Books Every Leader and Executive Coach Should Read

Thousands of leadership books are written each year, yet our knowledge about the topic has not substantially improved. To paraphrase Marc Effron, “Randomly pick any 20 leadership books and they will essentially tell you the same two things.” Although there is much truth to what Marc says, there are some books with unique perspectives on leadership that are worth reading.??

We are admittedly biased, and your list of recommended leadership books likely differs. Most of our books are not?New York Time’s?bestsellers, as they are not faddish, pop psychology tomes that drive sales but say little when it comes to effectively leading others. Our books cut through the clutter, take a clear-eyed view of leadership, and use data to back up their assertions. You may not agree with everything the authors have to say, but they will help you to think more critically about leadership.?

Our Recommended Books on Leadership:

1.?????The Generals?(Thomas Ricks, 2012). There is a fundamental difference between successful leaders (those who are loyal, ambitious, and solely driven to get promoted) and effective leaders (those who engage employees, build teams, and get things done). Ricks is a Pulitzer Prize winning author who describes how well-intended personnel policy changes in the US Army slowly transformed a merit-based talent management system into one that promoted strategic sucking ups. You can read about the disastrous consequences of these policies in another Ricks’ book,?Fiasco.?

2.?????Good to Great?(Jim Collins, 2001).?The only?New York Times?bestseller on our list, Jim Collins and his fellow researchers identified eleven publicly traded companies that had the largest increases in share price over a 15-year period. One of the common themes among these companies was Level Five Leadership, which as characterized by CEOs who were humble, surrounded themselves with the right people, and intensely driven to achieve results. They were the epitome of effective rather than successful leaders.??

3.?????Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders (and How to Fix It)??(Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, 2019). Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is a provocateur-extraordinaire on human behavior and leadership, and we try to read everything he writes. Tomas describes how those who are confident but less competent (usually men) get promoted more frequently than those who are competent but less confident (usually women). This is a variation of the successful versus effective leader distinction and should be top of mind for those making leadership selection and succession planning decisions.?

4.?????Personality and the Fate of Organizations?(Robert Hogan, 2007). Bob Hogan is one of the pre-eminent leadership thinkers of the past 40 years, and in this book he?describes the role personality plays in the success and failure of organizations and societies. Many of Bob’s insights about human behavior are just as relevant today as they were 15 years ago.???

5.?????Coaching the Dark Side of Personality?(Rodney Warrenfelz and Trish Kellett, 2019). People usually get selected for leadership positions because of their intelligence and technical expertise, but often get fired because of their personalities. The authors describe the personality traits that make it difficult for leaders to get results through others and how to help them overcome their dark side tendencies. This book is a must read for anyone doing executive coaching.

6.?????The Versatile Leader: Make the Most of Your Strengths Without Overdoing It?(Bob Kaplan and Rob Kaiser, 2006).?Bob Kaplan and Rob Kaiser?are exceptional leadership thinkers, and their research makes a compelling case against the Strengths-based approach to leadership. The best leaders match their strategy vs. operations and forcing vs. enabling leadership behaviors with the demands of the situation.?

7.?????The Leadership Pipeline?(Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel, 2011).??This book describes what leaders should value, where they should spend their time, and what behaviors they need to start and stop as they transition from individual contributor to front-line supervisor, front-line supervisor to middle-level manager, and the like. Operating at too low a level is a common leadership derailer, and this book is a must read for executive coaches and talent managers.?

8.?????Leadership b.s.?(Jeffrey Pfeffer, 2015). Jeffrey Pfeffer is a professor at Stanford Business School who uses data and poignant examples to skewer many popular notions about leadership. He describes some of the reasons why there are so few effective leaders today; the problems with inspiration, storytelling, trust, humility, positive psychology, Servant Leadership, and Authentic Leadership; and what leaders need to do to succeed in modern organizations.

9.?????Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience (10th?ed.)?(Rich Hughes, Robert Ginnett, and Gordy Curphy, 2021). Readers would be hard pressed to find a book that does a better job translating what the research tells us about power, influence, values, character, personality, intelligence, emotional intelligence, strengths, behavior, followership, motivation, engagement, potential, performance, groups and teams, situations, charisma, change, and derailment into practical advice for leaders. A handy reference guide for leadership trainers and executive coaches, over 100,000 copies have been sold since its initial publication in 1996.

10.??Teams That Work: The Seven Drivers of Team Effectiveness?(Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas, 2021). Leaders are only as successful as the teams they lead, and Scott Tannenbaum and Eduardo Salas are two world-class team researchers who have done an outstanding job summarizing what we know about high performing teams.?

11.??Ignition: A Guide to Building High Performing Teams?(Gordy Curphy, Dianne Nilsen, and Robert Hogan, 2019). Whereas?Teams That Work?provides a great summary of the team research,?Ignition?provides practical advice for how to accurately diagnose team dynamics, successfully launch new teams, fix broken teams, lead groups (versus teams), combine teams, and train leaders how to build teams. With detailed team engagement designs as well as step-by-step instructions for 40 field-tested team improvement activities, the book has everything needed to scale effective teamwork across organizations.

This list is by no means exhaustive, as there are number of other great books and articles on leadership. What books are on your leadership bookshelf? What has helped you understand or think differently about leadership?

Gordon Curphy and Dianne Nilsen are leadership consultants specializing in C-suite succession planning, executive coaching, top team facilitation, team solutions, and leadership development. Together they have developed several successful commercially published leadership and team assessments; worked with over 200 top teams; trained 20,000 leaders; and sold over 100,000 books, chapters, and articles on leadership and teams. You can find more about Gordon and Dianne’s leadership books and consulting services at:?www.curphyleadershipsolutions.com?and?www.TheRocketModel.com.