Skip to main content

Best Leadership Books To Read In 2015


As you think about what business books you want to read next year, how about adding to the list at least one book from the list below. Perhaps a book that will help you improve your leadership skills.

A couple years ago, members of five groups on the professional social media web site LinkedIn voluntarily recommended their favorite books about leadership. They responded to a group discussion question, "Best Leadership Books -- What's Your Favorite?"

When contemplating their favorites, they likely thought about which books were in their minds the best, most favored, most inspiring, most instructional, most relevant, and which ones they might reference frequently.

The recommendations came from these member groups:
  • ExecuNet Executive Suite
  • Leadership Think Tank
  • Linked 2 Leadership
  • Keller Graduate School Of Management
  • The Talent Buzz
As the recommendations rolled in, it became clear that leaders learn from, and are inspired by, a wide variety of books -- biographies, autobiographies, books backed by research and academia, books made famous by the popular press, books by motivational speakers, and books by professionals eager to share their personal and professional leadership success stories, tips and suggestions.

Readers' favorites included those written by or about sports coaches, athletes, CEOs, scholars, religious leaders, governmental and military leaders.

Not surprisingly, many well-known leadership book authors made the list, such as authors:
  • Drucker
  • Kotter
  • Maxwell
  • Welch
Interestingly, the discussion thread, particularly within the Linked 2 Leadership group of LinkedIn, generated debate about the value and quality of some of the book recommendations. But, the general consensus was that if someone recommended a book that inspired them or taught them how to be a better leader, the book was worth their time.

Here is the list of all 235 books, in alphabetical order. It represents many of the vast approaches to leadership in practice today throughout the world. Take a look to see how many you've read. Perhaps you'll find one of your favorites.  Because the list is a couple years old, it doesn't include some of the latest best leadership books.  Even so, these classics listed below remain relevant today.

And, on December 1 coming up, I'll post my selection for the best new book about leadership in 2014.



