The 32 Best Business Books for Leaders
Top CEOs were asked to recommend leadership books that had helped them run successful businesses. What they stated is as follows:
We asked several dozen awardees whose books had inspired and impacted their leadership strategies as part of the first celebration of the Best-Led Companies in the US. We received a treasure mine of character studies, sound advise, and timeless wisdom in return. These are the 32 books that have inspired hundreds of top CEOs to lead effectively, from writers Naomi Klein to Patrick Lencioni to Dilbert creator Scott Adams.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Antifragile: Things That Benefit From Disorder
“Every properly weathered crisis, the book contends, is a chance for the firm and its leadership to grow useful scar tissue that will enhance the organization in the future.”
—Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder of Robinhood, an investment app
2. Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms Our Lives
“The book that has had the most impact on how I lead. It’s a call to action to painstakingly eradicate shame and blame from business culture so that boldness and our finest ideas may shine through.”
Silk Road Medical’s CEO, Erica Rogers
Norman Vincent Peale’s book Enthusiasm Makes the Difference
“I think it is the job of leaders, particularly CEOs, to encourage our employees to do great things.”
—Jerre Stead, CEO of the database for research and intellectual property Clarivate
4. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Books
“I’ve discovered that many of the facts included in its volumes are more than pertinent to running a successful company.”
—Mark Zagorski, CEO of DoubleVerify, an advertising and brand consulting firm
5. Adam Grant’s Give and Take: Why Helping Others Is Important to Our Success
“It’s about figuring out who gives and who takes; who do you want to be, and how do you want to collaborate with others?”
DocuSign CEO Dan Springer
6. Jim Collins’ Good to Great: Why Some Companies Succeed Where Others Fail.
“Good to Great taught me that I didn’t need a larger-than-life personality to be a good leader, and it provided me with methods for leading in a manner that seemed natural to me.”
Vroom’s CEO, Paul J. Hennessy
7. Andrew S. Grove’s High Output Management
“Unlike most management books, High Output Management explains how to be excellent.”
—MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria
8. Donald Robertson’s book How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: Marcus Aurelius’ Stoic Philosophy
“As leaders in an increasingly complicated and demanding world, mastery starts with self, and the guy who once commanded the world’s biggest empire can teach us a surprising lot.”
—Bill Staples, New Relic’s CEO
9. Jack Welch and John A. Byrne’s Straight From the Gut
“Any ambitious company leader will benefit from Jack’s ideas in navigating times of transition, breaking through bureaucratic procedures, and promoting a results-driven and recognized corporate culture.”
Coupa’s CEO, Rob Bernshteyn
Yvon Chouinard and Naomi Klein’s Yvon Chouinard and Naomi Klein’s Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
“They foresaw a lot of what is now being discussed in the workplace. Individual liberty, work schedule flexibility, and management trust are all important factors.”
Momentive’s CEO, Zander Lurie
11. Melissa Bernstein’s LifeLines: An Inspiring Journey From Deep Darkness to Radiant Light
“One of the finest books, written by the creator of the Melissa & Doug toy company, on the struggles that incredibly creative individuals have while starting a business.”
—Robert LoCascio, LivePerson’s creator and CEO
Michael Lewis’ Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unequal Game
“The Oakland Athletics, despite having the lowest payroll in baseball, consistently produced a World Series-contending squad. They were able to accomplish so by being outspoken, defying industry orthodoxy, and analyzing massive volumes of data.”
CEO of Vir Biotechnology, George Scangos
Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer’s book No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
“This book offers a new viewpoint on how to go about establishing a corporate culture that emphasizes trust and openness while also empowering people at all levels.”
—BlockFi’s co-founder and CEO, Zac Prince
Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko (#14).
“Pachinko portrays every character with humanity, even the villains. It got me thinking about how Redfin should treat each employee as if she were a goal in and of herself, rather than a means to an end, and how much it would boost our company’s dignity.”
Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin, an online real estate agency
15. Fred Kiel’s Return on Character: The True Reason Leaders and Companies Succeed
“Kiel was able to demonstrate that strong character leadership not only boosts team morale and retention, but also boosts profits.”
—Dean Hager, founder and CEO of Jamf, a firm that manages Apple devices
Stephen M. R. Covey’s book Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything
“It’s the one thing that changes everything,” as the saying goes.
