When I wrote about leadership yesterday I recommended a couple of books at the end. As I mentioned there are many books on leadership or on building the traits and character that are commonly found in great leaders.
Clients and twitter friends ask me for recommendations frequently. I thought I would go ahead and post my all time favorites here:
The Holy Bible – will always be my main source for everything in life.
Leading with Soul by Lee Bolman – this is an incredible journey of a person’s spiritual journey to becoming the leader he was meant to be.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey – after 20 years I still use these principles and refer others to them daily.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell – practical, biblical insights.
Leadership and the One MInute Manager by Ken Blanchard – this is an easy to read story format guide to situational leadership.
Winning with People by John Maxwell – the title speaks for itself.
Linchpin by Seth Godin – read this earlier this year and believe philosophically it is of huge importance to everyone. God created us each uniquely. Seth focuses on following your uniqueness to make a difference. (I threw the God part in!)
Circle of Innovation by Tom Peters – Tom Peters is the master at throwing out thought provoking ideas and ideals of business.
The Maxwell Leadership Bible – leadership examples, characteristics, and responsibilities are highlighted in commentary.
To be a great Christian Leader we need to be growing in our faith too. Although it would take another whole list to put together my favorite books on Christian living, here are a couple that come to mind when I think of faith and leadership.
Crazy Love by Francis Chan – if we are full throttle in our faith, it will translate to everything we do.
Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning – this is a great book on trusting God. I think we all need work on trusting God, but there is also a lot here to learn about being trustworthy.
Visioneering by Andy Stanley – leaders are leading towards a vision. This book helps clarify your vision and determine if you are following the vision God has given you.
You can find these on my recommended resources page too. I probably need to go back through my library and add to the list, but these come to mind first and are books I have given out frequently over the last several years.
I would love for you to add to the list in the comment section. What are your favorite leadership books?
Reader Interactions