The Best Leadership Books to Help You Become a Better Boss
Being a boss certainly has its perks, but it can also be tremendously stressful. When every person on your team has a different personality, experience level, and background, you can’t simply take a one-size-fits-all approach to leading them. But you’re just one person. How can you navigate the minefield of leadership in a way that works?
Well, first things first: find out the kind of leadership style that suits you best. To do that, it’s a great idea to delve into some of the best leadership books, written by experts who really know their stuff. We’ve created a list of some of the most popular leadership books in the Blinkist library to get you started. You can check out the key ideas from each of these titles in just about 15 minutes with Blinkist.
So, if you’re ready to become a better leader and take your business into bold new territory, a life-changing lesson is just a few taps away. Not sure where to get started? Here are a few of our most-read books about leadership.
The best leadership books to help you manage like a boss
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek
Leaders Eat Last
- 15 min reading time
- audio version available
You may not realize it, but our biology is responsible for determining who’s a leader and who’s a follower in the game of life. This doesn’t mean all leaders are good, however. By contrasting modern societies with those from thousands of years ago, the author of this bestselling leadership book defines the qualities of true leadership and explains what really makes a leader worth following.
The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength by Jennifer Kahnweiler
The Introverted Leader
- 16 min reading time
- audio version available
After interviewing more than 100 introverted professionals to learn about how they thrive in an extroverted business culture, the author of this popular leadership book wrote about the specific challenges introverts face in the corporate world, and she further offers advice on how introverted executives can harness a specific set of strengths to overcome limitations and become great leaders.
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
Lean In
- 18 min reading time
- audio version available
In this breakthrough leadership book, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer explains how, despite significant strides, gender equality is elusive and women remain largely absent from leadership roles. To resolve this, Sandberg advises women lean into their careers by seizing opportunities and aspiring to leadership positions. She additionally calls on men and women to remedy current inequalities by having an open dialogue about the topic and working together to redefine the status quo.
Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results by Roger Connors and Tom Smith
Change the Culture, Change the Game
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
Take your team to new heights by implementing a culture of accountability in your organization. By discovering how to invigorate your company’s collective attitude and encouraging a shift in thinking, it’s possible to achieve game-changing results. According to the authors, however, results and goals are just part of the equation, and in order to ensure sustained change, leaders must consider all the elements on the table.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
- 19 min reading time
- audio version available
Highlighting the habits that distinguish people who deal particularly well with the world from everyone else, this bestselling leadership book explains you can become a better person—and a better boss—by adopting the attitude of the highly effective and aligning yourself with universal principles.
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
How to Win Friends & Influence People
- 18 min reading time
- audio version available
The classic leadership book from 1936 presents basic rules for how to make a good first impression and effortlessly win people over. With timeless advice backed by anecdotes about famous historical figures, Carnegie explains the easy techniques to help become more popular and persuasive, and he shares simple guidelines to instantly make yourself more likable.
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink
Drive
- 13 min reading time
- audio version available
Many modern companies rely on extrinsic motivation in the workplace, even though the carrot-and-stick approach can have harmful consequences. Delineating the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, this book reveals how we can best motivate ourselves and others by first understanding how motivation works and then learning how to promote it.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t by Jim Collins
Good to Great
- 15 min reading time
- audio version available
Arguing that companies can leap from mediocrity to greatness by pursuing a simple concept with the right leaders and culture, this eye-opening leadership book presents the findings of a 5-year study of companies that achieved enduring success after long periods of mediocre performance. Collins further highlights the factors that separate those companies from their less-successful competitors and details key concepts concerning leadership, culture, and strategic management.
How to Be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact by Jane E. Dutton and Gretchen M. Spreitzer
How to Be a Positive Leader
- 18 min reading time
- audio version available
Based on cutting-edge research complemented by vivid examples from actual organizations, this book explains how to level up your leadership skills by embracing a positive organizational behavior. When high performance among employees is paired with a positive attitude when it comes to work, organizations can reach new heights and employees can become completely satisfied.
The Hard Thing about Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
- 22 min reading time
- audio version available
The job of a CEO is among the toughest and loneliest in the world. Having to fire friends or lay off an entire division can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety. Fortunately, this guide offers techniques to help chief executives survive challenging times and become incredible leaders, all while accepting ultimate responsibility for their company’s fate.
What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader by Alison Reynolds, Dominic Houlder, Jules Goddard and David Lewis
What Philosophy Can Teach You About Being a Better Leader
- 18 min reading time
- audio version available
No matter who you are, you will at some point in your life end up leading something or someone. This 2019 release examines some of the most important aspects of leadership that we often lose sight of in today’s competitive, money-focused world. Drawing from ancient and modern philosophy, the authors help us find new perspectives, insights, and strategies for rethinking how we manage, lead, and communicate.
No Bullsh*t Leadership by Chris Hirst
No Bullsh*t Leadership
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
What do you think makes a great leader? Do you think corner offices, sharp suits, or impressive titles? No Bullsh*t Leadership reveals why that kind of thinking limits the range of ways in which people can lead and lead well, and breaks down the key principles of effective leadership. Even if you feel like you’re not a “natural leader”, any of us can learn how to become great leaders if we really want to. All you need is the will. Chris Hirst shows you the way.
There you have it! Some of the greatest leadership books ever written that can help you become one of the best leaders the world has ever seen! Jump into any of these titles today, and your employees and colleagues will thank you for it. Happy reading!
