15 Best Business Leadership Books of 2023
Recommended books for business leaders to help grow and improve.
For the last twenty-plus years, I have been an avid reader of business books.
It always seemed that if, for $20, you could get an idea or two to help you become a better leader, it was money well spent. Great leaders never stop learning, and there is always more to learn.
I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship. ~Louisa May Alcott
2023 was an excellent year for business books, with lots to learn. Here are my fifteen, with a highlighted quote from each book, to help give you an idea of the material.
Words are important, right? This book covers how the right words can help you convey your ideas better and have a more impact.
“Concrete language also makes things more memorable. Readers are more likely to remember concrete phrases (e.g., ‘rusty engine’) and sentences (e.g., ‘when an airplane blasts down the passengers and runway lurch backward in their seats’) than abstract ones (e.g., ‘available knowledge’ or ‘moving air will push up against a surface placed at an angle to the airflow’).
Most big projects fail. Learn why and how you can avoid it.
“Developing a clear, informed understanding of what the goal is and why-and never losing sight of it from beginning to end is the foundation of a successful project.”
The Wisdom of the Bullfrog: Leadership Made Simple (But Not Easy)
Leadership wisdom on handling crisis situations, touch decisions, organizational transitions, and more.
“As a leader you must always appear to be in command, even on those days when you struggle with the pressures of the job. You must be confident. You must be decisive. You must smile. You must laugh. You must engage with your employees and be thankful for their work. You must have the look of a person in charge. You must instill in your men and women a sense of pride that their leader can handle any problem.”
Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results
Leadership is about making tough decisions, and this book is all about being a better decision-maker.
“Mistakes present a choice: whether to update your ideas or ignore the failures they’ve produced and keep believing what you’ve always believed. More than a few of us choose the latter.”
Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known Earlier
An excellent book with lots of great advice for work and life. There are so many good things that I put together a short post to share some of my favorites - What Kevin Kelly Can Teach You About Leadership.
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things
It's a book about achieving great things. What's not to like? Highly Recommended.
“Maximizing group intelligence is about more than enlisting individual expertsand it involves more than merely bringing people together to solve a problem. Unlocking the hidden potential in groups requires leadership practices, team processes, and systems that harness the capabilities and contributions of all their members. The best teams aren't the ones with the best thinkers. They're the teams that unearth and use the best thinking from everyone.”
The Leap to Leader: How Ambitious Managers Make the Jump to Leadership
A playbook for making the change from manager to leader.
“When you’re predictable, people can focus more on the work, rather than worrying what kind of mood you’re in that day, or whether you will always be changing your mind about what you prefer.”
Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs
Working on a new product or service? Learn from a serial entrepreneur how to go from ideation to successful outcome.
“The realization that this is a journey of failures is perhaps the most important thing that will help you to prepare for life in a start-up. If you believe you can simply build it and it will work, you are dead wrong! You will need dozens of revisions until your product becomes good enough. You run experiments until you get it right and only then can you move on to the next part of the journey.”
Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World
The transformation of a business is hard work. Hear how Rometty managed from her first leadership role to CEO.
“One more truth I learned about power: for power to be of any real value, it must enable tangible progress. That means whatever results we’re after are realized, in whole or in part. Something or someone must benefit. Intention without making headway is fruitless.
The Effective Manager: Completely Revised and Updated
An (updated) management book written by managers for managers.
“So results come first. Managers who produce great results have more successful careers than those who produce average results. But even reading that statement probably bothers you a little because you've met at least one manager who gets great results and does well and whom you despise. There are managers who put results so far in front of everything else that they can justify all sorts of behaviors to achieve those results. There are even industries—Wall Street comes to mind—that are more likely to tolerate this kind of behavior from managers. When the ends justify the means for managers, bad things happen to the workers who report to them.”
Writing for Busy Readers: Communicate More Effectively in the Real World
Great leaders are great communicators. How people read has changed over the years, and this book will teach you how you need to write now.
“Busy readers aim to extract as much value as possible from a communication with as little time and attention as possible. To achieve this, they don't always read linearly, line by line. “
Move Fast and Fix Things: The Trusted Leader's Guide to Solving Hard Problems
Great advice when dealing with complex business problems. Highly recommended!
"There will always be self-appointed gatekeepers who are resistant to change. Always, always, always. These are typically good people who have long institutional memories, care deeply about the organization, and worry most about what may be lost in all the flux and churn."
Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes
While change is constant, there are a lot of things that don’t change. This book is a fun and thought-provoking read that challenges your perspectives on past actions and future expectations.
"Guiding people’s attention to a single point is one of the most powerful life skills."
Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership
How to bring strategic and empathetic principles into leadership. Highly Recommended!
“There is now widespread recognition that simply managing people to undertake tasks is not leadership. We seek leaders who set aside personal interest for the benefit of others, and who recognize humility is required to focus on the needs and aspirations of those they lead, rather than themselves. Authentic leaders are in demand; leaders with a growth mindset and the self-awareness to accurately assess their limitations and treat others with respect.
Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well
Learn how to make intelligent bets and how to fail successfully.
“What makes a failure qualify as intelligent? Here are four key attributes: it takes place in new territory; the context presents a credible opportunity to advance toward a desired goal (whether that be scientific discovery or a new friendship); it is informed by available knowledge (one might say “hypothesis driven”); and finally the failure is as small as it can be to still provide valuable insights.”
There are so many more out there that I didn’t have time to get to this year. Getting a good recommendation of what to read next is always a welcome gift!
I would love to hear what you recommend if you have a favorite from this year.
Thanks for this list, I just read Same as Ever and found it to be a practical read.
Thanks for this great list! I remember reading Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott, and that was eye-opening!