It is hard to argue with the idea that readers are better leaders. Therefore, there are hundreds of lists of “must read” leadership books. While there is nothing wrong with these lists, they are redundant and assume everyone has the same starting point. Today, I’m sharing a different list. Rather than telling you what you “must read,” I am sharing five books that most impacted me as a leader. After reading them and applying their lessons, these books changed the way I thought and led. I hope my list (including why I picked them) inspires you to add some of my favorites to your list. Or perhaps just start your own leadership reading list.
Here are the five books I am thinking about as I reflect on my leadership journey so far. They are in order of publication date.
The Circle of Innovation: You Can't Shrink Your Way to Greatness by Tom Peters
I believe I have read all of Tom Peters’ books, and all have had an impact on me. This one was not among his most famous. But it came at a time when I was trying to move my business from a one-person consultancy to a team. It is not about leadership completely or exactly. Instead, it challenged me to think about growth – of the team, of products and services, and mission. And still challenges me.
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
This popular book helped me understand much about creating a better flow for my work. But it also challenged me to think about creating those environments and situations for those I lead too. I have used ideas and insights from this book to help us create more effective environments for learners as well.
QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability at Work and in Life by John G. Miller
When I read this fabulous book, it put words to my beliefs about personal accountability. I use those insights everyday as an individual, leader, coach, and facilitator of learning. This short book (especially when compared to the first two on this list) can have a huge impact. Read it for yourself. If you are reading it thinking about why others need to read it, you are missing at least part of the point.
A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas by Warren Berger
I’ve read many books about asking questions, how to use questions, and what makes them work better. This book helps us apply those ideas and lead through inquiry to get new and better ideas. But it also helps us create trust, engagement, acceptance of change, and much more. If I had to read only one book about questions as a leader, this would be it. Or at least where I would start.
The Outward Mindset: Seeing Beyond Ourselves by The Arbinger Institute
To be an effective leader, we must become less self-focused and more other-focused. Much like QBQ, this book helped me categorize and codify what I already knew and believed about being other-focused. But it also challenged me to live in that belief. This is the newest book on this list, yet it offers timeless wisdom for us as leaders and humans.
Honorable Mention
I will add one more, and that is my first book specifically about leadership – Remarkable Leadership. The others taught me and challenged me as a reader. This book (as did all mine) did that for me as a writer. Writing it forced me to reflect on my own leadership compared to what is necessary for high-level leadership.
These books were published between 1997 and 2016. I’ve read hundreds published earlier and hundreds published later. There have been many others that I learned from and even loved. But these five had and continue to have an impact on my thinking and relative success as a leader.
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