Here is a list of some of the best leadership books that can enhance your leadership skills in 2023. These top leadership books offer a range of insights in the following domains:
- What connects people?
- How to make organisations successful?
- How to make improved choices?
- How to be a leader who multiplies people’s capabilities?
Having these thoughts and learnings from these leadership books can contribute to your personal and leadership growth. This is an added layer to your learning for 2023 and helps you ace it as a post pandemic leader amidst the challenges of new workplace thinking.
1) Leaders eat last, by Simon Sinek
What’s in the book?
Sinek explores the influence that neurochemicals have on how people feel and act. The book discusses the need for hierarchy, feelings of safety, responsibility driven by empathy, and integrity, along with the ability to bond with others as the principle ideas that should drive leadership.
About the author:
British-born American author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek teaches leaders and organisations on how to inspire people. His books present his ideas about the power of Why. He comes out as an unshakeable optimist and a believer in building a better future, and in our ability to build it together.
2) Leading Change, by John P Kotter
What’s in the book?
The author outlines a process to make any organisation more efficient and successful. While leadership is the key to success when implementing organisational changes, the book discusses common problems that arise during such a change. How do you overcome these challenges, with creativity and leadership skills, forms the crux of this book.
About the author:
Author, Professor of Leadership at Harvard Business School, and the founder of an international management consulting firm, Kotter is a thought leader in business, leadership, and change. He is the premier voice on how the best organisations achieve successful transformation.
3) Tribes, by Seth Godin
What’s in the book?
Defining a tribe as a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea, Seth Godin uses the dynamics of what makes a successful tribe to show how we can create and lead our own tribes, or teams. A team needs only two things to function as a tribe: a shared interest, and a way to communicate. The team’s efficiency, success, and the motivation to keep on going is dependent on the clear articulation and clarity on these two things.
About the author:
Known for his famous quote “Every great company, brand, career has been built in exactly the same way: bit by bit, step by step, little by little,” businessman, marketer, public speaker, and author Seth Godin is also considered to be the ultimate entrepreneur. He has authored several books such as Unleashing the Ideavirus, All marketers are liars, and Linchpin to name a few.
4) Execution: The disciple of getting things done, by Lawrence Bossidy & Ram Charan
What’s in the book?
This book is an examination of what it takes for companies to succeed through strategies, processes, leadership and ultimately execution. It is this which sets successful companies apart from those that fail. Business leaders who understand the reality of markets, customers and resources must own the strategy process and use the operations process to design new programmes and tie performance to incentive. The book discusses these three core processes.
About the authors:
Larry Bossidy is one of the world’s most acclaimed CEOs, who spearheaded General Electric corporation. Ram Charan is a legendary advisor to senior executives and board of directors. They show the importance of being deeply and passionately engaged in an organisation and why robust dialogues about people, strategy and operations result in a business based on intellectual honesty and realism.
5) Surrounded by idiots, by Thomas Erikson
What’s in the book?
Thomas Erikson offers great advice on how to get your point across more effectively, communicate better, and work your way up in your personal and professional life by getting to know the four types of personalities people generally have. The book teaches you how to address each one in particular to kickstart a beneficial dialog instead of engaging in conflict.
About the Author:
As a behavioural expert on communication Thomas Erikson is based in Sweden and works with developing organisations from a leadership perspective. He has also authored several popular science books on communication and human behaviour.
6) The art of thinking clearly, by Rolf Dobelli
What’s in the book?
The book aims to illustrate our day to day thinking hiccups so that we can avoid them and start making improved choices. By using both psychological studies and everyday examples the author provides us with an entertaining collection of our most common fallacies.
About the Author:
Author and entrepreneur Rolf Dobelli is the founder of Zurich Minds, a community of some of the world’s most famed and distinguished thinkers, scientists, artists and entrepreneurs. As a promoter of clarity of thoughts, his writing themes revolve around the meaning of success and the role of randomness in business and in life.
7) The intuitive way: A guide to living from inner wisdom, by Penney Peirce
What’s in the book?
In simple and direct language Peirce describes the intuitive process as a new way of life and demonstrates practical applications from speeding decision making to expanding personal growth. She synthesises teachings from psychology, east-west philosophy, religion, metaphysics, and business under this title.
About the Author:
As a gifted clairvoyant empath and visionary Penney Peirce is one of the pioneers in the intuition development movement. She specialises in intuition development, inner energy dynamics, expanded perception and personal transformation.
8) Multipliers: How the best leaders make everyone smarter, by Greg Mckeown and Liz Wiseman
What’s in the book?
The authors share the idea that we each have the opportunity to become a multiplier rather than a diminisher. While multipliers extract people’s full capability and intelligence, they are the genius makers who bring out the best in others, delivering twice the capability and results of others. Diminishers on the other hand become absorbed in their own intelligence, draining teams of their energy, intelligence, and motivation.
About the Authors:
Leadership experts and management consultants, Mckeown and Wiseman explore leadership styles that have a positive and profitable effect on organisations to get done more with fewer resources, developing and attracting talent while cultivating new ideas and energy to drive change and innovation with their works.
Leadership is, and will always be, a highly dynamic field. Leaders have to stay humane, and empathetic while also trying to stay on top of the challenges and opportunities each year brings with it. These top leadership books have a lot to offer for a wide pool of leaders and their particular challenges.
Which of these top leadership books would you like to start with?
You may also like to read Top Leadership Books To Reach Your Potential in 2022 – Physis
Sailaja Manacha, a Master certified Coach from ICF, is known for her programs and coaching methods that combine psychology with leadership practices. In her work, Sailaja draws from Psychology, Ontology, NLP and Spiritual frameworks as well as rich, real-world experiences.
