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The Top 20 Leadership Books for 2024 (Plus Two Essential Bonus Reads)

Top 20 Books

As we head into the fall, leadership continues to be a crucial topic for professionals across industries. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or just stepping into a leadership role, the right book can provide the insights and inspiration needed to excel. Here is a curated list of the top 20 leadership books that should be on your reading list this year, along with two bonus selections by John Maxwell.

  1. “Dare to Lead”

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The 4 Levels of Leadership Conversations

Four levels of Leadership

Today we’re tackling an essential yet challenging aspect of leadership: navigating difficult conversations. In this short video blog, we’ll explore the four levels of leadership conversations, from asking clarifying questions to addressing serious problems.

Here’s a quick summary:

1. Questions: I recommend starting with open-ended questions like, “Help me understand,” or “Can you explain further?” to encourage deeper dialogue.

2. Concerns: Share your concerns transparently and invite your team to do the same.

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Leader: Sometimes you need to just show up

Leaders just show up

The start of a four-year journey
At the beginning of the Covid lock-down, my athletic wife got me started on my CrossFit journey. The gym she was going to immediately pivoted to free Zoom classes. My life of travel as a business consultant had come to a screeching halt, I finally had time to get serious again about fitness, and I followed my wife’s lead on joining these on-line classes streamed to an iPad in our backyard.

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Over Requires Under

Over requires under

In my experience serving on the advisory board of a nonprofit that’s doing incredible work by combining physical fitness with spiritual growth. The journey of the nonprofit’s founder is nothing short of inspiring. One key takeaway from this episode is the importance of understanding that to effectively lead and expand your influence, you must also remain under the authority of others. This episode is packed with insights that can help shape your leadership approach and drive your personal and professional growth.

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“Leadership Excellence” is often a contradiction in terms

Leadership Excellence

Several of them dropped the balls again. In the midst of “generally managing everything,” several of our swim school General Managers let their site-specific social media postings fall off the radar in the past several weeks.

On the one hand I understand: we are heading into our busiest time of the year, and most of them are short-staffed. On the other hand, our customers live on their smartphones. If we aren’t posting regularly,

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Be Strong and Courageous: Embracing Fear and Anxiety in Leadership

Be Strong and Courageous

Leadership is not just about guiding others but also about handling our own fears and anxieties. In our latest leadership episode, we are exploring the timeless call to “be strong and courageous,” a mandate that has encouraged leaders for generations.

Here are three key takeaways from this inspiring session:

· Courage in Leadership: Understand that leadership involves periods of fear and anxiety. Acknowledging this can empower you to handle challenges more effectively.

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Here we go: Success and Failure

What do success and risk have in common?

My wife and I own several swim schools in central Texas. Last year, we provided more than 200,000 swim lessons at our five facilities. We helped a lot of kids grow stronger and more comfortable in and around the water.  It was a very successful year of providing more lessons to more children than ever.

We also had a very risky year.  We demolished and rebuilt one of our five swim school at the same time we were building a brand new school. 

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