Five Popular Books on Leadership

Leadership Books

• How to Win Friends and Influence People
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
• Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

Whether you aspire to achieve success in business management, politics, the military, or any other role that requires you to lead other people, you'll want to consider reading all five of these best-selling books on leadership. Want ideas for getting the best out of the people you manage? Need techniques for creating instant rapport with potential customers, potential voters, job interviewers, job interviewees, colleagues, bosses or just about anyone else? These books include numerous ideas on how to become an inspiring and influential leader.

1. How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie's classic text on the topic of personal influence has been in print since 1937. It isn't at all outdated as of 2017. You're likely to find it helpful if you would be interested in learning twelve different ways to get other people on board with your way of thinking about things. It's also a good read if you want to discover nine ways to change other peoples' outlook without having them resent you for it. A main objective of this book is teaching readers how to achieve financial success. However, leading others is one of the subtopics covered in the book, and it is a book that every aspiring leader can benefit from reading.

2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

It would be an understatement to say this is a popular book for aspiring leaders. It has been in print for over 25 years. So far there are more than five million copies of the book in existence, and the title is available in 32 different languages.

While the book doesn't directly set out to be a manual about leading others, Steven R. Covey communicates seven habits you'll definitely want to adopt if you aspire to become an effective role model. Covey teaches you how to first manage yourself and then other people by extension. The book also gives you important insights about positioning yourself to create mutually beneficial situations for yourself and the people you aspire to lead.

3. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

In this best-selling book for leaders, author Simon Sinek articulates his ideas about the primary action and communication methods that differentiate great role models and great companies from others. The main takeaway from this book: Not-so-memorable leaders tend to start with the questions of "What?" or "How?" while the most brilliant leaders start with the question of "Why?" If you re-arrange the starting order of these questions, it can dramatically affect the outcome of every interaction that follows. This is one of the top books aspiring leaders will want to consider reading; it's also beneficial to watch Simon Sinek's related TED talk.

4. Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't

This book by Simon Sinek is valuable because it gives the blueprint for achieving a world where everyone could feel excited to head to work in the morning. Everyone could feel like a valued and trusted member of the team, and everyone could find fulfillment in his or her role at work. Sinek places the responsibility for these achievements in the hands of the team's leaders. Sinek's arguments demonstrate how organizations can build teams that trust each other and work together to achieve their objectives. He contrasts these ideals against the corporate cultures of other organizations fraught with rivalries among team members.

5. The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever

In this powerful book for aspiring leaders, author Bungay Stanier teaches you how to develop the potential of the people you lead or manage. He gives you a checklist of seven questions you can ask your team with the intention empowering all your team members to achieve the greatest successes they're capable of. Learning to ask these questions enables you and your team to solve the most crucial problems in the shortest amount of time. It's a valuable tool for leaders who can't work any harder and therefore must work smarter.

Now you're updated on five of our top picks for popular books on leadership. If you're interested in reading about how to best lead other people, these best-selling leadership manuals are ideal reading material to stimulate your brain with inspiration on the topic.

Related Resource: The 25 Best Online Masters in Organizational Leadership