The Best Leadership Books For New Managers

All higher-order cognitive processes, including self-mastery, are driven by this book. This enables you to regulate the strongly triggered emotional responses. It isn’t an accident that the first rule of Think and Grow Rich is to have a strong desire supported by a clear objective in mind rather than emotion. In short, your thoughts might become you in the future since whatever you think becomes your reality. As a result, your mind is the only thing that has the power to either stop you from becoming a better representation of yourself or encourage you to do so.

Reading it will help you realize how crucial it is to initially recognize yourself, then focus all of your efforts on fulfilling your real needs in order to become the best version of yourself, reach your full potential, and lead a peaceful life. The goal of Mountain Is You, is to assist readers in realizing their own strengths and abilities while overcoming trauma, difficulties in life, and emotional damage. This is done by embracing change, visualizing a happy future, and putting an end to self-sabotage.

My recent book, The Humor Hack, has multiple chapters on leadership, management, teaching, and how all of them can be enhanced with the proper use of humor. This book is unlike any leadership book that your readers will come across. It’s conversational, enjoyable, and more than that, it gives people things they can do right away to practice what they’ve read. I have also published empirical research that shows that humorous leaders help reduce feelings of burnout in their subordinates. My website, www.mirthmanagement.co has more information on the ways that humor is important to beating back the high levels of disengagement we see and why we need humor to be more present in our organizational settings.

In this business fable, Patrick Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which can ruin a team: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. He expounds on each dysfunction and provides a practical framework for overcoming them so that teams can become truly effective. If you’re just starting as a manager, this book will help you understand the common pitfalls teams face and how to avoid them.

Dare to Lead is one of my favorite leadership books for new managers because it teaches them how to lead meaningfully from day one in a way that makes an impact. It’s a #1 New York Times bestseller by the popular shame researcher Brené Brown, and it reveals the results of her research about how to succeed by leading with empathy and vulnerability in a culture that can often prioritize the opposite, as well as why it matters. This book is truly a guide that every new manager will want in his or her arsenal.

Most people have heard of the 80/20 principle (or the Pareto Principle as it’s often known). But few people know what it truly means for their personal or professional lives. Or how to use it to build and compound wealth. Richard Koch’s book explains how anyone can do this in simple terms (make sure you’re in the 20% of who people actually do).

Cal Newport’s book has been used by Founders, CEOs and middle managers for decades, helping them get the very most from every minute of work. Newport outlines which 3 groups of people stand to be wildly successful in the modern age, and how you can be one of them too. The book outlines simple strategies that you can use to improve both your effectiveness and that of your team. It will have your staff creating more in less time, while you’ll look like a star at every management meeting.

In this book, Ashlee Vance takes readers through the upbringing and development of one of the most efficient business leaders in the world, Elon Musk. And she does so by identifying Elon Musk’s thought processes, daily habits, and tasks, as well as making use of examples and anecdotes from former and current employees that discuss in detail his hands-on leadership style. This in turn gives readers a good glimpse into some of the challenges that come with being a leader, as well as how best one can cope with those challenges, even while functioning in an extremely high-pressure work environment.

“The First-Time Manager,” by Jim McCormick is as the name implies an excellent book for new managers. This classic now in its seventh edition teaches people how to lead meetings, hire employees, motivate teams, actively listen, stay calm under pressure, and overcome challenges. Instead of stumbling your way through the transition of employee to manager, this book will help you navigate the change with ease.

A classic read for leaders of all kinds is The One Minute Manager because of its storytelling technique which applies three concepts: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings and One Minute Reprimands. These tips are backed by research in medicine and behavioral sciences so its effectiveness cannot be denied and will be a great practice for managers who are starting out their leadership journey.

Leading With Gratitude is a book that new managers in particular will find helpful for finding their way as leaders. It’s designed to give the reader practical, applicable information, specifically relating to the vast benefits of implementing gratitude in our practice of leadership. Even if gratitude isn’t the center of your management style, it’s absolutely a useful skill and this book provides a fantastic beginner’s perspective on it.

