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Business Leadership Books
 As a business leader, keeping your knowledge and skills up to date is essential if you are to fully realise your career potential.
Unfortunately, not only has the time you can dedicate to this become a more and more valuable asset, but also the number of books written on business leadership has mushroomed in recent years. Not surprisingly, that growing wealth of choice has not necessarily been accompanied by a corresponding level of quality.
In order to help you wade through this mass of choice and sift out the essential, we regularly publish articles on this site giving you access to key management ideas and concepts. In addition, you will also find a range of tools, models and links to many other useful organisations.
Sometimes, however, it is worth going to the source, taking time to understand the ideas of key thinkers on business leadership, investing in your future and broadening your mind. It is then that you are confronted with the second challenge: how to choose. To help with this problem, and to help save hours of wading through glossily produced but indifferent material, we have published here summaries and reviews of key books on business leadership that we think are worthy of your attention. If the content of the summary is of value and interest to you, we would then strongly advise that you go to the source. A little time each week invested in this way will pay you back many times over.
Keep returning to this page from time to time, because new reviews are constantly being added.
 Presence, by Patsy Rodenburg, Penguin, 2009
Having already written a number of books on communication skills, performance and voice work, all of which have become established texts, this is her first book on the subject of presence and personal impact. As may be expected from someone of her standing and reputation, it is much more than a simple self help book or airport management guide. This is an important text, grounded in a lifetime’s experience, which is likely to remain in print for many years to come.  more |
|  Leadership Presence, by B. Halpern and K. Lubar, 2003
Think of a leader that you worked for who really inspired you, someone who really made things happen, someone you admired and perhaps even try to emulate. Now think of a leader who, in your view, just did not have what it takes. Holding those two in your mind, reflect for a moment on what you notice about the differences between them. What strikes you most strongly? What are the most telling differences? more |
|  Getting to yes: Negotiating an agreement without giving in, by Roger Fisher and William Ury, 1981
This book remains one of the most widely read books on negotiation. Despite its age, it has not been surpassed or superseded. It has sold well over two million copies and continues to sell well today. more |
|  Personal networking: how to make your connections count, by Mick Cope, FT Prentice Hall, 2003.
Most executives that I work with do not network anywhere near as much or as effectively as they could and should. My challenge to them and to you is: What are you doing that could possibly be more important than networking? Certainly, there is one class of people who always take networking seriously and find the time to make it work for them. Put simply, it is a common trait of all the highly successful people I know or have ever met. In other words, effective networking is a precondition of fully realising your potential in almost whatever endeavour.
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|  Good to great: Why some companies make the leap and others don't, by Jim Collins, Random House, 2001
The premise of the book is that when we achieve what is good, in both personal and organisational life, we tend to be complacent and settle for that rather than pushing for the greatness we deserve. In effect, it is a warning against complacency and mediocrity, and a reminder that we deserve better. more |
|  Change, Watzlawick et al, W. W. Norton and Company, 1974
Although written back in 1974, this fascinating little book remains, to my mind, one of the best and most thought provoking ever written on the challenging and perplexing subject of change. more |
|  The Leadership Pipeline, By R. Charan, S. Drotter and J. Noel, Josey-Bass, 2001
This book provides a clear and tested framework, along with detailed practical guidelines, for medium to large scale companies looking either to establish or improve their leadership development and succession planning processes. It describes six critical transitions that a leader must navigate and explains how organisations can provide appropriate development at each stage.
Although I would highly recommend reading this book from the perspective of its stated purpose, my intention in reviewing it and summarising its key ideas is rather to challenge ambitious and high potential managers to turn the logic of this book on its head. I propose that they use it to consider how the ideas presented can help them better manage and take responsibility for their own career development and progression. more |
|  Relationship Marketing, by Regis McKenna, Century Hutchinson, 1992
Although it is over 15 years since it was published, this remains a key management book and the principles McKenna presents so clearly and compellingly still have not, to their cost, been fully embraced by many organisations. His central argument is simple: successful companies must be willing and able to adapt their products and services to fit their customers’ needs”. more |
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