People often ask me a version of the same question:
“What leadership books should I read?”
The honest answer is that the best leadership books don’t just teach strategy, they change how you think, operate, and show up. They challenge assumptions. They expose blind spots. They push you forward at moments when staying the same feels easier.
Now that we’re approaching the end of the year, this felt like the right moment to share the titles that shaped me and the best leadership books 2025 worth reading if you want next year to look different from this one.
Some of these books are recent releases. Some are classics. All of them have stayed with me long after I turned the last page.
If you’ve read my recent piece on Leadership Communication Styles: How to Lead Without Saying the Wrong Thing, you’ll recognize a theme here: leadership doesn’t begin with tactics. It begins with awareness, how you think, how you listen, how you influence, and how you grow from the inside out. These books strengthen that foundation.
Let’s get into the ones worth reading in the year ahead.
The Best Leadership Books 2025: My Top Picks Heading Into 2026
These books are not trends. They’re tools. They’re perspective shifters. They’re the kind of books you read once, and think about for months.
1. The Advantage, Patrick Lencioni
If organizational clarity will be your focus next year, start here. The Advantage remains one of the best leadership books for understanding how culture and communication drive results.
2. The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership, Dethmer, Chapman & Klemp
This isn’t a “business book, it’s a mirror. One of the best books on leadership for leaders ready to examine the internal patterns that quietly shape their effectiveness.
3. Multipliers, Liz Wiseman
If you want to get better at empowering people, not just directing them, this is essential reading. A top recommendation among the best business leadership books heading into 2025.
4. The Infinite Game, Simon Sinek
Sinek reframes leadership around endurance, purpose, and long-term contribution, making it one of the best leadership books 2025 for leaders craving depth over speed.
Timeless Classics: The Best Leadership Books of All Time
Some books stay relevant because they tap into something universal about leadership and human behavior.
5. Good to Great, Jim Collins
Still one of the best leadership books of all time for understanding discipline, clarity, and the difference between ambition and ego.
6. Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
Frankl’s work is a masterclass in perspective. Not a traditional leadership title but one of the most important texts I’ve ever read for resilience and purpose.
7. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey
A cornerstone text that continues to influence leaders across generations. If you haven’t revisited it lately, next year is a good time.
The Best Business Leadership Books for Practical Application
These books bridge principle and execution, helping leaders put clarity into action.
8. Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek
Still one of the best business leadership books for building trust, strengthening culture, and understanding the biology behind team behavior.
9. Made to Stick, Chip & Dan Heath
Not marketed as a leadership book, but essential for anyone who communicates ideas, influences direction, or drives change.
10. Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
A deep dive into decision-making, useful for leaders who manage risk, complexity, and strategic choices.
The Books That Personally Shaped My Leadership
These are not just recommendations; they’re part of my internal operating system.
11. The War of Art, Steven Pressfield
A candid, unfiltered look at resistance, the invisible force that keeps you from doing your best work. If next year demands focus, start here.
12. Essentialism, Greg McKeown
A book that recalibrates your relationship with priorities, clarity, and unnecessary complexity.
13. Leadership Orbit, Matthew Mathison
I debated including this, but it belongs here. Leadership Orbit captures the framework I use to stay grounded, intentional, and effective, even in seasons of high pressure.
If you’re preparing for a meaningful reset in the coming year, you need to read this book.
The Quiet Skill All Great Leaders Share
Before I close this out, I want to highlight one theme that connects many of these books and many leaders I admire.
Powerful leadership is almost always quiet before it becomes visible.
It’s built in the internal decisions no one sees, the self-awareness no one claps for, and the personal standards you hold when there’s no applause to reinforce them.
I recently wrote about this in a Forbes article on the subtle skill that separates good leaders from the ones people willingly follow.
Final Thought: Read the Books That Build the Leader You Want to Become
The best time to read these books was earlier this year. The second-best time is right now.
Don’t choose books for status. Choose the ones that challenge your thinking, stretch your self-awareness, and pull you toward the leader you want to be next year.
A single chapter can shift momentum.
A single idea can change your direction.
And the right book, at the right moment, can accelerate a season of growth you didn’t know you were ready for.
