Best Books on Leadership

Reading books is not the only way to become a good leader. But it certainly helps you in the process of becoming a true leader, by providing you with some crucial information on what goes in to becoming a leader. For centuries, people have been wondering why some make great leaders without any apparent leadership skills, and why some fail even if they have a favorable background. Well, the answers for such nuances could be found in some of the books on leadership.

Warren Bennis is regarded as one of the all time greats when it comes to leadership books. As the name of the book suggests, it focuses more on how one becomes a leader and shares some great information on the paradigm of leadership. In this book, the author has studied and analyzed twenty-eight successful leaders, which forms the core. This real-life information based on the experiences of successful leaders makes this book a must-read for every aspiring leader.

Two great scholars, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman have authored this book, which guides the readers about how to be successful in business and career. The authors have selected a few companies from America which are successful, and have studied the attributes that are common to all of them.

This book largely focuses on the organizational success than the individual one, and hence, emphasizes more on leadership in work culture. This is a good book to read for people who wish to be successful leaders in their business.

The author, Michael Useem, has summarized leadership in this book as, 'Leadership entails changing a field strategy or revamping a languishing organization. It requires us to make an active choice among plausible alternatives and it depends on bringing along, on mobilizing them to get the job done.

Leadership is at its best when the vision is strategic, the voice persuasive and the results tangible.' The author has studied nine real-life true cases, where the leaders have been tested at every point with many challenges at the same time. So, this book basically tells you how to lead in times of crisis.

This world famous book is endowed with expert thoughts by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. This worldwide bestselling book on leadership too is a research-based book that proves its point through various case studies.

This book largely focuses on essentials of leadership, and tells the readers what he or she must have or strive to achieve in order to become a successful leader. The visual appeal of this book is heightened with each new edition, making it more comprehensive, entertaining, and more educational.

But the central point that the book makes remains the same in all editions, that says, 'leadership is everyone's business'.

Apart from these books, there are many others that are worth reading. These include:

• The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
• Leading Change - John Kotter
• Built to Last - Jim Collin
• The Practice of Management - Peter Drucker

• Leadership Is An Art - Max De Pree
• Emotional Intelligence - Daniel Goleman
• The Extraordinary Leader - Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman
• Winning - Jack Welch
• Good to Great - Jim Collins

• Execution - Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan
• The Leadership Engine - Noel Tichy
• Leadership Jazz - Max De Pree
• Authentic Leadership - Bill George
• The One minute Manager - Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

• First, Break All The Rules - Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
• The Radical Leap - Steve Farber
• Questions of Character - Joe Badaracco
• The Story Factor - Annette Simmons
• Leadership - James Macgregor Burns

• On Leadership - John William Gardener
• Leadership From the Inside Out - Kevin Cashman
• Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within - Robert E. Quinn
• Why Leaders Can't Lead - Warren Bennis
• The Fifth Discipline - Peter M. Senge
• Control Your Destiny or Someone Else Will - Noel Tichy and Stratford Sherman

These were some of the best books on leadership, that would guide you in your journey of picking up ideas in every aspect of life, be it your personal life, career, business, or just about anything where you need to make the difference. Bring the change and prove your mettle. Inspire the leader in you.