There are many tools that can help you develop your leadership skills, but when was the last time you considered reading a good book in order to improve these abilities? Besides bringing you benefits in terms of personal development, an active literary life can make you more effective by keeping you relaxed and improving health. Here are 5 books we believe every young leader should read, as described and recommended by the Forbes Coaches Council and the Harvard Business Review:

Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl

“Any aspiring leader should start by tackling the basics of human motivation. Man’s Search for Meaning illustrates the power of one of our primary motivators: the need for purpose. The book chronicles Frankl’s experiences and observations during his imprisonment at Auschwitz, showing how purpose, attitude and mindset can play such a critical role in overcoming the toughest of circumstances.” — Dr. Woody Woodward, HCI

Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business – Charles Duhigg

“Duhigg combines the latest research in productivity and effectiveness to explain how to become better at work. Not only does Duhigg combine cutting-edge productivity and the neuroscience of how we learn, but he does it with incredibly engaging stories that make it a fun summer read as well.” — Jo Ilfeld, Success Reboot

Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results – Judith Glaser

“Judith is a master of training great leaders to build trust. If you want your people to produce great results, you must have their trust. She has led numerous successful initiatives in companies where leadership was the key to altering the company’s future. This book gives practical tools to develop oneself in empowering conversations and developing our own and others leadership.” — Janet Zaretsky, The Zenith Business

Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t

“What does it take to make a great company, and what traits will young business people need to lead them? Jim Collins introduced new rigor to the evaluation of business leadership in his instant classic Good to Great, with a research team reviewing 6,000 articles and generating 2,000 pages of interview transcripts. The result is a systematic treatise on making a company great, with particularly interesting findings around what Collins calls Level 5 Leadership that have changed the face of modern business.” — John Coleman

Stephen R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

“Covey’s book represents the best in self-help. His advice — about prioritization, empathy, self-renewal, and other topics — is both insightful and practical. Seven Habits can be useful to the personal and professional development of anyone charting a career in business.” — John Coleman

Sources: 

https://hbr.org/2012/10/11-books-every-young-leader-mu

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/07/29/10-must-read-books-to-develop-your-leadership-skills/#90985b835625