The Best Leadership Book in the World

Consultants have to keep up with the literature – just like doctors and academics. Who better to ask then if you want a quick heads-up on the best leadership books available? Eight of the Management Futures consultants here name their personal favourites.

Kate Hudson

The Tao of Leadership by John Heider.

Of the hundreds of books on leadership, this one book stands out for me. Having read the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu in the sixties (didn’t we all?) the impact this adaptation made on me was profound.

Tao Te Ching means ‘How things happen’ and John Heider has adapted this work from the fifth century BC to relate directly to the role of a leader today, uniting leadership skills with the leader’s way of life. And there’s an added bonus: it’s an excellent facilitator’s guide too.

If the leadership journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, carry this book with you.

Matt Driver

Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness by Peter Koestenbaum.

I noticed how so many so-called leaders I met were fearful, keeping their heads down, aiming to please those above them, blowing in the wind. In short, seeming to stand for nothing and leaving no heritage to those who followed.

Then I came across Peter Koestenbaum, who believes that ‘business can be an opportunity for both personal and organisational greatness’. A philosopher first, he has developed the ‘leadership diamond’ whose points represent the four key characteristics of a great leader: vision – being able to see beyond the obvious; reality – but nonetheless being in close touch with the real world; ethics – standing for something and seeing their role as one of service; and courage – being ready to stand out and risk unpopularity.

I have been continually heartened by this approach and have found it helpful for many people in my coaching and tutoring. It’s also helped me!

Jan Campbell Young

Managing Talented People by Alan Robertson and Graham Abbey.

I knew I had found a rare book when someone on the commuter train to London interrupted my early morning reverie to ask about the book I was reading. Managing Talented People is a very easy and practical read.

The most fascinating first section reflects on what makes a person talented and explains that managers generally find it easier to say who is talented rather than explain what they mean by ‘talent’. They end up by concluding;

Talented people are those expected, by their managers, to produce superior performance both now and in the future. They achieve this through urgent application of their creativity while demanding personal growth with or without the support of the broader organisation. Managing talented people is the continual management of the resultant tensions underlying these different expectations.

The final section provides a choice of approaches. The best methods are based on learning to manage the talented person’s expectations which involve making time for deep thinking together and having robust conversations involving them in the broader issues affecting the organisation.

This book really appealed to me as an executive coach. It provided a stimulating way to look at talent with pointers and diagrams that make it all so easy to remember.

Jacky Eyres

A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Organizations by Chris Grey.

I’ve chosen this newly-published book because it provides a heartening antidote to the usual stuff that is peddled about leadership, management and organisations.

Chris Grey takes an iconoclastic look at some of the key things taught in business schools and practised by managers in organisations – and finds many of them seriously wanting. It’s not just a rant – the book is witty, intelligent and (to my mind) persuasive in its call for a change in the way we think about, and do, leadership and management. Bored? Frustrated? Convinced there must be a better way? Then this book is for you. I loved it!

Phil Hayes

The Heart Aroused by David Whyte.

This book has moved me more than any other book about the world of work. Using the medium of poetry it maps the journey of the soul from birth to death and through the various stages of working life. In so doing it provides an inspiring message: that we are any of us on our way to finding our true home.

Sandra Grealy

The Challenge of Change in Organisations: helping employees thrive in the new frontier by Nancy J. Barger and Linda K. Kirby.

I found this book difficult to put down and for me its messages and insights have been enduring. The interplay of myth and reality is particularly stimulating. The authors tell the fascinating story of the American pioneers’ journey in reaching and settling the western frontier. They use this as a metaphor for understanding the current journey of people dealing with complex change in organisations.

This is further enhanced by exploration of the psychological type and the impact of change on people. In a corporate setting we can probably all relate to the promise of a better future, uncertainty about what this will look like and the daunting prospect of casting off what is familiar and equipping ourselves with new skills!

Jenny Rogers

Gifts Differing by Isabel Briggs Myers

This book changed my life. I read it in 1991 when a colleague introduced me to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). When I read her description of my Type preference it hit me with a force that I have seen many times since in clients: a squirm of acute discomfort matched by a joy in recognition that it was OK to be me.

Also that you could understand what was otherwise inexplicable in others. When I qualified to administer the MBTI, I learnt of the lifetime struggle this remarkable woman endured to gain recognition. Her work stands the test of time and has benefited millions of people, not least her belief that your strengths are your biggest development area. I have enjoyed adding to her insights in my own books, but I’m under no illusions about the unique quality of what she did.

Tony Duff

The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

Most books on leadership are derivative, badly written, and designed for instant consumption. Some will feature an almost high-priestly dimension while others search for existential meaning or offer cynical quick-fix survival advice.

For most people, my favourite – Machiavelli’s The Prince (‘Prince’ means modern executive) – would fall into the second category, although I think putting it in there is to misunderstand it. It comes top because:

• It is full of crisp insights and advice about leading and human nature;
• It says there is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success and more dangerous to carry through than initiating change (and one can be hated just as much for good deeds as for evil ones);
• It is in effect a theory of everything – politics, war, economics, society, trust and human relations – with the most practical consequences;
• It is funny – if you want to kill someone with his own gun, you don’t explain this to him until he has first handed it over to you;
• It is brief and well-written.

Read it or re-read it.