Leaders are Readers!
The following are excellent resources for personal and leadership development:
Foundational – I recommend these as foundational books for anyone beginning the journey of becoming a virtuous leader:
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John Maxwell – excellent practical principles illustrated by compelling stories and explanation.
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey – a classic that uses a principle based approach to leading yourself and working effectively with others.
- Virtuous Leadership, by Alexandre Havard – one of the most valuable books on forming oneself in the classical virtues while understanding how leverage the specific virtues related to influential leadership.
- The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni – the culmination of many other Lencioni titles, this is a magna carta of effective team health with practical and transformative concepts.
Other Excellent Works – I have found each of these to be very informative for taking one’s leadership to an even deeper level:
- Good to Great, by Jim Collins
- Good to Great and the Social Sectors, by Jim Collins
- How the Mighty Fall, by Jim Collins
- The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni
- Death By Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni
- Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars, by Patrick Lencioni
- Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
- Life Matters: Creating a Dynamic Balance of Work, Family, Time, & Money, by A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill
- Pillars of Leadership, by David J. Vaughan
- Axiom, by Bill Hybels
- Created for Greatness, by Alexandre Havard
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, by Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny
- Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior, by Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny
- Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, by Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny
- The 21 Most Powerful Minutes of a Leaders Day, by John Maxwell
- The Leadership Challenge, by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
- Leading Change, by John P. Kotter
- Boundaries for Leaders, by Henry Cloud
- Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
- Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead, by Laszlo Bock