Best Books Roundups
The Best Leadership
Books Of The
Past Decade
Leadership may be the most crowded shelf in any bookstore, which makes the great books easier to miss. From more than 800 books honored across a decade of the Non-Obvious Book Awards, these are the ones we most recommend on leading teams, building culture, and becoming the kind of boss people actually want to work for.
*This list does not include books published in 2026, which are currently under review as part of our 2026 awards program.
You're the Boss
by Sabina Nawaz
Executive coach Sabina Nawaz reveals how power quietly distorts even well-meaning managers, and offers a practical reset for anyone who has become the boss they never wanted to be.
Managing Up
by Melody Wilding
Melody Wilding turns the overlooked half of leadership upside down: how to manage the people above you, advocate for yourself and gain influence without authority.
How Leaders Learn
by David Novak
Former Yum! Brands CEO David Novak profiles the habit that separates great leaders from good ones: active learning, practiced daily. Full of candid stories from the corner office.
How Big Things Get Done
by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner
Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg spent decades studying why megaprojects fail. His findings apply to everything from kitchen renovations to moon shots. Our Most Important Book of 2023.
When Everyone Leads
by Ed O'Malley and Julia Fabris McBride
Ed O'Malley and Julia Fabris McBride make the case that leadership is an activity, not a position, and show how organizations transform when everyone practices it.
Leading with Gratitude
by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton
Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton bring the research on the most undervalued leadership behavior of all: genuine, specific, consistent gratitude.
Nine Lies About Work
by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall
Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall take a wrecking ball to workplace orthodoxy, from the annual review to the very idea of company culture. Our Most Original Book of 2019.
Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?
by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic answers his own provocative question with data, and explains what it teaches us about choosing better leaders of every kind.
Powerful
by Patty McCord
Netflix culture architect Patty McCord distills the radical philosophy behind the famous culture deck: treat people like adults, and build teams for the future, not the past.
The CEO Next Door
by Elena Botelho and Kim Powell
Elena Botelho and Kim Powell analyzed thousands of CEO assessments and found that the leaders who reach the top look almost nothing like the myth. A data-driven map of the path.
Dream Teams
by Shane Snow
Shane Snow explores the counterintuitive science of collaboration: why great teams need friction, difference and productive tension far more than harmony.
No Ego
by Cy Wakeman
Cy Wakeman argues that most workplace drama is self-inflicted, and shows leaders how to trade ego-driven venting for accountability and results.
Under New Management
by David Burkus
David Burkus surveys the companies quietly deleting management conventions, from unlimited vacation to abolishing email, and what happened when they did.
Ego is the Enemy
by Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday draws on history and Stoic philosophy to show how ego sabotages leaders at every stage: when aspiring, when successful, and when failing.
Leaders Eat Last
by Simon Sinek
Simon Sinek explains why the best leaders create circles of safety, putting their people first the way the best military officers do. A modern leadership classic.
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