11 Popular Leadership Books That Can Inspire Greatness

1. The Gifts of Imperfection

Best Leadership Book

By Brené Brown

Self-compassion and self-love are major themes in The Gifts of Imperfection. It invites us to accept our own flaws as we would anybody else’s and to accept our abilities and gifts as gifts to others rather than gifts to ourselves. So, We can engage others on the same level if we know who we are and enjoy who we are. This is the essence of this book.

Notable Quote- Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. Further, The choice, to be honest. So, The choice to let our true selves be seen.”

2. Learning to Lead: The Journey to Leading Yourself, Leading Others, and Leading an Organization

Great Leadership Book

By Ron Williams with Karl Weber

Ron Williams grew born in segregated Chicago and rose through the ranks of the healthcare industry to become the CEO of Aetna. Furthermore, Learning to Lead is created for readers starting their careers who are trying to go on the proper route to Leadership, as Williams points out right away. Williams’ lessons range from broad and philosophical to specific and practical; he illustrates the latter with an example from his own career in healthcare, which nearly doubled in size as a percentage of the economy during his tenure.

Notable quote– A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.

3. Conscious Leadership: Elevating Humanity Through Business

Best Leadership Book To Read

By John Mackey, Steve Mcintosh, and Carter Phipps

Conscious Leadership is a credo for ethical corporate behaviour. Head author John Mackey created Whole Foods, and his leadership advice is flavoured by his devotion to sustainability, ethics, and compassion. Moreover, Conscious Leadership promotes purpose and value-based Leadership, encouraging leaders to live out their values and act as role models in their workplaces and communities. “Every individual and every organisation, whether they realise it or not, have the power to embrace, enact, and unite people behind a greater purpose.”

Notable quote– If you love your work, you’ll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can, and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you-like a fever.

4. Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence

Top-rated Leadership Book

By Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, and Annie McKee

One of the most undervalued leadership abilities is emotional intelligence. To encourage and resonate with employees, leaders must connect with them. Primal Leadership teaches leaders how to recognise and manage emotions, sympathise with people, and create emotionally intelligent businesses. Further, Emotionally intelligent Leadership allows leaders to prevent misunderstandings and erroneous judgments, build stronger relationships with employees, and communicate in real-time with them. So, The writers are experts in the fields of psychology and business consulting, and they back up their claims with personal and professional experiences.

Notable Quote– “Not that leaders need to be overly “nice”; the emotional art of Leadership includes pressing the reality of work demands without unduly upsetting people.

Grab a copy of Primal Leadership and get inspired.

5. The Untethered Soul

Must Read Book on Leadership

By Michael Singer

One of the most intellectual, if not spiritual, leadership books accessible is The Untethered Soul. It aids our interior journey by allowing us to see our ego-self objectively and dispassionately, as well as untethering ourselves from automatic ideas and emotions that obstruct our conscious awareness.

Notable quote– There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind – you are the one who hears it.

6. Humble Leadership: The Power of Relationships, Openness, and Trust

Best Leadership Book

By Edgar H. Schein and Peter A. Schein

Edgar H. Schein has long been regarded as a leading authority on corporate culture. In this new book, Humble Leadership, Schein collaborates with his son and consulting partner, Peter, to look at what the elder Schein has long stated to be the other side of the cultural coin: Leadership. Schein suggest that the reader “reframe the personal task of strengthening your leadership abilities into a social challenge of helping to enhance how your groups function” based on this assumption.

They call this sort of leadership “Level 2” and distinguish it from the old paradigm of Leadership, which they criticise as hierarchical and reliant on individual heroic performance.

Notable quote– Effective leadership is all about building trust and relationships.

7. Disrupt-It-Yourself: Eight Ways to Hack a Better Business–Before the Competition Does

Best Leadership Book You should have

By Simone Bhan Ahuja 

In today’s boardrooms, the fear of disruption is pervasive. The solution to this paralysis-inducing stance, according to innovation expert Ahuja, is to innovate within your company before the competitor disrupts you out of business. She then sets out eight strategies to accomplish just that, using an unusually broad group of examples to demonstrate that this is the most effective way for a company to survive and develop over time.

Notable Quote- Companies can no longer assume innovation will “just happen”—it must be seeded, grown, and successfully harvested. They must disrupt themselves.

8. Leaders Eat Last

Best Leadership Books of All time

By Simon Sinek

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek, like many other excellent leadership books, is based on military ideas. Thus, The concept in question is that high-ranking officers eat after their men, prioritising the needs of their reports. People-first Leadership, according to Sinek, helps crews feel supported as well as appreciated. As a result Employees are compells to show loyalty and exceed expectations. Further, Sinek claims that psychological safety and trust are the keys to excellence, and he backs up his claim with numerous instances from all sorts of businesses throughout the world.

Notable Quote– “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

9. Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Great Leadership Books To Read

By Patrick Lencioni

This book is essential reading for teams wishing to “raise their game” and overcome self-inflicted roadblocks. Specifically, there is a lack of trust, a fear of disagreement, a lack of commitment, a lack of responsibility, and a lack of focus on outcomes. So, Leaders who have a firm grasp on these five behaviors and how to address them are more likely to recognise and fix them.

Notable Quote– A fractured team is just like a broken arm or leg; fixing it is always painful, and also sometimes you have to rebreak it to make it heal correctly. And the rebreak hurts a lot more than the initial break because you have to do it on purpose.

10. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

Best Leadership Books for Transformation

By John C. Maxwell

“The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,” written by John C. Maxwell, a world-renowned leadership expert, is a book written by a top expert with more than 30 years of leadership experience. Moreover, This book distills what Maxwell has learned about Leadership into a few life-changing ideas that you can use in your own life.

As the title of the book implies, there are 21 laws in all that the author has divided into various chapters. When you study, understand, and practise each of these chapters, you will be able to establish a direction, encourage, and inspire others, with the ultimate objective of developing a leader in you that everyone will want to follow.

Notable Quote- You can’t move people to action unless you first move them with emotion… The heart comes before the head.”

11. On Becoming a Leader

Must Read Book on Leadership

By Warren Bennis

Warren Bennis (1925-2014), the book’s author, was a pioneer in the field of leadership studies. His wisdom has helped presidents, corporate executives, and others become effective leaders. Warren’s primary premise in “On Becoming a Leader” is that leaders are not born but made. So, The book includes leadership attributes, examples of people who exhibit those qualities, and easy tactics that anybody can adapt to become a great leader. So, For innumerable readers, this classic book has provided invaluable information.

Notable quote– If knowing yourself and being yourself were as easy to do as to talk about, there wouldn’t be nearly so many people walking around in borrowed postures, spouting second-hand ideas, trying desperately to fit in rather than to stand out.”

The above-illustrated books are similar to management books, books for CEOs and mentorship books.