BOOKS
Stories That Challenge. Research That Serves.
Books have the power to help us understand ourselves, question our assumptions, and imagine healthier ways to lead, live, and serve.
Rashida Saunders’ writing explores leadership, identity, healing, family, trust, and what it means to remain human inside demanding environments.
Whether deeply personal or research-informed, every book begins with the same belief:
Leadership is ultimately about people
FEATURED BOOK
Permission to Break
A Memoir of Strength, Silence, and Softness
For years, Rashida Saunders was known as the strong one.
A police officer.
A leader.
A mother.
The person others depended on.
But strength can become a way of surviving instead of living.
Permission to Break is a deeply personal memoir about learning that vulnerability is not weakness, healing is not failure, and softness is not the opposite of strength.
Through reflections on identity, grief, trauma, motherhood, service, and survival, Saunders examines what happens when strength becomes both an identity and a burden.
The book is an invitation to anyone who has spent years carrying responsibilities while quietly carrying themselves.
Available in Paperback, Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook.
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is for anyone who has ever:
Been the person everyone depended on.
Carried grief while appearing fine.
Struggled to ask for help.
Wondered who they were beyond survival.
Wanted permission to become whole instead of simply staying strong.
WHAT READERS WILL DISCOVER
Inside Permission to Break, readers explore:
Identity beyond achievement
The hidden cost of survival mode
Trauma, grief, and healing
Motherhood and leadership
Choosing softness without losing strength
Rediscovering yourself after years of carrying others
MORE BOOKS ARE COMING
Upcoming
Leading Without Armor™
An exploration of leadership, trust, psychological safety, accountability, and organizational culture, grounded in research, lived experience, and the realities of leading inside demanding institutions.
What We Owe Our Sons
An exploration of parenting, protection, emotional development, and what society owes the boys being raised into men.
Future books will continue exploring leadership, humanity, family, and the environments people create for one another.
BEYOND THE BOOKS
Saunders’ books are part of a larger body of work that includes:
The Leading Without Armor™ Framework
Leadership research
Working papers
Speaking and executive education
Compassion Over Silence™