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The 50 Best Leadership Books of All Time

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What is the secret to great leadership? Is it a case of sheer good luck and opportunity, some magical cocktail of in-born genius, ambition and charisma, or can it be learned and taught? Leadership isn’t just about money and power. It’s about understanding what makes people tick, knowing your own values and worth, and working with the people and resources around you to make the best out of things.

It’s good for business, of course, but it’s more than just that. These are life skills that can help you realise both personal and professional goals. Developing your leadership skills can make a big difference to you and the world around you. Who wouldn’t want that?

So if you’re wondering if you have what it takes to be a good leader, you are not alone. Millions of books are sold every year to people hoping that the golden shimmer of success will rub off on them. It makes sense to look to the wisdom and advice of people who have made it to the top of their fields, and maybe take a leaf out of their books.

But with such a mountain of leadership books available, it can be overwhelming, which ones are suited to your needs, and which ones are actually good.

To give you a head start the resume experts at Resume.io, used Goodreads ratings to identify the top 50 books in the leadership genre and compiled them into one list for ease:

  1. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
  2. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
  3. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
  4. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
  5. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
  6. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
  7. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
  8. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
  9. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
  10. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
  11. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  12. Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
  13. The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
  14. Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
  15. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
  16. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill by Napoleon Hill
  17. The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss
  18. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
  19. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
  20. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
  21. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
  22. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
  23. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
  24. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
  25. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund
  26. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
  27. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni
  28. Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
  29. Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman
  30. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth H. Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
  31. #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso
  32. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
  33. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull
  34. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
  35. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Jean Greaves and Travis Bradberry
  36. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
  37. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Al Switzler, Joseph Grenny, and Ron McMillan
  38. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by William Ury, Roger Fisher, and Bruce Patton
  39. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
  40. Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
  41. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
  42. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
  43. Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Christopher Voss and Tahl Raz
  44. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras
  45. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell
  46. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
  47. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
  48. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham
  49. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown
  50. Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute

From the ancient wisdom of a Chinese military strategist, to advice from world-famous leaders in modern business, tech, and media, there’s bound to be a book full of wisdom that makes sense to you.

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Success Advice

How Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success

Your life is dictated by beliefs and biases that drive your thinking, behaviors, and decisions

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Your Beliefs Can Supercharge or Sabotage Your Success (1)
Image Credit: Midjourney

Pause for a moment and ponder two pandemic-era beliefs: First, closing schools will control the spread of a serious virus. Second, the consequences of such school closures—particularly social interruption and the prevention of immunity—are worse than becoming sick with the virus. (more…)

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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Image Credit: Midjourney

In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be. 

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time. 

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.

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Success Advice

Here’s a Young Man’s Antidote for the Uncertainty of the Modern World

Why do a lot of young guys lack confidence in today’s world? 

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How to boost your confidence
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We all have been told that confidence is a key factor in achieving success and happiness in life. But what is it exactly? (more…)

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Success Advice

Toxic Leadership: 5 Ways to Identify a Bad Leader

if you have a leader who displays any of the toxic traits, it’s time to move on to greener pastures.

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Toxic leadership
Image Credit: Midjourney

Let’s be honest, we’ve all crossed paths with a toxic leader in our careers at some point. Unfortunately, while some toxic leaders don’t even bother to hide their behaviour, some know very well how to conceal their true selves behind a strong-built facade. The latter is the most dangerous of the two. (more…)

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