A Shortlist of Recommended Leadership Books for New or Aspiring Managers

There are so many great leadership, business, management, and strategy books out there. The sheer volume can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re like me and didn’t attend business school or have much in the way of formal management training.?

I’m occasionally asked for leadership book recommendations, and most often these requests come from folks who are trying to get into people leadership or who have recently become first time managers. This shortlist is aimed at this demographic and is of course biased toward the material I’ve covered and am familiar with (I’ve read lots of management books but not all!). I’m also targeting these recommendations to technical (e.g. security, software engineering, etc.) managers, as that’s where my experience lies.?

In no particular order:

27 Challenges a Manager Faces - This is just a no frills guide to common challenges that managers encounter. Examples include managing employees that need to become more productive, managing through uncertainty, and managing across cultural and language differences. Super pragmatic - if you’re curious about how managers spend their time, look through this book’s table of content.?

The Managers Path - This is the only book of the four that is tech focused. Great analysis of the progression from line manager to CTO and beyond and the skills you'll need at each step. Becoming a manager, managing managers, creating strategy, influencing non-technical executive peers, etc.?

Behind Closed Doors - Told through the experience of a fictional new manager “Sam” that’s coming up to speed. I’ve always loved the title and explanation - much of the work of great managers is done out of sight - in one on one and small group meetings - coaching, mentoring, handling conflict, providing feedback, etc.?

Resilient Leadership 2.0 - Focuses on resilience as a core leadership competence. From the Goodreads summary “Resilient leaders are able to remain calm, clearheaded, and principled in spite of increasing anxiety and escalating change.”? I often refer to this book’s concept of a leader as a "step down transformer" - someone who can make their team/organization less reactive and anxious. A calming presence to allow execution to continue even when adversity and uncertainty arise.?

I hope this list is helpful. Beyond any specific recommendation, though - it’s most important to recognize that management and leadership is its own discipline with its own body of knowledge you’ll need to explore. Being a great engineer won’t make you a great manager - you need to commit to acquiring and refining the skills that will get you there.