Publisher’s Weekly Endorses Call & Response!

The very first trade review for my upcoming book, Call & Response: 10 Leadership Lessons from the Black Church, has arrived from Publishers Weekly — and it is everything I hoped readers and leaders would see in this work.

They didn’t just summarize the book. They understood it.

They affirmed the book’s central thesis with this line:

“The Black Church and many of its traditions are a crucial resource… for preparing generation after generation of America’s top Black business leadership.”

That sentence alone signals something important: Call & Response is not being read as a “church book.”

It’s being received — from day one — as a leadership book grounded in culture, evidence, and applied science.

This is a good place to also say, the trade doesn’t hand out these reviews to just every book.

Publishers Weekly spotlighted:

the original research (our survey of 155 Black executives), the 76% who tied their core leadership skills to experiences in the Black Church, and the integration of psychological science throughout the framework.

They highlighted the real-life examples, including the transformation Cynt Marshall led at the Dallas Mavericks — and recognized that her leadership instincts were formed long before her corporate rise.

One of the most meaningful moments for me is their focus on the chapter about collaboration, where they noted the link I draw between choir performance and workplace emotional intelligence. They treated that connection not as metaphor, but as legitimate leadership theory — exactly as intended.

And then, there was this closing line — one that signals the real reach of the book:

“Executives, religious or not, will find much of use here.”

That is the heart of this entire project.

Call & Response is for anyone who is ready to lead with more heart, more courage, and more emotional intelligence — grounded in science and shaped by culture.

This review represents more than praise.

It signals that we are entering the national leadership conversation through the front door.

This is the beginning of the Leadership Revival.

If you’d like to preorder the book or explore bringing this message to your organization, team, or stage in 2026, you can do that here: lmichellesmith.com/callandresponse

Read the entire review from Publisher’s Weekly here.

Learn more about the book.