Lead & Learn · 04 — Watch & Read for Builders

Stories of people who built what wasn't there.

Frameworks teach you how. Stories remind you why. This shelf is for the nights when the work feels too heavy: true stories of ordinary people who saw a need nobody else would take on, and built something to meet it.

Who this is for

Founders, program leaders, boards that need a shared 'why' moment, and anyone building inside systems that weren't built for them.

How to use this list

Watch one with your team or board and spend 20 minutes on what it asks of your organization.

Richard's first pick · Must-watch Film · Prime Video

Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot

Joshua Weigel · Angel Studios

Best for: Any builder who needs to remember why the work matters

I watched this and it stayed with me. It's inspired by the true story of Bishop W.C. Martin and First Lady Donna Martin of Bennett Chapel in Possum Trot, Texas, whose small rural church took in children from the foster system that nobody else would take. Twenty-two families adopted 77 children. For anyone building something from nothing, it's a picture of what one committed leader and a willing community can do.

Put it to workWatch it with your board or team, then answer one question together: who in our community is everyone else passing over?
Watch on Prime Video Affiliate link · opens Amazon in a new tab

Book · Paperback

Becoming Ms. Burton: From Prison to Recovery to Leading the Fight for Incarcerated Women

Susan Burton & Cari Lynn

Best for: Reentry leaders and anyone building a program from lived experience

Susan Burton's memoir of cycling through incarceration and addiction, then founding A New Way of Life, which provides safe homes and support for women coming home from prison in Los Angeles. A founder's story built directly from lived experience.

Put it to workMap the first 72 hours after release for the people you serve. Where would a safe place to land change the outcome?
Check it on Amazon Affiliate link · opens Amazon in a new tab

Book · Paperback

Just Mercy

Bryan Stevenson

Best for: Leaders working in and around the justice system

Bryan Stevenson's account of founding the Equal Justice Initiative and defending people on death row. A founder's story as much as a justice story: building an institution because the need wouldn't wait.

Put it to workNote how Stevenson describes proximity. Where does your leadership team need to get closer to the people you serve?
Check it on Amazon Affiliate link · opens Amazon in a new tab

Film · Prime Video

Just Mercy (film)

Warner Bros.

Best for: A shared watch for staff and board

The film adaptation of Stevenson's work, centered on the case of Walter McMillian. A good entry point for a board or team that won't all read the book.

Put it to workPair it with a discussion of who your organization exists to stand beside.
Watch on Prime Video Affiliate link · opens Amazon in a new tab

Book · Paperback

Tattoos on the Heart

Gregory Boyle

Best for: Leading with compassion and kinship

Father Greg Boyle on the founding and work of Homeboy Industries, which serves formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated people in Los Angeles. A lasting model of an organization built on kinship.

Put it to workPick one story and ask: what would it look like for our program to treat people this way on a hard day?
Check it on Amazon Affiliate link · opens Amazon in a new tab

Book · Paperback

Barking to the Choir

Gregory Boyle

Best for: Sustaining the work over the long haul

Boyle's follow-up on radical kinship, drawn from years at Homeboy Industries. For leaders who need to remember why they started.

Put it to workShare one passage with your team at the start of a hard week.
Check it on Amazon Affiliate link · opens Amazon in a new tab

Book · Paperback

The Sun Does Shine

Anthony Ray Hinton

Best for: Understanding resilience and wrongful conviction

Anthony Ray Hinton's memoir of nearly 30 years on Alabama's death row for crimes he didn't commit, and how he held on to hope and humanity. A reminder of what people carry into your programs.

Put it to workLet it inform how your intake and onboarding honor what people have survived.
Check it on Amazon Affiliate link · opens Amazon in a new tab

Questions founders ask

Is Sound of Hope a true story?

It's inspired by the true story of Bishop W.C. and Donna Martin and Bennett Chapel in Possum Trot, Texas, where church families adopted 77 children from foster care. Some scenes are dramatized.

Why a film list on a site for founders?

Because stamina is infrastructure too. The stories you return to shape the organization you build.

Building an organization? Score it against all 28 items on THE BUILD LIST™. Read how I choose what goes on the shelf.