—Snowflake’s CEO, Frank Slootman
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching
“It’s a collection of Buddhist lyrics on what it means to be a whole person, but many of them include leadership. I always learn something new every time I revisit it.”
René Lacerte is the creator and CEO of Bill.com, a cloud-based financial software company.
18. Execution Disciplines: Achieving Your Extremely Important Goals
Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, Jim Huling, Scott Thele, and Beverly Walker are among the authors of this book.
“If you can’t execute, you can’t operate as a leader. This book explains how to modify your behavior in a simple, straightforward, and successful manner.”
Ragy Thomas, CEO and Founder of Sprinklr, a customer experience management platform
Patrick Lencioni’s The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Is More Important Than Anything Else in Business
“Instead of concentrating on commercial strategy, The Advantage focuses on organizational health. The latter is what all CEOs are preoccupied with all day, but the former is what we should be focusing on more.”
Data analytics platform Databricks co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi
20. Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga’s The Courage to Dislike: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve True Happiness
“Because I—and I believe many other leaders—like to be liked.”
—Patrick Spence, president and CEO of Sonos, a company that makes wireless speakers
21. Scott Adams’ The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads, and Other Workplace Illnesses
“The Dilbert Principle depicts corporate America in a humorous but all-too-real light. The book is a fantastic guide on ‘what not to do.'”
Terry Rosen, CEO of biopharmaceutical firm Arcus Biosciences
22. Peter Drucker’s The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Job Done
“The Effective Executive is a fantastic resource for learning how to operate a business, and I go back to its courses on a regular basis.”
—Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox, a file-sharing service
23. Peter Drucker’s The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Essential Management Writings by Peter Drucker
“Drucker’s guidance is ageless, straightforward, and relevant to a wide range of sectors and professions, equipping readers to lead tomorrow’s businesses.”
—Charles Giancarlo, CEO of Pure Storage, a flash storage company
Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable is number 24.
“Resilient and successful teams are more important than ever before for business and personal success. The book takes a sophisticated look at how leaders may help teams create trust, argue constructively, and accomplish significant outcomes.”
—Frank Calderoni, CEO of Anaplan, a SaaS company
25. Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When No Easy Answers
“Building a business is difficult, and there are no guarantees of success. When I was trying a number of things for the first time, Ben was really upfront, candid, and gave practical advise that connected with me.”
—Serge Saxonov, co-founder and CEO of 10x Genomics, a biotech business
Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail is number 26.
“I used disruptive innovation lessons at three different companies: Paypal, HomeAway, and BigCommerce. Clay is sadly no longer with us, but if he were, I’d be grateful to him for the lessons that helped me transform three industries.”
—Brent Bellm, CEO of BigCommerce, an e-commerce platform
27. James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner’s The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations
“It’s an older book, but it still speaks to me because it takes a very practical approach to teaching new leaders the value of consistency in their actions, questioning procedures, and empowering their teams to achieve.”
—David Foss, CEO of financial services payments processor Jack Henry & Associates
28. William N. Thorndike’s The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success
“The Outsiders does a fantastic job of showing CEOs who quietly expanded their companies by being amazing capital allocators and, as a result, beat their counterparts immensely.”
Founder and CEO of corporate database Henry Schuck ZoomInfo
29. Jeffrey Liker’s The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer
“It delves into the key ideas that underpin lean-performance thinking, such as the value of including all team members in continuous development.”
One Medical, a membership-based general care practice, is led by Amir Dan Rubin.
30. Marc Benioff’s Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change
“Marc Benioff is a unique leader, and his tale exemplifies some of the wonderful rewards and possibly difficult responsibilities that come with choosing principles and actually embodying them.”
—Charlie Bachtell, co-founder and CEO of medicinal marijuana firm Cresco Labs
Turn the Ship Around! 31. L. David Marquet’s True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders
“It’s a Bible on intent-based leadership and how to encourage individuals to make their own choices,” says the author.
—Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock.com, an online retailer
32. Marshall Goldsmith’s What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
“Every year, your job as a CEO is different. Twist, a 750-employee firm, has to consider how to manage a 5,000-employee organization.”
Twist Bioscience’s founder and CEO, Emily Leproust