Top Books About Leadership.
  • 1776
  • 177 Mental Toughness Secrets Of The World Class
  • 100 Greatest Ideas For Effective Leadership And Management
  • 100 Greatest Leadership Principles Of All Time
  • 20 Minutes To A Top Performer
  • A Book Of Five Rings
  • A Commitment To Valor
  • A Force For Change: How Leadership Differs From Management
  • A Leader In The Making
  • A Sense Of Urgency
  • A Whole New Mind
  • Against The Gods
  • Alexander The Great
  • Awaken The Giant Within
  • Awesomely Simple
  • Bad Leadership
  • Becoming A Person Of Influence
  • Becoming A Resonant Leader
  • Best Practices In Leadership Development & Organization Change
  • Beyond The Timberline
  • Bo's Lasting Lessons
  • Built To Last
  • Built To Serve
  • Changing The Human Battery
  • Chasing The Rabbit
  • Choices: Discover Your 100 Most Important Life Choices
  • Cracking The Code Of Leadership
  • Credibility
  • Crucial Conversations: Tools For Talking When Stakes Are High
  • Deep Change
  • Defeat Into Victory
  • Developing The Leader Within You
  • Defining Moments
  • Developing The Leaders Around You
  • Discipline Of Market Leaders
  • Effective Supervisory Management
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Energy Leadership
  • Engaged Leadership
  • Evolutionary Leadership
  • Execution: The Discipline Of Getting Things Done
  • Executive Wisdom
  • Exodus
  • Exposing Leadership: Redefining The Top 20 Leadership Traits
  • Fired Up Or Burned Out
  • Firms Of Endearment
  • First Break All The Rules
  • For Your Improvement
  • Force For Change
  • From Worst To First
  • Gates Of Fire
  • Get Out Of Your Own Way
  • Good To Great
  • Gung Ho
  • Handbook Of Leadership
  • Heroic Leadership
  • High Five: The Magic Of Working Together
  • Holy Bible
  • Hostage At The Table
  • How Did That Happen?
  • How Lance Does It
  • How The Mighty Fall
  • How To Get Anyone To Do Anything
  • How To Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be
  • How To Grow Leaders
  • How To Lead
  • How To Think Like A CEO & Act Like A Leader
  • How To Win Friends And Influence People
  • In Search Of Excellence
  • Influencer: The Power To Change Anything
  • Inside The Tornado
  • Inspirational Leadership
  • Integrity: The Courage To Meet The Demands Of Reality
  • Integrity Is Everything
  • Irresistible Leadership
  • It's Our Ship
  • It's Your Ship
  • Jesus, CEO
  • Launching A Leadership Revolution
  • Lead To Succeed
  • Leaders: Strategies For Taking Charge
  • Leadership
  • Leadership: Tidbits & Treasures
  • Leadership: Enhancing The Lessons Of Experience
  • Leadership Agility
  • Leadership And Motivation
  • Leadership And The One Minute Manager
  • Leadership And The New Science
  • Leadership And Self-Deception
  • Leadership Brand
  • Leadership Engine
  • Leadership For The Disillusioned
  • Leadership God
  • Leadership Insights
  • Leadership Is An Art
  • Leadership Is Common Sense
  • Leadership Jazz
  • Leadership On The Line
  • Leadership Pipeline
  • Leadership Secrets Of Attila The Hun
  • Leadership Self-Deception: Getting Out Of The Box
  • Leadership Without Easy Answers
  • Leading At A Higher Level
  • Leading Change
  • Leading Leaders
  • Leading Out Loud
  • Leading With Confidence
  • Leading With Kindness
  • Learning From The Links
  • Led To Follow
  • Lessons On Leadership
  • Life Entrepreneurs
  • Lincoln On Leadership
  • Love Leadership
  • Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices
  • Masters And Commanders
  • Masterplanning
  • Maximum Achievement
  • Maxwell Leadership Bible
  • Moments Of Truth
  • Monday Morning Leadership
  • Peak
  • Pivot: How One Simple Change In Attitude Can Lead To Success
  • On Becoming A Leader
  • On Leadership
  • One Thing You Need To Know
  • Only The Paranoid Survive
  • Out Of The Crisis
  • Predictably Irrational
  • Preparing For Leadership
  • Primal Leadership
  • Profiles In Leadership From The Battlefields Of Virginia
  • Real Leaders Don't Do PowerPoint
  • Reclaiming Higher Ground
  • Reframing Organizations
  • Regan On Leadership
  • Resonant Leadership
  • Results-Based Leadership
  • Scuttle Your Ships Before Advancing
  • Scores On The Board
  • Senior Leadership Teams
  • Servant Leadership
  • Silver Parachutes
  • Situational Leadership
  • Son Of Morning Star
  • Start With Why
  • Stewardship
  • Straight From The Gut
  • Strengths-Based Leadership
  • Studying Leadership
  • Survival Is Not Enough
  • Team Of Rivals
  • The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness To Greatness
  • The 80/20 Principle
  • The 48 Laws Of Power
  • The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
  • The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership
  • The 360 Degree Leader
  • The 33 Strategies Of War
  • The Adventure Of Leadership
  • The Anatomy Of Peace
  • The Arc Of Ambition
  • The Art And Discipline Of Strategic Leadership
  • The Art Of Possibility
  • The Art Of The Leader
  • The Art Of War
  • The Change Monster
  • The Courage To Teach
  • The Disney Way
  • The DNA Of Success
  • The Effective Executive
  • The Empowered Manager
  • The Essential HR Handbook
  • The Essential Wooden
  • The Extraordinary Leader
  • The Feiner Points Of Leadership
  • The Fifth Discipline
  • The First 90 Days
  • The Five Dysfunctions of A Team
  • The Four Obsessions Of An Extraordinary Executive
  • The Great Game Of Business
  • The Human Element
  • The Inspiring Leader
  • The Leader Of The Future
  • The Leader's Window
  • The Leadership Challenge
  • The Leadership Code: Five Rules To Live By
  • The Leadership Engine
  • The Leadership Matrix
  • The Leadership Moment
  • The Leadership Pill
  • The Leadership Secrets Of Colin Powell
  • The Leadership Test (my (Eric Jacobson's) favorite)
  • The Magic Of Thinking Big
  • The Maxwell Daily Reader
  • The Mission, The Men And Me
  • The New Leaders
  • The One Minute Manager
  • The Persian Expedition
  • The Practice Of Adaptive Leadership
  • The Practice Of Leadership
  • The Prince
  • The Psychology of Persuasion
  • The Pursuit Of Something Better
  • The Right To Lead
  • The Rules Of Management
  • The Score Takes Care Of Itself
  • The Secret Language Of Business
  • The Secret Language Of Leadership
  • The Servant
  • The Servant-Leader Within
  • The Seven Hidden Reasons Employees Leave
  • The Sustainable Way
  • The Tao Of Leadership
  • The Winner Within: A Life Plan For Team Players
  • The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle
  • The Wrong Bottom Line & How To Change It
  • Think & Grow Rich
  • Three Laws Of Performance
  • Total Leadership
  • Tough Choices
  • Toy Box Leadership
  • Tribes
  • Walk The Walk: The #1 Rule For Real Leaders
  • We Were Soldiers Once And Young
  • What A Great Idea
  • What Got You Here Won't Get You There
  • What Leaders Really Do
  • What They Don't Teach You At Harvard Business School
  • Why Not The Best
  • Who Says Elephants Can't Dance
  • Winning
  • Winning With People
  • Wooden
  • Words That Sell
  • You Don't Need A Title To Be A Leader

