My Top Three Books on Leadership

I recently read an article in HBR (Harvard Business Review) titled “For Those Who Want to Lead, Read” and reflected on the books I’ve read recently that were good leadership books. It seems to me there aren’t as many good leadership examples as there were in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. For a while we had Jack Welch, Larry Bossidy, Tom Peters, John Maxwell, Steven Covey, and Jim Collins who really gave us some excellent management leadership insights and ideas. And we still have Jim Collins’ excellent researched books, but the other leadership books seemed to have gone to a set formula and conciseness that isn’t as meaty or as believable as before.

I try to read at least one leadership inspired book every month, but have had a difficult time finding what feeds the depth of my interest. Not that there isn’t a plethora of business books being promoted and published regularly, but I’m looking for some real depth and examples of true-grit leadership. When I review the list of the last ten books I’ve read and attempt to pick the top three books I have no problem picking the top three. Those three books provided real life leadership examples and I must admit that most readers probably wouldn’t consider them “leadership” worthy. But I believe they are actually packed full of great examples of good and bad leadership. Here they are in no particular order:

My Top Three of Last Ten

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – this book is a treasure chest of good and bad leadership examples … has grit and detail of innovation, implementation, strategy, execution, wooing leaders from other companies, addressing competition, sticking with your beliefs when others don’t agree, etc. etc. A great book that puts you in the room with many current day personalities in their prime.

In My Time – A Personal and Political Memoir by Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney – Dick Cheney takes us through history starting in 1969 when starting out in Representative Bill Steiger’s office and all the way through Chaney’s vice presidency. Talk about some inside insights on good and bad leadership examples. This book is jam-packed with great insights on networking, positioning, winning, losing, confrontation, standing up for your direct reports, etc. etc. etc. Another book that puts you in the room with people you know about and lets you know what was happening inside the walls of history in many instances.

Eyewitness to Power – The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton by David Gergen – here’s a book written by a writer and reporter (Gergen) seeing the history of Watergate unfold before his eyes … before, during, and after Watergate. The surprises, accomplishments, and cover-ups of the Nixon years. Then he takes you behind the scenes with Presidents Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. Then he concludes the book with Seven Lessons of Leadership. Again great examples of good and bad leadership … and in some cases pure lack of leadership … or the inability to make a decision. You see the inner workings of networks, power, and steely untruths. You see reporters from a reporter’s perspective. An inside report on action or inaction under pressure that has affected us all.

Conclusion

In closing I would like to say I do like a lot of today’s business writers and leaders … Michael Hyatt, Seth Godin, Dave Ramsey, Mark Sanford, and many others. This was just my personal attempt to list my top three books on leadership of the last ten I have read.

Leaders Read and Readers Lead.

Well that’s my list. Let me know if you have some leadership books you would like to recommend that have been especially helpful to you.

© Phil Hoffman 2012. All rights reserved

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Tags: Leadership, Networking, Strategy

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