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Leadership

The best Leadership books — new releases and enduring classics — each distilled to its core framework, 7 takeaways, and a practical plan. Tap any book to distill it live.

01

New & notable — the past year

2024

The Anxious Achiever

Jaime Tardy

Explores how high-performing leaders manage anxiety and self-doubt to sustain success and wellbeing.

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2024

Lead with Humility

James F. Esposito

Demonstrates how humility-driven leadership builds trust, reduces ego, and creates more resilient organizations.

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2024

The Leadership Playbook

Brett Linkletter and Mark C. Miller

Provides practical frameworks and plays for leaders navigating complexity and driving execution in modern environments.

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2024

Trusted Leader

David Horsager

Reveals the eight pillars of trust-based leadership and how leaders can build credibility and loyalty at scale.

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2018

Dare to Lead

Brené Brown

Teaches vulnerability and courage as core leadership practices for building authentic connection and psychological safety.

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2018

The Culture Code

Daniel Coyle

Examines how the world's most successful teams and organizations intentionally build strong, cohesive cultures.

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2017

Radical Candor

Kim Scott

Advocates for direct, caring feedback as the cornerstone of effective leadership and team performance.

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2012

Turn the Ship Around!

L. David Marquet

Chronicles how a submarine captain transformed a failing crew through empowerment and leader-leader principles.

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2001

Good to Great

Jim Collins

Identifies the common practices that enable good companies to achieve sustained greatness through disciplined leadership.

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2002

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Patrick Lencioni

Uses narrative and frameworks to reveal how trust, conflict, commitment, accountability, and results drive team effectiveness.

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02

The classics

500

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

Ancient military treatise offering timeless principles of strategy, adaptability, and understanding opponents central to all leadership.

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170

Meditations

Marcus Aurelius

Stoic reflections on duty, virtue, and equanimity that form the philosophical foundation for principled leadership.

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1532

The Prince

Niccolò Machiavelli

Renaissance treatise analyzing power dynamics and political pragmatism that remains essential reading on leadership tactics.

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1970

Servant Leadership

Robert K. Greenleaf

Pioneering work arguing that the highest calling of a leader is to serve others and enable their growth.

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2001

Good to Great

Jim Collins

Landmark research identifying level 5 leadership and hedgehog concepts as drivers of sustained organizational excellence.

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1990

The Fifth Discipline

Peter M. Senge

Foundational text on systems thinking and learning organizations that redefined how leaders understand complex change.

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1995

Emotional Intelligence

Daniel Goleman

Seminal work proving that emotional awareness and relationship skills matter more than IQ for leadership success.

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1987

The Leadership Challenge

James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner

Research-based framework identifying model-the-way, inspire-a-shared-vision, challenge-the-process, enable-others, and encourage-the-heart as core practices.

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1990

Principle-Centered Leadership

Stephen R. Covey

Advocates building leadership on timeless principles and personal character rather than techniques and trends.

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2014

Leaders Eat Last

Simon Sinek

Explores how great leaders prioritize the wellbeing and safety of their teams to build trust and inspire loyalty.

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