business leadership books

Discussion in 'Educational Resources' started by shootingstar111, Oct 31, 2005.

  1. Hi Everyone. I'd be interested in picking up some literature about leadership styles or related subjects. Does anyone have a recommendation or two for titles I might want to check out? Thanks!
     
  2. "The Godfather," Mario Puzo.
     
  3. Is that really your recommendation? I was thinking something more along the lines of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
     
  4. mokwit

    mokwit

    The Prince, Nicolò Machiavelli
    On War, Carl Von Clausewitz
     
  5. The best book on leadership is
    Leaders : Strategies for Taking Charge
    by Warren G. Bennis, Burt Nanus
     
  6. Good choice.

    I would add:

    The Power Broker and Master of the Senate by Robert Caro

    Everything you need to know about exercising your will is in these two.

    Trader/God
     
  7. Just today Amazon said they shipped me. ...

    Harvard Business Review on Managing Your Career
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1591391318/104-1518200-1063966?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance

    I also considered getting...

    The Leadership Challenge, 3rd Edition
    http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...f=sr_1_1/104-1518200-1063966?v=glance&s=books


    Not sure about the books by John C. Maxwel. They seem to get good reviews though.

    I will say that I found the topic to be divided into two categories
    a) lightweight fluff books
    b) serious books.
    Most books fall into the former.

    You could try Drucker's books. More management based but they might be useful.
     
  8. Maybe I'll get this too. (I think Bennis' stuff is generally pretty good. )
     
  9. mokwit

    mokwit

    I still think my choices are good.

    Macheavelli is all about pretending to be one thing whilst actually being another. Ideal stuff for the aspiring CEO who has to talk about "mission statement" and "values" and "giving your best for the company" while he negotiates the terms that allows him to bail out rich leaving a mess behind for shareholders who bought the pitch and never saw that the gains he created were temporary as firing employees and front end loading marketing/stuffing the channnels show up on the P&L faster than the rate at which customers will leave. Eventually the crows come home to roost.

    Von Clausewitz talks about "raising the level" as being part of good Generalship. He never actually comes out and says it but after a while you get what he means, he is talking about executing a few soldiers to inspire the requisite fear in the others and says that if you do this a line that would not otherwise hold will hold. Also ideal stuff for the aspiring corporate terminator.
     
  10. The second best I would recommend is
    John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do
    My third recommendation is
    The Effective Executive
    by Peter F. Drucker

    Bennis and Kotter are considered the two leading authorities on leadership.
     
    #10     Nov 15, 2005