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership .  In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself.  It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust.  The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes.  In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter.  In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five Essential Principles For Sustaining Growth Through Innovation

Even though many companies strive for innovation, most struggle to achieve meaningful change. The largest reason for this disconnect? Playing it safe. Leaders and organizations want to implement new ideas, but too often they are held back by the fear of failure, even though setbacks are intrinsic to the innovation process. In the new book, No Fear, No Failure , by Lorraine H. Marchand (with John Hanc), readers will learn how to overcome the status quo that stifles creative thinking and how to create a culture that encourages innovation. Marchand provides a framework for sustained growth built on the “ 5 Cs ”:   Customer First Culture Collaboration Change Chance   She draws on more than 120 interviews with leaders across industries, real-world case studies, and her firsthand experience and shares step-by-step, field-tested strategies, tactics, and tools that practitioners can use to embed creativity within organizational cultures. Marchand is a former Big Tech and Big Pharma ex...
Post a Comment
Read more

Five Crucial Actions That Build Unity And Foster Performance In The Workplace

“Given the research-validated outcomes and demonstrated financial impact belonging offers, organizations should make cultivating belonging a personal leadership imperative across the world,” says  Brad Deutser , author of the book,  Belonging Rules: Five Crucial Actions That Build Unity and Foster Performance .   Furthermore, belonging predicts job satisfaction, engagement, and effort over and above employee’s perceptions of organizational culture or strategy, explains Deutser.   So, what exactly is belonging? It’s:   Belonging is where we hold space for something of shared importance. It is where we come together on values, purpose, and identity; a space of acceptance where agreement is not required but a shared framework is understood; where there is an invitation into the space; and intentional choice to take part in; something vital to a sense of connection, security and acceptance.   As you read the book, you’ll discover vital information about the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Teach An Employee Something New Today

Take the opportunity today to teach an employee something new. Nearly everyone likes to learn and is capable of tackling a new challenge. Teach your employee something that expands their current job description. Teach something that will help them to get promoted within your organization at a later date. Teach them a skill that uses new technology. Or teach them something that will allow them to be a more skilled leader and manager in the future. You can even teach something that you no longer need to be doing in your position, but that will be a rewarding challenge/task for your employee. The  benefit  to your employee is obvious. The benefit to you is you'll have a more skilled team member who is capable of handling more work that can help you to grow your business and/or make it run more efficiently. Be a leader who teaches.
Post a Comment
Read more

Important Questions To Ask Your New Hires

  In  Paul Falcone ’s book,  75 Ways For Managers To Hire, Develop And Keep Great Employees , he recommends asking new employees the following questions 30, 60 and 90 days after they were hired:   30-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Why do you think we selected you as an employee? What do you like about the job and the organization so far? What’s been going well? What are the highlights of your experiences so far? Why? Tell me what you don’t understand about your job and about our organization now that you’ve had a month to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Have you faced any unforeseen surprises since joining us that you weren’t expecting?   60-Day One-on-One Follow-Up Questions Do you have enough, too much or too little time to do your work? Do you have access to the appropriate tools and resources? Do you feel you have been sufficiently trained in all aspects of your job to perform at a high level? How do you see your job relating to the organi...
Post a Comment
Read more

