Skip to content Proficient leaders deliberately allocate time for ongoing education. Even though taking a break from the office can be challenging, reading a range of leadership development books is essential to refocusing and replenishing your leadership abilities. For example, it assists in identifying your assets and liabilities and offers the resources required for creativity and development.
Are you prepared to become the best leader you can be? The list of leadership literature that follows aids in creating a strong basis for problem-solving and team-building abilities.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell
A single sentence In addition to pointing out the traits of exceptional leaders, Maxwell walks readers through the 21 universal rules of effective leadership.
Favorite Quote: “I think that as leaders, what matters most is not how far we go ourselves, but rather how far we advance others. Serving people and improving their quality of life is how that is accomplished”.
Reasons to Read It: It is considered to be among the greatest l leadership development books ever written for a reason. Maxwell’s advice is helpful to leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs since it is straightforward and practical. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership also assists strong performers in identifying their strengths and leveraging what they have been doing well. The book is also helpful because it provides a ton of suggestions on how to fine-tune weaker leadership qualities.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
This book is the result of a five-year study that aims to explain how “good” businesses become great, outperform their rivals, and enjoy sustained success.
Favorite Phrase: “Perseverance does not determine greatness.” As it turns out, intentional decision-making and self-control play a major role in greatness“.
Reasons to Read It: Good to Great: Why Certain Businesses Take the Step… and Others Not Don’t highlights the idea that success is a process that takes time to achieve. This book assists entrepreneurs and executives who are feeling drained, worn out, and out of steam to rekindle their enthusiasm and drive. It’s also consoling to know that many of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs are typical as their businesses expand. Growing pains, in fact, are a sign that a business is maturing. The main takeaway is that progress is a process.
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Purpose-driven leaders utilize the three-step structure developed by Sinek to motivate others to take action.
Favorite Quotation: “People purchase your motivations, not what you do. And your actions just serve to validate your beliefs.”
Why You Should Read It: If you want a basic understanding of what it means to lead with purpose, one of the best leadership books is Start with Why. This book should be read first by everyone looking to revitalize and rejuvenate their organizations. Start with Why unquestionably alters the rules for how executives run their businesses. It illustrates why it’s critical to have purpose at the core of the organization in order to keep owners and executives focused on achieving the goal of the business.
Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
Think and Grow Rich, a 1937 book, examines the lives of affluent people like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford, identifying 13 traits that successful people have in common.
Favorite Quote: “DESIRE is the foundation for all achievement.” Remember this all the time. A small fire produces a small quantity of heat, just as weak desire produces weak outcomes.
Reasons to Read It: Think and Grow Rich, widely regarded as one of the greatest leadership books ever written, enlightens readers on the distinctive perspective of top achievers. Overall, Hill studied, examined, and comprehended what made people successful for twenty-five years. He discovered and penned a recipe for prosperity through 500 interviews. Without a question, the directing techniques are flexible, inspiring, and offer enduring wisdom to anyone interested in leadership.
Wooden on Leadership by John Wooden
One-Sentence Description: Written by two Navy SEAL officers, this best-selling book relates their special operations experience to the leadership qualities all business owners, executives, and managers should possess.
Favorite Quote: “Implementing Extreme Ownership requires checking your ego and operating with a high degree of humility. Admitting mistakes, taking ownership, and developing a plan to overcome challenges are integral to any successful team.”
Why You Should Read It: The unique, interesting angle the authors take creates a fresh perspective within the genre. While some professionals might not feel this book would be applicable to their businesses, Extreme Ownership teaches lessons that help leaders understand what it truly means to lead—not manage or direct—others. With unique messaging filled with real-life experience, the book additionally provides instruction on how to successfully develop high-performing teams that can fulfill even the most difficult mission.
Extreme Ownership Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
This best-selling book, written by two Navy SEAL members, connects their special operations experience to the traits of leadership that every executive, manager, and business owner should have.
Favorite Quote: “Extreme Ownership implementation necessitates putting your ego aside and acting extremely humble.” Any successful team must embrace responsibility, own up to mistakes, and create a strategy to overcome obstacles.
Why You Should Read It: The writers’ original, thought-provoking viewpoint offers a novel interpretation of the genre. Extreme Ownership teaches leaders what it really means to lead, not manage or direct, people, even if some experts may not think this book would apply to their companies.
Dare to Lead Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
Dare to Lead is centered on developing a robust workplace culture via trust, vulnerability, bravery, and core values.
Favorite Quote: “Anyone who has the guts to develop potential in people and processes and accepts responsibility for identifying it in others”
Reasons to Read It: One of the best leadership books for creating a positive team culture is Dare to Lead. With a Ph.D. in social work, Brown is an accomplished researcher who challenges the conventional wisdom that suggests vulnerability is synonymous with “weakness.” She even dedicates an entire book to proving that it is daring and courageous to be vulnerable. To be more precise, this is one of the best leadership attributes present in managers, executives, and business owners. Because of this, anyone who is interested in fostering a positive, encouraging work environment should read Dare to Lead. It teaches people how to show up authentically, connect, and become more empathic.
The Effective Executive The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker
The main topic of this book is effectiveness as a type of self-discipline, which is a talent that can be learned by anybody and is necessary for all leaders.
Favorite Quote: “Effectiveness is the only factor that turns intelligence, creativity, and knowledge into results.”
Reasons to Read It: Effectiveness is a prerequisite for success. This is a trait that leaders can’t afford to be lacking, as it may be used to inspire workers and enforce change. However, a lot of CEOs and business owners act, behave, and communicate in ways that negatively affect their companies, whether on purpose or not. Ineffective leaders, for instance, lack emotional intelligence and don’t commit to become stewards of their team members and clients. Essentially, those who wish to actively understand how to work toward eradicating weak leadership attributes should read The Effective Executive.
7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
A single sentence According to Covey, successful people match their ideals with universal truths; the seven habits characterize a person’s attitude toward autonomy, interdependence, and ongoing development.
Favorite Quote: “You will care more about what others think of yourself as you become less concerned with what other people think of you.”
Reasons to Read It: Despite the straightforward title of this leadership book, Covey’s philosophical approach is evident throughout the pages. For example, readers are prompted to analyze themselves by questioning their worldview, beliefs, and perceptions in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Because it essentially teaches people how to be better, more connected, more empathic beings, this book is significant for leaders at all levels.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Leaders learn how to develop and carry out strategic initiatives from The Art of War.
“There is also opportunity in the midst of chaos,” is my favorite quote.
Reasons to Read It: Among the best leadership literature cited, this military treatise from the 5th century B.C. is the oldest. It continues to inspire successive generations of strategic thinkers for a reason. Despite being intended for military leaders, business owners and executives who are in charge of creating and carrying out the company’s strategy will find the material to be highly applicable. To put it briefly, readers are guided through 13 chapters, each of which focuses on a different phase of the strategic implementation process.
Conclusion
Reading books to improve leadership skills necessitates an unquenchable thirst for relevant knowledge. It can be challenging for people in leadership roles to find time for continuing education, though, because they lead hectic lives. For this reason, planning time for learning and growth on the calendar is a crucial part of efficient time management. Additionally, it keeps people accountable for enhancing their leadership skills and attributes.
- Choose five novels from this list to begin with.
- estimating the amount of time needed to complete each book.
- establishing targets for reading completion.
- fulfilling the predetermined deadline.
- Restarting the procedure.
Leaders that read regularly stay learning new things all the time. Also, it’s a really good idea to impart what you’ve learned. For instance, once a book is finished, put a heartfelt, motivating note on the front cover and give it to the friend, colleague, or staff member it will most benefit.
