The Top 10 Books Leaders Should Read In Summer 2024

“Before going into battle, you can learn by asking veterans about their experience and by reading relentlessly.  By studying how others have dealt with similar circumstances, I became exposed to leadership examples that accelerated my expanding understanding of combat.  Reading is an honor and a gift from a warrior or historian who – a decade or a thousand decades ago – set aside time to write.  He distilled a lifetime of campaigning in order to have ‘conversation’ with you.  We have been fighting on this planet for ten thousand years; it would be idiotic and unethical to not take advantage of such accumulated experiences.  If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you.  Any commander who claims he is ‘too busy to read’ is going to fill body bags with his troops as he learns the hard way.  The consequences of incompetence in battle are final.” – former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis from his book Call Sign Chaos: Learning To Lead

It has been said many time that leaders are readers.  Secretary Mattis would agree.  Each quarter I share my reading list with you.  This summer delivered an especially strong collection of leadership books.  These dealt with faith, decision-making, expanding your mental capacity, business, sports, and culture.  Make sure you check out each and if you have not done so, add them to your library.

The following are The Top 10 Books Leaders Should Read in the Summer of 2024 in alphabetical order by author:

• Good Judgment: Making Better Business Decisions with the Science of Human Personality by Richard Davis – Organizational psychologist Dr. Richard Davis is an expert in assessing personalities. He has spent decades advising business leaders and evaluating executives from some of the world’s biggest companies, including Amazon, Target, Best Buy, Under Armour, Meta, Starbucks, Nike, LVMH, and the NBA. Over the course of his career, he has helped numerous executives make tough, highly consequential hiring calls based on personality. As a result of his life’s work, Dr. Davis has developed not only a unique perspective on what human personality is, but an indispensable toolkit for analyzing it, and using the information effectively.

• Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg – With his storytelling that takes us from the writers’ room of The Big Bang Theory to the couches of leading marriage counselors, Duhigg shows readers how to recognize these three conversations—and teaches us the tips and skills we need to navigate them more successfully.  In the end, he delivers a simple but powerful lesson: With the right tools, we can connect with anyone.

• The Gospel According to Jesus: What Is Authentic Faith? by John MacArthur – The Gospel According to Jesus challenges Christians to re-evaluate their commitment to Christ by examining their fruits. MacArthur asks, “What does it really mean to be saved?” He urges readers to understand that their conversion was more than a mere point in time, that, by definition, it includes a lifetime of obedience.

• The Yankee Way: The Untold Inside Story of the Brian Cashman Era by Andy Martino – This is the book I’m reading right now and I’m loving it!!! With rare access to the inner sanctum of the New York Yankees, SNY analyst Andy Martino weaves two years of exclusive interviews with general manager Brian Cashman into a revelatory account of never-before-told stories about Derek Jeter, Aaron Judge, Alex Rodriguez, the complex front office, team ownership, and insights into the World Series wins and day-to-day running of the team that fans never get to see.

• High Road Leadership: Bringing People Together in a World That Divides by John Maxwell – The world’s most influential leadership expert, John C. Maxwell, tackles the problem of our divided world in his latest book High Road Leadership. “Everything rises and falls on leadership,” says Maxwell. “Today it is causing people to fall—into disputes, frustration, anger, and despair. His solution is to expose the problems of taking the low and middle roads when interacting with others and teach people how to instead take the high road. In his trademark communication style, Maxwell teaches the principles and practices of high-road leadership that can increase anyone’s influence and help them make their world a better place.

• Turnaround Time: Uniting an Airline and Its Employees in the Friendly Skies by Oscar Munoz – In 2015, when Oscar Munoz took the helm of this iconic brand, its culture was anything but united and its reputation was in free fall. A merger with its onetime rival Continental had stalled, operational and financial performance was badly trailing those of its competitors, and the bonds of trust with shareholders, customers, and employees had reached a breaking point.  Setting out an ambitious plan to rejuvenate the company, Oscar learned that there was nothing wrong at United that couldn’t be fixed by championing what was right—the employees themselves.

• How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the World’s Most Successful People by David Novak – With infectious enthusiasm and optimism, Novak shows you how to master active learning. This compilation of wisdom and practical habits from Novak’s life and from some of the most successful leaders in the world—CEOs from many industries, military and political leaders, sports greats, experts, and coaches—is your active-learning practice manual. Chapter by chapter, Novak and his all-star roster of leaders share how they’ve climbed to the highest levels in their fields.

• The Way of the Champion: Pain, Persistence, and the Path Forward by Paul Rabil – Long before Paul Rabil had become lacrosses’s most acclaimed player, the sport’s first million-dollar man, and the cofounder of the Premier Lacrosse League, he always strove for greatness. The Way of The Champion is the synthesis of everything Rabil learned on his path to becoming one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time. But this is not merely a sports book. It is a guide to embodying a champion’s mindset—in sports, in business, and in relationships.

• The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis by George Stephanopoulas – No room better defines American power and its role in the world than the White House Situation Room.  And yet, none is more shrouded in secrecy and mystery.  Created under President Kennedy, the Sit Room has been the epicenter of crisis management for presidents for more than six decades.  Time and again, the decisions made within the Sit Room complex affect the lives of every person on this planet.  Detailing close calls made and disasters narrowly averted, The Situation Room will take readers through dramatic turning points in a dozen presidential administrations.

• Heaven Awaits: Anticipate Your Future Hope, Your Eternal Home, Your Daily Reality by Michael Youssef – In Heaven Awaits, you will explore what the Bible says about heaven and begin to envision the wonders and glories that await you. Heaven is real. And throughout these pages, you will discover that your eternal home is far more real than your earthly experience right now. As such, you will be energized to live each day in light of that awe-inspiring reality.

• ***BONUS*** Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table: It’s Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind… by Louie Giglio – In Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table, bestselling author and pastor Louie Giglio shares practical ways to overcome the Enemy’s lies and instead find peace and security in any challenging circumstance or situation.
• ***Special Request*** Mighty: 7 Skills You Need to Move from Pandemic to Progress by Brian Dodd – Yes, this is my latest book and I hope you purchase several copies if you haven’t already.  Production. Passion. Resilience. Teamwork. Contentment. Courage. Faith. These seven skills were embodied over three thousand years ago by a group of elite warriors known as David’s Mighty Men. These highly-capable individuals helped take David, the man who had previously defeated Goliath, from a wilderness experience to leading a nation. I want you to know the same skills used by David’s’ Mighty Men still work today. In my new book Mighty: 7 Skills You Need to Move from Pandemic to Progress, I show you how applying these skills can help you become Mighty and move from the Pandemic to Progress.

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