Leaders are readers!
Great leaders are constantly learning, improving their skills, and taking the time to develop self-awareness to manage themselves as well as others. We have curated a recommended reading list for leaders. Share your favorite titles. Help us grow this important resource.
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Must Reads for Every Leader
- Dare to Lead, Brené Brown
- “HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership,” Harvard Business Review
- Built to Last, James C. Collins, Jerry I. Porras
- Going Pro, Tony Kern
- The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni
- The Road to Character, David Brooks
Reads for New Leaders
- Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and It’s All Small Stuff, Richard Carlson
- Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink, Leif Babin
- Leadershift, John C. Maxwell
- Radical Candor, Kim Scott
- The 8th Habit, Steven Covey
- The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier
- The Dichotomy of Leadership, Willink and Babin
Reads for Nonprofit Leaders
- 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
- Give and Take, Adam Grant
- Good Strategy, Bad Strategy, Richard P. Rumelt
- Managing the Nonprofit Organization, Peter Drucker
- The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek
- We Don’t Make Widgets, Ken Miller
Reads for Government Leaders
- 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni
- Give and Take, Adam Grant
- Ruthless Consistency, Michael Canic
- The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek
- Turn This Ship Around, David Marquet
- We Don’t Make Widgets, Ken Miller
- Hearts Touched by Fire: How Great Leaders are Made, David Gergen
Reads for Startup Leaders
Reads for Business Leaders
Reads for Culture Builders
- Belonging, Kathryn Jacob, Sue Unerman and Mark Edwards
- Humanocracy, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini
- Inclusify, Stefanie K. Johnson
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, Chip Heath, Dan Heath
- The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle
- The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, Melinda Gates
- Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Sebastian Junger
Reads for Ensuring Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Work and Beyond
Reads for Leaders Who Think They’ve Read Everything
- “HBR Guide to Coaching Employees,” Harvard Business Review
- The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor
- The Road to Character, David Brooks
- Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance, Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
Reads about Great Leaders
Change & Conflict Reading List
Changing Conversations
- Getting Together: Building Relationships as We Negotiate, Roger Fisher & Scott Brown
- Getting to Yes, Roger Fisher & William Ury
- Crucial Confrontations: Tools for Resolving Broken Promises, Violated Expectations, and Bad Behavior, Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzer
- Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most, Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen
Change
- Managing Transition: Making the Most of Change, William Bridges
- Leading in a Culture of Change, Michael Fullan
- Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization, Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey
- Leading Change, John Kotter
Conflict
- Barriers to Conflict Resolution, Kenneth Arrow
- The Crossroads of Conflict: A Journey Into the Heart of Dispute Resolution, Kenneth Cloke
- The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution: A Practitioners Guide, Bernard Mayer
- Staying with Conflict: A Strategic Approach to Ongoing Disputes, Bernard Mayer
- Resolving Identity-Based Conflict in Nations, Organizations and Communities, Jay Rothman
Dialogue
- On Dialogue, David Bohm
- Dialogue: Rediscovering the Transforming Power of Conversation, Linda Elinor and Glenna Gerard
- Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, William Isaacs
- The Argument Culture: Moving from Debate to Dialogue, Deborah Tannen
- The Magic of Dialogue: Transforming Conflict into Cooperation, Daniel Yankelovich
Leadership
- Leading Through Conflict: How Successful Leaders Transform Differences Into Opportunities, Mark Gerzon
- Leadership Without Easy Answers, Ronald Heifetz
- A Leader’s Legacy, James Kouzes and Barry Postner
- The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Postner
Negotiation
Thank you to everyone that helped curate this list – especially our alumni librarians Pam Crowe (LK15), Kitsap Regional Library, Melody Sky-Weaver (LK13), Port Townsend Public Library, Ashley Oaksmith (LK18), Kitsap Regional Library.
If you have an addition to our list, please email [email protected].