Best Leadership Books: 29 of the Most Impactful Reads (2024)

Whether you’re a new leader or a veteran entrepreneur, a commitment to learning will help you become as effective as you can be — and there’s certainly no shortage of great leadership and management books to help you do just that.

The problem is that if you search "leadership books" on Amazon, you'll see over 50,000 titles. So how do you know where to begin? We’re here to make it simple for you with this list of the best leadership books of all time.

"Self-awareness and self-love matter. Who we are is how we lead"

Brené Brown

Best leadership books for personal development

Once you know how to manage yourself and your career, you’re ready to become an effective leader and manager. This is tricky, though, because leading people is about more than practical communication skills. There are many theories on what makes a great leader.

You’ll need to work on leadership traits like accountability and trustworthiness, as well as concrete things like managing poor performance and holding productive meetings.

To help you learn both, here are the best leadership and business books for anyone in charge of managing a team.

14. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C. Maxwell

“True leadership cannot be awarded, appointed, or assigned. It comes only from influence, and that cannot be mandated. It must be earned.” - John C. Maxwell

Maxwell is a widely respected author and speaker with over 30 years of leadership experience. In this foundational book, he shares the core, timeless laws of leadership that you’ll be sure to reference many times over the course of your career.

15. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, by Leif Babin and Jocko Willink

In this bestselling leadership book, U.S. Navy Seal Officers Willink and Babin share lessons learned on the battlefield. Using their experience as leaders of the most highly decorated special forces unit in the Iraq war, they teach readers powerful strategies to succeed in life and at work.

16. True North, by Bill George

True North is about the art of leading others. According to George, True North is “the internal compass that guides you successfully through life. It represents who you are as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orientation point that helps you stay on track as a leader.” In short, this is a guidebook for authenticity in leadership.

17. Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown

In this book, prolific author Brené Brown works to answer the question that early-stage startups, Fortune 500 companies, and everyone in between is asking: “How do you cultivate braver, more daring leaders, and how do you embed the value of courage in your culture?” The insights gained from her research will be sure to help you become a better, bolder, and more empathetic leader for your team.

18. Primal Leadership, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee

Primal Leadership is all about the importance of emotionally intelligent leadership. In addition to offering practical advice, the authors address why great leaders need self-awareness and empathy in our increasingly technologically complex and oft-uncertain world.

19. Beyond the Wall of Resistance, by Rick Maurer

Maurer is a change management advisor who understands that you have to overcome inevitable resistance in order for change to happen. He provides a compelling description of three levels of resistance: “I don’t understand it” (a knowledge gap); “I don’t like it” (an emotional gap); and “I don’t like you” (a trust gap). Then he explores strategies to make successful changes more often.

20. Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni

“Remember, teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” -Patrick Lencioni

This book is important for teams looking to overcome the five common “dysfunctions”: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. When leaders carry a clear understanding of these five behaviors and how to remedy them, they are more likely to identify and correct them.

21. The 11 Laws of Likability, by Michelle Lederman

This book explores the 11 laws that contribute to how likable someone is, and the success they will have networking and building relationships. The power in the laws comes from finding the ones most authentic to us and using them to tailor our engagement with others.

The best books for organizational leaders

The most senior business leaders in an organization are responsible for defining the company’s mission, values, culture, and strategy. The following books address many of these topics, for organizational leaders and those who want to become them.

22. Conscious Business, by Fred Kofman

"Consciousness is the main source of organizational greatness." - Fred Kofman

This bestseller describes conscious business as transferring our conscious values as individuals into our work, and even better, into company values. It explores expressing values, understanding boundaries, communicating constructively, effective negotiations, and more.

23. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap, by Jim Collins

"Greatness is not a function of circ*mstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice." - Jim Collins

Good to Great is a classic, must-read leadership book. In it, Collins outlines the research-based principles that separate consistent market segment outperformers from other companies with equal opportunity to do the same.

It also provides insights into what makes a successful leadership team, how to build a culture of discipline, and how technology and analytics can make a difference in an organization's growth – when used correctly.

24. Start with Why, by Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek is an inspirational speaker and author best known for Start with Why. In the book, Sinek outlines his leadership theory, which is called the Golden Circle theory. Basically, he argues companies need to go beyond the practical benefits of what they offer. Instead of focusing on the “what,” they should turn their attention to “why?” This is because as Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”

25. Leaders Eat Last, by Simon Sinek

After the success of Start with Why, Sinek continued his work with the New York Times bestseller Leaders Eat Last. Using true stories from Sinek’s work with the military, big business, and beyond, the book unpacks the idea that the best leaders sacrifice for their teams. Instead of operating solely from self-interest, they foster cooperation, trust, and safety.

26. Dealing with Darwin, by Geoffrey Moore

The core of this book is about understanding what gives organizations market power, and why it is difficult to find the resources to exploit those traits. The “core vs. context” framework of this book is brilliant in its ability to define the true power of your company, how to release resources for pursuing that advantage, and the implications for managing the strengths of your organizational talent pool.

27. How to Be an Anti-Racist, by Ibram Kendi

When social injustices exist at the levels they do today, simply not being racist isn’t enough — one must be anti-racist. Kendi has a great knack for reducing this charged topic to a set of definitions and dimensions surrounding racism.

This allows for more rational, and less emotional, discussions about dealing with racist policies and ideas rather than racists. The book contains a blueprint for organizations that want to re-examine their approach to inclusion and unconscious bias.

28. Moneyball, by Michael Lewis

Moneyball is a book about market disruption and competitive strategy. It chronicles the low-budget 2002 Oakland Athletics team and how they disrupted their industry with new approaches that gave them a distinct competitive advantage. That is until the industry changed.

Disruption sounds harsh, and it can be, both to your competitors and to your team who may be stuck in “old ways.” That said, good change management creates an opportunity for added market power.

29. The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz

“That’s the hard thing about hard things—there is no formula for dealing with them.” - Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz is a successful Silicon Valley founder and investor. His book is one of the best guidebooks out there for entrepreneurs, whether they’re just starting out or raising their final round of funding. Even if you’re not building a company from scratch, Horowitz provides great insights on mindset, business strategy, and old-fashioned hard work.

Moving forward

Whether it’s audiobooks, e-books, or hard copies, consuming leadership books is one of the best ways to grow your skills and accelerate leadership training. — and your business. The most important thing is to take the time to prioritize learning from the many amazing business leaders who came before you.

Ian Munro is a BetterUp Fellow Coach. Ian's passion in life is facilitating progress for others by synthesizing separate ideas and concepts into new ways of moving forward. As a Coach, he helps others find their authentic vitality and ways to let that lead the way in their life and career.

Ian is a happy denizen of Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada. His career as a leader in various business facets of IT allowed him to build a broad context of what makes businesses tick. He's never had a book speak to his true self as much as Fred Kofman’s Conscious Business (Brené Brown’s Gifts of Imperfection comes close).