Society often looks down on those who cannot read. It’s interesting, in terms of sheer output, there is no difference between the person who cannot read and the person who can read but chooses not to. Productive people are readers. Growing people are readers. Improving people are readers. People who create things are readers. Leaders are readers.
My quarterly reading list has become one of my most popular posts. The following is my 2020 winter reading list. It is a great cross-section of a successful business, two championship-winning athletic coaches, a fight for survival, two from the military, and four CEO-level thinking books. Make sure you check out each one. These books will make you a better leader.
The following are 10 Books Every Leader Should Read During Winter 2020 listed alphabetically by author with the exception of the first book:
- 20/20 Money: Gaining Clarity for your Financial Future by Joseph Sangl – There have been many books written about finding purpose and chasing dreams. Most of them lack practical instruction on determining ways to fund those dreams. There have been many other books focused on helping people win with their money. Most of these make an assumption that people already have taken appropriate amounts of time to think through their God-given plans, hopes, and dreams. 20/20 Money provides instruction on both: discovering your dreams and then finding creative ways to fund each one of them. It is time to connect your dreams with your dollars! In 20/20 Money, Joseph Sangl shares practical steps you can take to discover and fund your God-given purpose. You will learn how to: Set guidelines for clarifying your Fully Funded Life, Connect your vision to your money, Creatively fund your dreams, Initiate movement toward your dreams, and Sustain progress along the way. Your God-given dreams can become reality.
- The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed by Adam Bryant – The Corner Office draws together lessons from chief executives such as Steve Ballmer (Microsoft), Carol Bartz (Yahoo), Jeffrey Katzenberg (DreamWorks), and Alan Mulally (Ford), from which Bryant has crafted an original work that reveals the keys to success in the business world, including the five essential personality traits that all high performers exhibit―qualities that the CEOs themselves value most and that separate the rising stars from their colleagues. Bryant also demystifies the art of leadership and shows how executives at the top of their game get the most out of others. Leadership is not a one-size-fits-all skill, and these CEOs offer different perspectives that will help anyone who seeks to be a more effective leader and employee. For aspiring executives―of all ages―The Corner Office offers a path to future success.
- New Thinking, New Future by Sam Chand – With candor, humor, and personal stories, Sam peels back the layers of our assumptions to challenge us to think more deeply, more clearly, and more productively than ever before. He addresses fundamental topics all leaders instinctively address, including security, location, ownership, team, growth, and benchmarks of success.
- The Amazon Management System: The Ultimate Digital Business Engine That Creates Extraordinary Value for Both Customers and Shareholders by Ram Charan and Julia Yang – Amazon’s trillion-dollar success is the envy of everyone, but achievable by anyone. What has propelled their record streak of growth? Their management system, and it can do the same for you no matter what business you are in or what level. Learning it is as simple as six building blocks distilled by New York Times bestselling author and global CEO advisor Ram Charan and Julia Yang in The Amazon Management System.The Ultimate Digital Engine that Powered Amazon’s Unprecedented Growth and Shareholder Value Creation:Building Block 1: Customer-Obsessed Business ModelBuilding Block 2: Continuous Bar-Raising Talent PoolBuilding Block 3: AI-Powered Data & Metrics SystemBuilding Block 4: Ground-Breaking Invention Machine
Building Block 5: High-Velocity & High-Quality Decision-Making
Building Block 6: A forever Day 1 culture.
From their high-velocity decision-making to their top talent hiring practices, the insider secrets behind Amazon’s success are now within anyone’s grasp, block by block. Whether you are an established CEO or a recent college grad, this concise and actionable book will help your business win in a new digital era that demands nonstop innovation.
- What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture by Ben Horowitz – This is a great book on what culture is and how to create it. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building―the leader of the only successful slave revolt, Haiti’s Toussaint Louverture; the Samurai, who ruled Japan for seven hundred years and shaped modern Japanese culture; Genghis Khan, who built the world’s largest empire; and Shaka Senghor, a man convicted of murder who ran the most formidable prison gang in the yard and ultimately transformed prison culture. Horowitz connects these leadership examples to modern case-studies, including how Louverture’s cultural techniques were applied (or should have been) by Reed Hastings at Netflix, Travis Kalanick at Uber, and Hillary Clinton, and how Genghis Khan’s vision of cultural inclusiveness has parallels in the work of Don Thompson, the first African-American CEO of McDonalds, and of Maggie Wilderotter, the CEO who led Frontier Communications. Horowitz then offers guidance to help any company understand its own strategy and build a successful culture. Be prepared, the language of some of the people in this book is terrible.
- Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing – In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance and set sail for Antarctica, where he planned to cross the last uncharted continent on foot. In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice and only a day’s sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic’s heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization. In Endurance, the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton’s fateful trip, Alfred Lansing brilliantly narrates the harrowing and miraculous voyage that has defined heroism for the modern age.
- Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead by former Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis and former Assistant Secretary of Defense Bing West – Call Sign Chaos is the account of Jim Mattis’s storied career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East. Along the way, Mattis recounts his foundational experiences as a leader, extracting the lessons he has learned about the nature of warfighting and peacemaking, the importance of allies, and the strategic dilemmas—and short-sighted thinking—now facing our nation. He makes it clear why America must return to a strategic footing so as not to continue winning battles but fighting inconclusive wars. Mattis divides his book into three parts: Direct Leadership, Executive Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In the first part, Mattis recalls his early experiences leading Marines into battle, when he knew his troops as well as his own brothers. In the second part, he explores what it means to command thousands of troops and how to adapt your leadership style to ensure your intent is understood by your most junior troops so that they can own their mission. In the third part, Mattis describes the challenges and techniques of leadership at the strategic level, where military leaders reconcile war’s grim realities with political leaders’ human aspirations, where complexity reigns and the consequences of imprudence are severe, even catastrophic.
- The Leader’s Greatest Return: Attracting, Developing, and Multiplying Leaders by John Maxwell – In The Leader’s Greatest Return, Maxwell shares the most important lessons he’s learned about the leadership development process over the last quarter century. He instructs readers in how to
- Recognize potential leaders
- Attract leaders by creating a leadership “table”
- Work themselves out of a job by equipping and empowering leaders
- Position leaders to build a winning team
- Coach leaders to higher levels and make them leadership developers themselves
This is where leaders really experience the compounding value of developing leaders and go to the highest levels of leadership themselves. Anyone who wants to take the next step in their leadership, build their organization or team today, and create their legacy for tomorrow needs to read The Leader’s Greatest Return.
- Leadership in War: Essential Lessons from Those Who Made History by Andrew Roberts – Meticulously researched and compellingly written, Leadership in War presents readers with fresh, complex portraits of leaders who approached war with different tactics and weapons, but with the common goal of success in the face of battle. Both inspiring and cautionary, these portraits offer important lessons on leadership in times of struggle, unease, and discord. With his trademark verve and incisive observation, Roberts reveals the qualities that doom even the most promising leaders to failure, as well as the traits that lead to victory.
- Top of the Hill: Dabo Swinney and Clemson’s Rise to College Football Greatness by Manie Robinson – When Dabo Swinney officially took over Clemson football for the 2009 season, it was considered a good program that couldn’t quite recapture the greatness of the Danny Ford era. Dabo had spent his entire life as an underdog, but his defiant grit pushed him past personal hardships and professional adversity. His simple formula—faith, family, forgiveness, fortitude, and fun—pushed the Clemson football program past its potential and to the next level, taking the Tigers to 10 bowl games and four ACC championships, earning three College Football Playoff appearances, and most importantly, capturing the 2016 national championship. In Top of the Hill: Dabo Swinney and Clemson’s Rise to College Football Greatness, Greenville News sports columnist and Clemson insider Manie Robinson traces Dabo’s coaching ascension along Clemson football’s return to glory, going behind the scenes of one of the powerhouse programs in the country.
What other great books are you reading?
Also, my book Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders is available for purchase. If you have ever wanted to become the leader God created you to be, this book is for you! By combining leadership lessons from biblical heroes like Jesus, Daniel and Joseph, along with modern day leaders like Bill Gates, Nick Saban, Kobe Bryant and multiple pastors, Timeless will equip and inspire you. This book is not to be read alone. Discussion questions are included in each chapter allowing you to develop those in your circle of influence. Click HERE or on the image provided and order your copies TODAY.