The Best Books on Leadership

When looking for the best books on leadership it all depends which type or style of leadership you are after. Are you researching for you? Are you wanting to deliver a leadership training program for your team? If it's research for your see below. If you would like further information about the Action Focused Leadership and Management Training Program which we sell under license and will work wherever you are in the UK then here's a link for further information. 

We're passionate about Leadership at Ultimate Leadership Training and have read hundreds of books to keep our knowledge and training courses current.

Leadership is a difficult one because it's hard to define. We have a brilliant definition, which we share in our Leadership Skills training course, unfortunately not here.

If you were my manager I would have to do what you told me to do, if I didn't I could lose my job, but I would not necessarily follow you! Leadership is a decision you make, not a seat you sit in. Leadership is flexibility not just saying you are one of the following because every member of your team are different.


The six styles of leadership

According to Daniel Goleman there are six styles of leadership, extracted from a research done on 3,871 executives.

The research didn’t just try to define the styles, it also correlated each one of them with the effect they have on the company climate, which then has a direct correlation on results.

  • Visionary — mobilize people toward a vision.
  • Coaching — develop people for the future.
  • Affiliative — create emotional bonds and harmony.
  • Democratic — build consensus through participation.
  • Pacesetting — expect excellence and self-direction.
  • Commanding — demand immediate compliance

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The Best Books on Leadership

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It wouldn't be natural if we didn't promote our leadership skills book within the best books on leadership list. It's the second book in a series we have written. Within these pages you'll find out that leadership is a decision you make, not a seat you sit in. The book includes:

  • A quick introduction to the author,  and why the book
  • Our leadership philosophy
  • What makes a great leader
  • Setting SMART goals to achieve the above
  • The vision and the mission
  • Your statement of intent 
  • The six different leadership styles 
  • The leaders reason for being
  • Emotional intelligence 
  • The next step

This is an excellent leadership book and helps towards setting the vision for your team. After reading it you will have a deeper understanding of what makes a leader and ways you can improve your own leadership skills. 

This extraordinary book goes straight to the heart of management. It describes the effective, adaptive styles of Situational Leadership II. It shows how Situational Leadership and One Minute Management work together to turn promising employees into peak performers.

You′ll learn how to:

  • Fitting your leadership style to the needs of the individual
  • Diagnose a situation correctly so you know when to delegate, support or direct
  • Contract with your people for the leadership style that suits them best

Use the One Minute techniques to enhance your management and motivation skills. Create one–to–one leadership that works for you and the prosperity of your entire company.

This is one of our all time favourites because it combines leadership and sport which we, at Ultimate Leadership Training Ltd, relate to.  Ben Hunt-Davis won Olympic Gold at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 as part of the Men's Rowing Eight. He and Executive Coach Harriet Beveridge have teamed up to show you how to use similar strategies to improve your own life.

The pair have been road-testing these methods for 10 years, with clients from all walks of life; managers, leaders, call centre staff, sales reps, athletes and shop assistants; whatever your challenges, whatever your goals, there are ideas that will help everyone. Will It Make The Boat Go Faster? is divided into 11 chapters, each of which is split into 2 halves. Firstly, Ben provides a narrative, recounting an episode from the eight's journey to Gold, and shows the team using the methods in action. Then comes the analysis, explaining why and how the crew did what they did.

Simple and chatty, the book is a warts-and-all authentic account of a journey to success that will show you how you can succeed in whatever you want to do. It is aimed at readers interested in personal development and managers wanting to achieve corporate goals. It will appeal to sports enthusiasts, practitioners and coaches who will find the Olympic story compelling and learn plenty of techniques for improving their own game strategies.

Some more best books on leadership

  • Who moved my Cheese - Dr Spencer Johnson
  • Legacy - James Kerr
  • Beyond Band of Brothers - Major Dick Winters
  • Eat that Frog - Brian Tracy
  • Coaching for Performance - John Whitmore
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
  • Effective Leadership - John Adair
  • See you at the top - Zig Ziglar

Thanks for visiting our best books on leadership page, here's a link to our homepage. Here's a link to our number one best books on leadership

As well as lots of smaller businesses and organisations, below are examples of some larger organisations who have received training from our director of learning at Ultimate Leadership Training:


spring care

arches
Zeelo

branded
Gatwick School

ned
catch

Nimbus
CAB

Please contact us to discuss any training requirements you have, we either deliver for you or sell you the course for your trainers to deliver to your team