7 books to help you grow in business and leadership

One of the best ways to take in information that you can apply to your daily life is through reading. President Harry S. Truman once said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” I believe this to be true. After all, books allow us to tap into the knowledge of those who are more educated than us. They help us connect and relate. They even inspire us to be better humans. These facts about books are also a reminder of what leaders need to grow and be their best. If you’re not reading leadership books, it might be time to start pushing yourself to do so.

The following seven books are great places to begin. The topics relate to leadership and business, but they offer different insights from coaches, researchers, and experts who offer sage advice on how to take your leadership skills and real estate knowledge to the next level.

Simon Sinek is an author, speaker, and founder of The Optimism Company, which coaches individuals and business leaders to find inspiration and fulfillment in their work. Start with Why examines leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, and Sinek uses their examples to build a framework he calls “The Golden Circle.” With this framework, he provides guidance for how to build organizations where movements are created and its people are inspired by its “why.”

As one of the globe’s top business thinkers, and a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and London Business School, Gary Hamel is influential as a business leader. His most recent book, Humanocracy, explores a blueprint for creating organizations that are resilient, motivated, and willing to change the status quo for their businesses. It’s all to push organizations to think beyond the bureaucracy that holds them back to bring about change and create a great future for a business.

Organizational psychologist and bestselling author Adam Grant is a Wharton School professor who uses his years of research and his storytelling capabilities to show what it takes to succeed in business. His research shows that within the workplace, people fall into one of three types: takers, matchers, or givers. In Give and Take, Grant uses numerous examples and real-life data to show why many givers can find high levels of success when they give to others without requesting anything in return.

Stefanie K. Johnson is a professor at University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business, where she teaches and researches on leadership and diversity. In her inaugural book, Inclusify, she helps leaders explore the ways they might undermine their teams and prevent them from fully engaging. She then provides practical insights for building better relationships with team members to build a positive, innovative culture where all feel part of the company’s success.

Even great leaders have personal demons and bad habits. Jerry Colonna, the founder and CEO of Reboot.IO, Inc. has coached top-level business leaders on how they can be their best. In Reboot, he writes about how leaders can achieve whatever they want by overcoming the issues that are holding them back. He encourages leaders to grow their businesses by growing themselves first, and essentially asks us all to hit the reboot button on life.

Jonathan Raymond launched his business, Refound, as a way to help leaders grow both personally and professionally to bring about deep cultural change. Good Authority offers tools that will help you improve your relationships both in the workplace and in your personal life. It’s all designed to help you establish the feedback and support loop that will transform how you lead and how your team performs. 

Tom Ferry is a real estate leader and educator who is highly sought after as a coach for real estate professionals. In his book, Mindset, Model and Marketing!, he offers insights and strategies that help agents scale their businesses with confidence and ease. If you’re struggling with growing your real estate business, this book is the place to start.

Keep in mind that it takes more than reading leadership and business books alone to become an even better leader and professional. As you read, take notes and reflect on your learnings to help the ideas stick. Also, do you have additional leadership books you’d like to recommend? Share them in the comments below.

Jim Allen is a business leader and entrepreneur who has built one of the top-producing real estate groups in the Triangle. He is President of The Jim Allen Group, which is consistently named one of the top real estate teams in North Carolina and even North America.