The hardest part about learning leadership is wanting to be a better leader, mostly because the first step is to change yourself.
Leaders can't change other people but they can change how other people react to them by changing their own actions.
Leaders are also teachable.
Below I've reviewed five books I consider of the best leadership books.
1.
How To Win Friends And Influence Peopleby Dale Carnegie How To Win Friends explains some of the timeless principles of human relations (which are, of course, the foundation of leadership) relevant to business professionals and nonprofessionals alike, and details them with interesting and entertaining stories.
The book stresses sincerity and points out acting earnestly without being earnest may produce short-term results but only long-term harm.
By teaching the psychology of human relations, Carnegie helps people make social contacts and friends and further improve their speaking skills.
It also includes a section about communicating effectively through writing.
2.
How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with Peopleby Leslie T.
Giblin People skills (human relations) is vital to effective leadership.
Luckily, people skills are based in psychology and can be learned; How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing With People does exactly this.
Giblin teaches you to have confidence with others and power with yourself, to talk to people how they wish to be spoken to, to meet new people and small talk, teaches the effects of an individual's attitude on how others treat them, and a plethora of other important communication skills usually taken for granted as something we naturally figure out but in truth need careful study.
The principles of human nature taught in this book do not change, and the book remains as relevant today as ever.
3.
Personality Plusby Florence Littauer You can't be a leader without first understanding others, and you can't understand others without first understanding yourself.
Great leaders make effort to learn how others' minds work in order to provide better leadership by giving them what they individually need.
Littauer uses an ancient and true-to-life personality profile system to explain why people naturally want to act the way they do.
She explains the positive and negative points of acting in each way and helps the reader understand how to cater to the various personality types in order to provide more effective leadership.
Littauer's book is easy to read, includes entertaining personality examples, and a personality test, and is equally valuable for business and personal relationships.
4.
The Ant and the Elephant: Leadership For the Selfby Vince Poscente The Ant and the Elephant is a small parable full of big ideas.
In the story, a little ant living on the back of a very large elephant wants to conquer his subconscious and lead himself and his elephant on a long, frustrating journey to reach his goal.
In the same way, great leaders must reprogram and conquer their emotional subconscious if they want their logical conscious mind to truly be effective.
Throughout the book, the author teaches leadership principles in an easy-to-understand story.
It's a quick read, beneficial for time-pressed leaders, and understandable to children as well as adults.
5.
The Greatest Salesman in the Worldby Og Mandino The Greatest Salesman In the World is about empowering yourself to be successful.
In a way similar to The Ant and the Elephant Mandino uses a parable to teach a different way of thinking--the type of thinking required not only by salesmen but also by anyone who wants to be successful through their own endeavors.
The book includes 10 lessons found in 10 ancient scrolls and provides a plan for easy mental reprogramming and empowerment.
Like all great principles those found in Mandino's book are timeless and universal.