How To Play Bigger And Be A Category King In Business

"The most exciting companies create. They give us new ways of living, thinking, or doing business, many times solving a problem we didn't know we had -- or a problem we didn't pay attention to because we never thought there was another way," explain the four authors of the dynamic new book,  Play Bigger . They add that, "the most exciting companies sell us different. They introduce the world to a new category of product or service." And, they become  category kings . Examples of category kings are Amazon, Salesforce, Uber and IKEA. Play Bigger  is all about the strategy that builds category kings. And, to be a category king you need to be good at  category design : Category design is the discipline of creating and developing a new market category, and conditioning the market so it will demand your solution and crown your company as its king. Category design is the opposite of "build it and they will come." Key traits of category design...
Post a Comment
Read more

How To Use The CPR Business Efficiency Framework To Eliminate A Team's Pain Points

In  Nick Sonnenberg’s  book,  Come Up For Air ,  you’ll learn about his  CPR Business Efficiency Framework , which stands for:   C ommunication P lanning R esources   This framework focuses on eliminating the pain points most teams experience by optimizing these three operation areas foundational to every organization. “In my book, I show you the tools that will boost efficiency in all three of these domains and I provide you with a detailed blueprint for the most effective ways to use them,” explains Sonnenberg. He further shares that some sections of the book may be more applicable to managers, and some may be more applicable to individual contributors. “However, it is still integral that both roles understand all of the concepts within the CPR Framework as each one benefits the team as a whole,” says Sonnenberg. As you read the book, you’ll learn what Sonnenberg has learned through years of building a leading efficiency consulting business – that th...
Post a Comment
Read more

6 Ways To Seek Feedback To Improve Your Performance In The Workplace

Getting feedback is an important way to improve performance at work. But sometimes, it can be hard to seek out, and even harder to hear.  “Feedback is all around you. Your job is to find it, both through asking directly and observing it,” says David L. Van Rooy, author of the new book,  Trajectory: 7 Career Strategies to Take You From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be . As today's guest post, Van Rooy offers these  six tips for how to get the feedback you need to improve performance at work . Guest Post By David L. Van Rooy 1.       Don’t forget to as k :  One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming things are going perfectly (until they make a catastrophic mistake). By not asking, you’re missing out on opportunities for deep feedback: the difficult, critical feedback that gives you constructive ways to improve. 2.       Make sure you listen :  Remember, getting fee...
1 comment
Read more

How to Be a Leader – 9 Principles from Dale Carnegie

Today, I welcome thought-leader Nathan Magnuson as guest blogger... Nathan writes : This is it, your first day in a formal leadership role.   You’ve worked hard as an individual contributor at one or possibly several organizations.   Now management has finally seen fit to promote you into a position as one of their own: a supervisor.   You don’t care if your new team is only one person or ten, you’re just excited that now – finally – you will be in charge! Unfortunately the euphoria is short-lived.   Almost immediately, you are not only overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a team, but you quickly find that your team members are not as experienced or adroit as you.   Some aren’t even as committed.   You find yourself having to repeat yourself, send their work back for corrections, and staying late to fill the gap.   If something doesn’t change soon, you might just run yourself into the ground.   How did something that looked so easy ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Debbie Laskey's Expert Insights On Marketing and Leadership

Debbie Laskey is one of my go-to experts when I seek advice about a number of business topics, including marketing, social media, and nonprofit marketing and leadership.  So, it's my privilege to share today some of Debbie's insights on all these topics. However, before you read the answers to my questions to Debbie, we'll set the stage with her background: Debbie has an MBA Degree and 17 years of marketing experience in the high-tech industry, Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, insurance industry, and nonprofit sector. She’s created and implemented successful marketing and branding initiatives for nonprofits including the Foundation for the Junior Blind, Exceptional Children’s Foundation, League of Women Voters of Los Angeles, and Brides for Good; and in the B2B financial sector for an insurance company and CPA firm.  Currently, she works with the Nonprofit Communications and Media Network and Special Olympics Southern California. ...
Post a Comment
Read more