Books and Videos

Leadership

Top Picks

• The Leader Who Had No Title (Robin Sharma) – anyone has the power to be a leader and be their best regardless of what title they have or money they make
• How Successful People Lead (John Maxwell) – 5 levels of leadership and how to be successful at each level (position, permission, production, people development, personhood)
• True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership (Bill George and Peter Sims) – qualities and effectiveness of your inner company, true self leadership
• Turn the Ship Around (David Marquet) – how to turn followers into leaders (giving control to others)

Other Leadership Books

• Quiet (Susan Cain) – you don’t need to be extroverted and charismatic to be an effective leader
• The 48 Laws of Power (Robert Greene) – charisma and focus can help you lead
• Leading People (Robert Rosen) – business success lies in the competence, creativity, and commitment of its people with profiles of thirty-six extraordinary leaders
• The Leader of the Future (Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith and Richard Beckhard) – 30+ essays with a perspective on leadership in the future
• What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (Marshall Goldsmith) – how to climb the last few steps in your career ladder, what subtle nuances make the difference in executives
• The Effective Executive (Peter Drucker) – as important as what you do every day is what you choose not to do
• The Leadership Challenge (James Kouzes & Barry Posner) – leadership is a relationship that must be learned and nurtured
• The Truth About Leadership (James Kouzes & Barry Posner) – how trust, credibility, ethics and other core principles play a key role in effective leadership
• Tribes (Seth Godin) – a winning formula for stepping outside the status quo to do meaningful work
• First, Break All The Rules (Marcus Buckingham) – what the best managers do differently by focusing on strengths and finding the right fit for each employee
• The Discipline of Teams (Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith) – workbook for driving small group performance
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Patrick Lencioni) – fable with a model and actionable steps to overcome the five dysfunctions of ineffective teams
• On Becoming a Leader (Warren Bennis) – qualities that define leadership and the people & strategies that exemplify effective leaders
• The Definitive Drucker (Elizabeth Edersheim) – advice for tomorrow’s executives from the father of modern management

Personal Development

Top Picks

• Compound Effect (Darren Hardy) – small, smart choices, consistency and time lead to huge results over time (choices, behaviors, habits, momentum, influences, acceleration)
• Stop Saying You’re Fine (Mel Robbins) – how to get what you really want
• The Alchemist (Paulo Cuelo) – life is a journey so have a purpose, follow your legend and if you really want something bad enough, the universe will help you get it
• The Way of the Seal (Mark Divine) – think and act like an elite warrior to lead and succeed
• Think and Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill) – the 13 steps to riches (e.g., desire, faith, specialized knowledge, planning, decisions, persistence, etc)
• Presence (Amy Cuddy) – how to bring your boldest self to your biggest challenges and stop worrying about others, focus on impression we make on ourselves
• The Genius In All Of Us (David Shenk) – genetics don’t dictate our destiny, we can all influence our gene-outside stimuli interplay to do great things and shape our destiny
• No Excuses (Brian Tracy) – the power of self-discipline, how to overcome the past of least resistance and immediate gratification
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey) – how people grow, change, and become more effective in every aspect of human responsibility
• Start with Why (Simon Sinek) – first why (purpose), then how (process), then what (result) and why some people and companies are more influential, profitable, successful and command more loyalty
• Slight Edge (Jeff Olson) – the things that don’t look like they matter every day, really do

Other Personal Development Books

• The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari (Robin Sharma) – step-by-step approach to achieving balance, courage, abundance and joy in life
• Meditations (Marcus Aurelius) – how to control your thoughts and emotions, remove stress and rise above distractions to maintain your principles
• Life’s Golden Ticket (Brendon Burchard) – inspirational parable about personal growth and change (second chance at transforming lives)
• Motivation Manifesto (Brendon Burchard) – reclaim your life and find your personal freedom
• So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Cal Newport) – don’t always follow your passion, sometimes you need to refine your craft
• Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell) – talent, intelligence, hard work, ambition are good but you also need luck, timing and your own background
• StrengthFinders 2.0 (Tom Rath) – identify and develop your strengths
• Follow Your Conscience (Frank Sonnenberg) – actionable advice on improving relationships, strengthening careers and the purpose of life
• Managing With a Conscience (Frank Sonnenberg) – how to improve through integrity, trust and commitment
• The Profit (Khalil Gibran) – 26 prose poetry fables about various topics of life and the human condition (love, marriage, work, happiness, pain, friendship, etc)
• Leading An Inspired Life (Jim Rohn) – foundational principles to achieve business and life success, achieve wealth and experience greater joy
• Essentialism (Greg McKeown) – figure out which personal and business pursuits are worth your time and energy, eliminate the rest
• Awaken The Giant Within (Tony Robbins) – taking immediate control of your destiny
• A New Earth (Eckhart Tolle) – awakening to your life purposes by living in the present to find true happiness

