Enhanced leadership abilities enable individuals to effectively guide and motivate a team towards achieving shared objectives. Under the lack of strong leadership, businesses often suffer from an absence of direction, leading to stagnation. Surprisingly, 77% of businesses admit that leadership deficiency is one of the prominent issues in their workplaces.Â
However, mastering leadership abilities is no easy task.
To bolster these essential skills, leadership books serve as valuable resources, providing insights into leadership abilities, competencies, and best practices. By delving into various leadership styles, these books offer guidance on effectively steering a team towards common goals.Â
If you're looking to enhance your leadership capabilities, let's explore the top 10 reads of all time in this field, which will undoubtedly sharpen your leadership acumen.
1) The Art of Possibility, by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
The Art of Possibility imparts readers with ways to uniquely think about various possibilities to solve an issue. It covers 12 practices that help readers explore new perspectives of thought as well as self-image. Thoroughly reading this book can make you an insightful and effective leader since respecting diverse perspectives in a workplace is what makes a leader just and aligned to different viewpoints towards better decision-making.Â
2) Immunity to Change, by Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
This book provides a unique approach that can help you come out from your rudimentary approach to leading a team. It explains how to comprehend goals and lead the team toward goal fulfilment. Consequently, you can come up with effective solutions. Moreover, the book helps you pinpoint and uproot your own immunities to positive change that can be brought to organisations.
3) GO: Put Your Strengths To Work, by Marcus Buckingham
Through this book, Buckingham conveys that your strengths are the ones that energise you, and weaknesses are the ones that ditch your energy. It imparts how to look past your acquired skills to build authentic leadership ability.
4) How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie conveys that success in dealing with people relies on a sympathetic comprehension of the other person’s perspective. The book explains that all successful leaders know that empathy is vital to team collaboration. The inability to connect deeply with your employees will make it challenging to obtain results from them.
5) Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel H. Pink
The aforementioned book conveys that one of the greatest leadership challenges for many individuals is motivating their team and themselves. It profoundly explains the three major elements that retain motivation- purpose, autonomy, and mastery. Moreover, the book explores how to leverage these elements to obtain optimum results anywhere.
6) Primal Leadership, by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee
Primal Leadership focuses on the significance of emotionally intelligent leadership. It offers practical advice and explains why leaders must build empathy and self-awareness in this technologically advanced world.
7) Five Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni
Reading this book helps you tackle the five common dysfunctions
- Lack of trust
- Fear of conflict
- Inattention to results
- Lack of commitment
- Avoidance of accountability
The book conveys that if leaders thoroughly understand these five behaviours and ways to tackle them, they can effectively discern and correct them in the future.                    Â
8) The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell
The book provides guidelines for leaders to ascertain that employees realise a common goal and maximise influence. It outlines that leadership develops with daily efforts; it’s not a day's work. Moreover, the book offers subjective examples, encompassing all facets of leadership ranging from engaging and building teams to ensuring efficient results with effective planning.
9) Minority Leader: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change by Stacey Abrams
The book provides guidance that helps you lead as an outsider. It imparts how to use your unique viewpoint and spirit to realise influential change even in a strict organisation. The book provides a step-by-step guide on how to find passion and develop leadership abilities.
 10) Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The aforementioned book examines the obstacles confronted by four American presidents, namely Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. The author shares his analysis of the struggles, successes, and strategic approaches of each subject. The book further illustrates how each of these presidents transformed tragedy into success. Essentially, this book serves as a masterclass in crisis management and equips you with transformational leadership.
 Conclusion
Reading any of these books can equip you with demanding leadership skills. Along with this, you can pursue one of the suitable senior leadership courses.
If you’re aiming to explore your potential as an excellent leader, Global Senior Leadership Programme provided by Imarticus can be an ideal solution for you!
This IIM Lucknow senior leadership program is uniquely designed for career transition from business leaders to C Suite Executives. It is one of the best IIM leadership courses since it offers comprehensive exposure that helps C-suite executives solve management problems through effective leadership.
