Leadership is about understanding the importance of having a vision and committing to it. As a leader, you also motivate other people to achieve success. It means having the heart to be of service too.
Leadership goes beyond the workplace. It is practiced in other aspects of everyday life. Learn how you can improve your leadership skills with these books. (See Related: What True Leaders Never Do)
The Non-Obvious Guide to Emotional Intelligence (You Can Actually Use) by Kerry Goyette
Leadership skills are not only based on how high your IQ is. The Non-Obvious Guide talks about emotional intelligence and its applications in leadership.
Author Kerry Goyette shares how to use EQ to navigate through challenges. It’s a great reference in honing relationship skills. After all, as a leader, knowing how to build and maintain relationships is important.
The Non-Obvious Guide contains relatable experiences to learn from. It also includes insights on how to create a productive environment.
The Empathy Edge: Harnessing the Value of Compassion as an Engine for Success by Maria Ross
Empathy is an essential leadership skill that has been a topic of so many TED Talks. The Empathy Edge talks about its importance in the workplace. It highlights how it gives an edge to any kind of business.
The book contains interviews and stories that show how powerful empathy is. Author Maria Ross shares its effect on customers, employees, and even, communities. She also emphasizes the importance of authenticity.
The Empathy Edge has a lot of actionable insights for any aspiring leader.
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek
Bestselling author Simon Sinek shares true stories of different organizations. The stories are about the faces of leadership in different fields. This includes the US military, medicine, finance, business, and history.
Leaders Eat Last is not a guide. It presents case studies on effective leadership in teams, how they succeed, and why others fail. Sinek also highlights how leaders sacrifice for the good of others.
Overall, this is perfect for aspiring leaders and experienced leaders who are looking to improve their organizations.
Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, et al.
One of the best ways to learn is to learn from the best. The Trillion Dollar Coach is about Coach Bill Campbell who has mentored numerous business leaders in Silicon Valley. Some of the companies he has helped are Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple.
The book is filled with leadership insights from the coach. The authors also share Campbell’s best practices when overcoming challenges in the organization. Its themes include vision performance, positivity, and relationships.
The Trillion Dollar Coach is an incredible book for all kinds of leaders and businesses.
Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday
This New York Times Bestseller & Wall Street Journal Bestseller is about the power of stillness. For leaders, it is inevitable to get overwhelmed by responsibilities. Sometimes, it is also easy to get distracted with so many pieces of information around us.
In this book, author Ryan Holiday shares how leaders can overcome these challenges and frustrations. He talks about the importance of focus and being in the moment. This covers aspects of the mind, body, and spirit.
It is essential for leaders to learn self-mastery. Stillness Is The Key contains useful insights and stories of great inspiring people. It’s a practical book that is very applicable to the busy modern times.
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Taking ownership is one of the essential leadership skills. It means taking responsibility. It is committing to a goal from start to finish, whatever the circumstance.
What does a leader do when everything begins to fail? Extreme Ownership shares winning principles of leadership based on the U.S. Navy SEALs. The concepts revolve around firsthand experiences during the time of war.
Nevertheless, these lessons of leadership are very applicable to everyday life. The authors also share effective team structures and why others fail.
The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger
The Ride of a Lifetime allows aspiring and experienced leaders alike to learn from the best. It shares the experiences of Robert Iger, who ran one of the world’s most admired companies, the Walt Disney Company.
The book is a treasure of lessons paired with clear examples that makes it easy for anyone to understand. It is filled with practical insights that can be applied to both personal and professional aspects of life.
The book revolves around themes of positivity, courage, decisiveness, respect, and fairness. These are truly essential in honing leadership skills.
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier
As a leader, one of the most important things that can be done is to empower the people around you. It is inspiring them to become better versions of themselves. It is supporting them to reach for their goals.
The Coaching Habit highlights the impact of coaching for effective teamwork. It summarizes the principles of coaching into seven core questions. Also, the book discusses the importance of working smart compared to working hard.
Author Michael Bungay shares simple but effective lessons that can be applied at work and even at home. It is great for everyone who works with people or manages them.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell
Do you have what it takes to become a leader? Find out by reading this book wherein author John C. Maxwell shares valuable lessons from his 30 years of leadership experience.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership was first released in 1998 and has gone through updates since then. Yet, it remains a classic. It is still an excellent guide for new and existing leaders.
He lays down leadership principles with relevant examples that can be applied to any kind of organization. This book can effectively help leaders in both personal and professional development.
Conclusion
Reading these books can help guide you into being a better leader. If you continuously ask yourself what you can do better and how you can do things differently, then you are already off to a great start. Keep up the good work! (See Related: 8 Essential Qualities of a Great Leader)
