Top 5 books that can help you improve your leadership skills

Posted on March 21, 2020 by Yana Tsyganova, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.

I strongly believe that continuously developing your leadership skills is crucial for not only your own self-growth but also the development of your team and your organization. I have found that books (to no surprise!) are a good source of leadership self-development that one can do in their own time. Through my own leadership book discovery I found one interesting theme that has resonated with me in particular – good leadership means putting your organizations and teams’ interests first. Here are some books that I found particularly useful around this topic:

“Leaders Eat Last” by Simon Sinek
Based on real life examples, Sinek talks about how culture, trust and great teamwork are key to successful businesses. He highlights the importance of leaders empowering their teams and creating a “circle of trust” where teams can perform at their most comfortable and at their best. He also talks about the 4 hormones that produce the feeling of happiness – endorphin , dopamine , serotonin , oxytocin – and how these impact us in our work environment.

“The Tao of Power” – Lau Tzu’s Classis Guide to Leadership, Influence, and Excellence
I must admit that this is not a book for everyone due to its format but totally worth it if on a more “spiritual” journey around leadership. It is a set of 81 poems written by Lau Tzu. Each poem has a direct translation and an explanation making it easier to understand. The main theme of the book is around the importance of self-lessens as a leader through the understanding of the concept that we are all part of the same universe and therefore interlinked.

“Thinking in Systems” by Donella H. Meadows
This is not a leadership book per se but captures an important concept that all leaders should be aware of – everything that exists, exists within some form of a system. This system is part of a bigger system, that is part of a bigger system, making everything interconnected. One of the most common reasons for systems to fail is due to lack of information from outside the system itself – how can that be solved?

“Drive” by Daniel Pink
A book that discusses the fact that monetary incentives, contrary to belief, are only effective for short term goals. In fact incentives may make one unmotivated and miss out on creative opportunities, as the person is completely focused on achieving a goal. On the other hand – it is autonomy and creativity within one work’s environment that creates job satisfaction and happiness. As leaders we should be creating such environments where this is possible.

“Tool of Titans” by Tim Ferris
A book full if short, insightful snippets from top leaders in the world around their life routines, books they like to read and their views on the world. In additional to getting insightful actionable information, the book contains a collection of books and websites for further reading around health, wealth and wisdom. A great place to expand your reading list.