My Top 6 Leadership Books

The Benefits of Leadership Books

Growing up, I was never much of a reader. I feel that is probably the case with many restless young boys. It was just hard for books to compete with the level of stimulation that sports or video games could provide. Nowadays I find my attention often pulled away by social media or my phone. While I have cultivated a consistent reading habit for myself, it seems that there are even more stimulants to compete with than ever before. For example, today we can now use any number of apps like Google, Spotify, YouTube, or ChatGPT to produce an endless number of curated sound bites on any topic imaginable. When it comes to information, most of us are drinking through a fire hose. So the question is, why invest in building out a reading habit?

What I found as I got older is that the practice of daily reading trains my brain to improve its ability to focus and process information. Many studies support this, including several other benefits such as:

• Stress Reduction

• Improved Memory

• Expanded Vocabulary

• Better Focus

• Stronger Analytical Skills

All valuable gains for a leader. Beyond this, reading simply provides some relief during the day from the stream of constant arousal we get from technology and a busy lifestyle. So while we can certainly get the information we need from video shorts, podcasts, or infographics, these forms of media do not allow us space to internalize the information. Thus we consume a vast amount of information and fool ourselves into thinking we can apply it. It’s like working out, but never increasing the intensity of your training. You may get satisfaction from going through the motions of going to the gym and doing the exercises, but your level of physical fitness is actually not improving.

Thus, it is my position that every leader should have a regular practice of reading. So in this article I want to go over my top 6 leadership books. I have broken this list down into 2 sections: leading others and leading yourself. Let’s dive in!

Leadership Books for Influence

1. Leaders Eat Last 

Simon Sinek

This is probably my favorite leadership book and the title is based on the military practice of leaders eating after their teams. In this book Simon Sinek talks about best practices to cultivate an environment of trust and collaboration on teams, giving special emphasis to the importance of care and empathy.

Big Takeaway: One concept I loved from this book was the importance of giving authority to those who have information. Often leaders at the very top of organizations have all the authority, but little information about the everyday operations of the business. On the other hand, frontline workers and middle managers have much closer proximity to these things, and to customers. Empowering these groups with more authority can be a huge game-changer for a company.

2. Extreme Ownership

Jocko Wilink

Drawing from his experience leading Navy SEALS, Jocko stresses the importance of leaders taking radical responsibility for everything within their control. If you want your team to take ownership over their work, it starts with the leader modeling that, and refusing to play the blame game.

Big Takeaway: I loved how this book unpacked the value of simplicity. Human beings often gravitate towards complexity and will create more layers of it than necessary. A great habit for leaders is to constantly assess their systems and SOPs and look for opportunities to simplify them.

3. The Culture Code

Daniel Coyle

Building on a number of different case studies, Daniel Coyle explores 3 key skills that create a strong and high-performing team culture: building safety, sharing vulnerability, and establishing purpose.

Big Takeaway: Purpose is a topic that leadership experts have talked about before, but I think this book explains it better than most. I like how this book practically breaks down building purpose through shared goals, values, and stories. Leaders need to constantly find ways to remind their teams of the “Why” behind their work.

Books for Self-Improvement

4. Atomic Habits

James Clear

You may have heard of this book before as it has become quite popular in recent years, and for good reason. It is a hyper-practical guide for building good habits and breaking bad ones. The author argues that success has a lot more to do with your systems and small habits, than long-term goals.

Big Takeaway: There are many I could mention here, but one important point Clear makes is that success is driven by your systems, not your goals. Often we only notice the moment a goal is achieved and the outcome it produces. However, we fail to realize that this outcome was actually achieved by a number of small, consistent habits in the background that positioned us for that success. When we focus on building effective habits, we will often have more success than focusing on the goal or outcome.

5. The Intelligence Trap

David Robson

This book examines why intelligent people often make poor and biased decisions, despite their intellect. David Robson argues that we need more than simply intelligence to make good decisions. The good news is that we can cultivate skills such as self-awareness and intellectual humility to improve this.

Big Takeaway: This book was very enlightening for me. It unpacks many studies and principles that show intelligent people can sometimes be even more susceptible to bias and overconfidence than others. This can make them better at rationalizing bad decisions and defending faulty beliefs.

6. Slow Productivity

Cal Newport

Not only was this book very liberating for me, but it helped me see the topic of productivity in an entirely different way. This book explores how individuals can be highly productive and achieve meaningful work while avoiding burnout. It debunks many common myths about productivity such as needing a fast pace and constantly being busy.

Big Takeaway: The biggest “aha” moment was debunking the idea of busyness. Instead of focusing on hours worked, or tasks completed, shift your focus to depth and meaningful results of your work. Success comes more from doing the right things, than the number of things you do.

Invest in your Leadership

So if you are a leader and looking to improve your effectiveness, these books are a great place to start and I would highly recommend them. If you don’t consider yourself much of a reader, I would encourage you to start with a very small and manageable chunk. Even a few pages a day will do. The key is that it is something you can maintain. Similar to the law of friction, there is more resistance in starting a task, than there is in continuing one. Thus, if you start with a small chunk and build some momentum, you will find it easier to scale the habit into something larger. I believe leaders should always make time to regularly invest in themselves and their craft, and a daily reading practice is a great way to do this.

Nonetheless, sometimes you need some help in building out habits from a 3rd party. If you are looking to improve your leadership and performance this year, I would love to talk with you about how coaching can help you build winning habits and reach your goals.

Go ahead and book a free discovery call with me to get the process started!