ve put together a staff and faculty summer reading list! It’s a mix of the foundational compliance guides paired with powerful reads on leadership, mindset and higher education policy.
1. The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation and Growth by Amy Edmondson
For any healthy organization to grow, innovation is a must. In order for innovation to happen, people need to feel safe to speak up and ask the tough questions.
The Fearless Organization holds emphasis on the importance of psychological safety in the workplace and how it’s the staple of any successful institution. It discusses the benefits of interpersonal risks—being comfortable enough to pitch wild ideas, ask questions, flag concerns or admit mistakes while still holding ourselves to high standards.
This book will open your eyes to compliance blind spots, empower teams to report mistakes and voice concerns without fear. It offers practical vocabulary for psychological safety in daily academic and clinical operations. Emondson writes to encourage everyone to share ideas and challenge the status quo, which will ultimately drive VCU’s collaboration and innovation forward.
2. SCCE Compliance 101 by Debbie Troklus and Sheryl Vacca
Let’s be honest: compliance offices can feel a little mysterious. If you’ve ever wanted to know what the ICO team actually does, Compliance 101 is your backstage pass.
Think of it as a practical guide to how a healthy university stays ethical and legally sound. It breaks down everything from the history of regulations to the core pillars of a strong compliance framework.
If you aren’t on the compliance team, you might think, why should I care?
Compliance is a group effort, and not just the function of one office. We work with campus partners like HR, the VCU Police and various departments every day. Since those partners aren’t full-time compliance officers, this book gives everyone a quick, shared baseline. It beautifully explains the “why” behind the requests and moves our office makes.
At its heart, this book shines a light on the fact that compliance isn’t always about enforcement, it’s about creating a safe, open environment where you can voice concerns safely.
3. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
In Think Again, Adam Grant explores a skill that is vital for any modern workplace: the art of rethinking. It’s the willingness to question our own assumptions, let go of outdated perspectives and stay curious.
This New York Times Bestseller points out that when our core beliefs are challenged, most of us naturally fall into one of three mental roles:
- The Preacher: We passionately defend our own views and try to convert others.
- The Prosecutor: We hunt for flaws in the other side’s argument just to win the debate.
- The Politician: We campaign for the approval of our immediate audience, telling them what they want to hear.
To break these habits, Grant challenges us to think like “The Scientist.” You don’t need a lab coat for this—it simply means treating your ideas as hypotheses and your data as clues. It requires favoring humility over pride, curiosity over certainty and being willing to be proven wrong if it gets you closer to the truth.
For the VCU community, this book offers a great framework for maintaining a true learning culture—one where psychological safety thrives and differing viewpoints are welcomed as tools for growth. Ultimately, Think Again reframes compliance from a rigid checklist of rules into an ongoing, dynamic practice of institutional collaboration and continuous improvement.
4. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown
In Dare to Lead, Brené Brown strips away traditional corporate jargon to focus on a single core truth: leadership isn’t about titles, status, or power. Instead, it is about having the courage to develop the potential in both people and processes. Based on two decades of research, Brown argues that brave leadership isn’t an innate trait—it is a collection of four teachable, measurable skill sets:
- Rumbling with vulnerability: Trading perfectionism and finger-pointing for the uncomfortable, necessary work of hard conversations.
- Living into our values: Moving beyond words on a page to actively put our values into practice under pressure.
- Braving trust: Engineering deep, reliable workplace relationships through accountability and boundaries.
- Learning to rise: Teaching teams how to own failures and pivot, rather than wasting energy hunting for someone to blame.
Brown defines integrity as “choosing courage over comfort; and choosing what is right over what is fun, fast or easy.” This framework helps unveil the perception of compliance from a list of technical restrictions to a collective, active practice of institutional ethics.
5. Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind when You Know What’s Right by Mary C. Gentile
We’ve all been there: a moment in a meeting or an email chain where something feels just a bit off, but you aren’t sure how to bring it up without rocking the boat. Enter Mary Gentile’s Giving Voice to Values.
It’s a practical masterclass in professional courage. Gentile acknowledges that the hardest part of integrity isn’t knowing what’s right—it’s finding the words to say it effectively.
The book goes over how professionals can anticipate ethical challenges, counter common excuses and confidently script and rehearse their way to effective workplace communication.
Whether you choose one book or breeze through all five, these page-turners are a great way to help us lead with a little more courage, think uniquely and continue building a supportive campus community for this upcoming school year and beyond.