Performance and Success

Top Picks

• Mindset (Carol Dweck) – success is the result of effort and the power of our mindset rather than talent
• Grit (Angela Duckworth) – how to be persistent and stick with your goals
• Smarter Better Faster (Charles Duhigg) – the secrets to being motivated, productive, decisive, innovative and happy
• Organize Tomorrow Today (Jason Selk and Tom Bartow) – 8 ways to retrain your mind to optimize performance (how elite athletes and business leaders climb to the top)
• The 4-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss) – success is about designing the life you want to have
• The Champions Mind (Jim Afremow) – how great athletes think, train and thrive
• High-Performance Habits (Brendon Burchard) – how extraordinary people become that way
• 5 Second Rule (Mel Robbins): how to get up and do anything that you want to do using a simple get-up-and-do-it tactic that is based on science

Other Performance and Success Books

• Executive Toughness (Jason Selk) – a mental training program to increase leadership performance and achieve any goal you set for yourself
• The As If Principle (Richard Wiseman) – your actions guide your emotions so if you want something, act as if you already have it
• True Success (Tom Morris) – the power of imagination and commitment in the pursuit of personal excellence
• Getting Things Done (David Allen) – basics of time management and organizing daily to-do’s to free up mental space for the big picture
• The Cheat Code (Brian Wong): Go off script to get more, go faster and shortcut your way to success
• The First 90 Days (Michael Watkins): What to do in your first 90 days of a new job to accelerate your success and the ROI others make in you

Motivation

Top Picks

• The Progress Principle (Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer) – motivation, happiness and productivity comes from small wins that happen every day
• Drive (Daniel Pink) – motivation comes from autonomy, purpose and mastery
• Eat That Frog (Brian Tracy) – 21 practical strategies for overcoming procrastination

Other Motivation Books

• Man’s Search for Meaning (Victor Frankl) –  motivation comes from meaning more than happiness (define meaning for ourselves through action)

Psychology and Brain Science

Top Picks

• The Power of Habit (Charles Duhigg) – why we do what we do and how to change habits
• Thinking, Fast & Slow (Daniel Kahneman) – system 1 (fast, instinctive, emotional thinking) v system 2 (slow, deliberate, logical thinking), prospect theory and framing choices
• Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) – how to achieve the flow state to get into the zone, achieve optimal performance and be more satisfied with what you do

Other Psychology and Brain Science Books

• Your Brain at Work (David Rock) – strategies for overcoming distractions, regaining focus and working smarter
• Decisive (Chip and Dan Heath) – biases in how we make decisions
• Predictably Irrational (Dan Ariely) – people can be irrational decision-makers
• Make It Stick (Peter Brown) – the science of learning (telling yourself what’s really important)
• The Willpower Instinct (Kelly McGonigal) – science of self-control and how it can improve your health, happiness and productivity
• Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Daniel Amen) – neuroscience and prescriptions for overcoming psychological and emotional hurdles

Emotional Intelligence

Top Picks

• Emotional Intelligence (Dan Goldman) – IQ must be complemented with self-control, motivation and persistence
• Primal Leadership (Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee) – the importance and power of emotionally intelligent leadership
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Robert Cialdini) – six principles of behavior (reciprocity, commitment, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity)
• Get Big Things Done: The Power of Connectional Intelligence (Erica Dwahan) – how to combine knowledge, ambition and human capital with global connections to create unprecedented value and meaning

Other Emotional Intelligence Books

• Give and Take (Adam Grant) – the most successful people benefit others
• How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie) – key to success is building strong relationships

Business

Top Picks

• Good to Great (Jim Collins) – why some companies and people make the leap and others don’t
• The Knowing Doing Gap (Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton) – how companies turn knowledge into action (avoiding the smart talk trap)
• In Search of Excellence (Thomas Peters) – 8 basic principles of management and lessons from America’s best-run companies

Other Business Books

• Great By Choice (Jim Collins) – why some companies thrive during uncertainty and unpredictability and others do not
• What Really Works: The 4+2 Formula for Sustained Business Success (William Joyce) – the management practices that truly promote long-term growth
• Indispensable (Joe Callaway) – how to become a company that your customers can’t live without
• Becoming a Category of One (Joe Calloway) – how companies set themselves apart from competitors and become market leaders
• The Starbucks Experience (Joseph Michelli) – 5 principles for turning ordinary into extraordinary including people-focused strategies and special experiences
• The New Gold Standard (Joseph Michelli) – how the Ritz-Carlton creates legendary customer experiences
• The Northbound Train (Karl Albrecht) – finding and shaping the purpose, direction and destiny of an organization
• What the Best CEOs Know (Jeffrey Krames) – lessons for transforming any business
• Mastering The Rockefeller Habits (Verne Harnish) – 8 practical actions to strengthen your business culture and grow your business
• Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done (Larry Bossidy) – how to close the gap between results promised and results delivered