When we’re working in business, we end up working with PEOPLE – regardless of whether we have people on our team or we have some kind of product, PEOPLE are buying whatever we’re selling. And so we need to be able to communicate, have conversations, and resolve conflict. This book walks through so many different ways to create shared connection and shared purpose so that we can – even when we’re experiencing conflict – come together to focus on the bigger picture. Being able to do that with potential clients or existing clients or team members is so important, because we all are going to be working with people in some capacity. And in a lot of cases, we’re going to be working with a lot of different types of people in a lot of different capacities. If we don’t actually know how to have these kinds of conversations and move past the initial conflict, we’re going to struggle. As business owners, that might mean our business not growing and unresolved issues, potentially causing our business to close or shut down. So I’ve highly recommended this book to many of my clients, their team members, and my own team (even gifted it during onboarding!). I regularly talk about the lessons from this book with different people I work with, and it has helped guide how I manage and how I work with clients. Definitely a must-read for new managers!!

Welcome to Management is a step-by-step guide to transitioning from a star employee to an excellent manager. The book is divided into three sections: leading yourself, building your team, and leading your team. Ryan Hawk gives a foundation for being a dynamic leader across these parts. The work discusses subjects such as self-discipline, constant learning, reaction management, and preparedness, as well as the attributes and behaviors that distinguish exceptional managers. Leaders will learn how to create productive and supportive work cultures, as well as how to steer teams toward great outcomes. Welcome to Management explains the underlying norms of management and educates young professionals how to accept and maximize their new jobs.

One of the best books for new managers is The Making of a Manager. In order to assist other young entrepreneurs in taking the reins and successfully leading a contemporary workforce, Julie Zhou draws on her experience as a leader at Facebook. The book follows the process of entering management, from ramping up in the beginning to developing as a leader once you find your footing. The manual outlines the traits and actions of effective managers and demonstrates how leadership is a process of ongoing learning, self-evaluation, and development. Zhou illustrates the experience of leading while learning by using her own career as a springboard. The book reveals the unwritten principles of management and demonstrates to young professionals how to quickly become a new boss.

The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter proved helpful when I was promoted to a senior leadership position. Those first 90 days in a new role always determine your success or failure. And whether you come on board as an exec in a turnaround situation or growth situation, Watkins’s strategies help you and your team navigate the transition to your new role and its increased expectations by understanding how different situations require different approaches. The chapter titles alone offer an easy-to-follow framework for creating a solid foundation with a long-lasting impact. And with worksheets, checklists, and case studies, this book is a practical guide for nearly every transition situation.

The reason why I recommend this book is because it has tips and tricks for those who are going to start their journey as a manager or a leader. You will learn how to manage your team, how to give feedback, and how to cooperate in a given task. It’s worth reading and worth purchasing.

This book is a must-read for any manager who wants to stay ahead of the curve and drive innovation within their organization. Christensen explains how even the most successful companies can fail if they don’t embrace disruptive new technologies and business models. This book is full of case studies and insights that will help managers identify opportunities for innovation and make the tough decisions needed to ensure their company’s long-term success.

This is another essential read for managers who want to build successful, innovative businesses. Ries provides a step-by-step framework for starting and running a lean startup, which is an approach that emphasizes speed, experimentation, and customer feedback. This book is packed with useful advice on everything from developing a Minimum Viable Product to validating your business model. If you’re looking to build a successful startup, this is the book for you.

This book is all about the power of collective intelligence and how it can be harnessed to solve problems and make better decisions. Surowiecki shares a number of case studies and real-world examples to illustrate how collective intelligence can be used in business, government, and other organizations. This book is an eye-opening read that will change the way you think about decision-making.

This is ‘The No-fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know’ book that was written by James M. Kouzes, and Barry Z. Posner. This book will present 10 fundamental truths and principles about leadership. As a new manager, this is good for personal and professional growth and development.

This is the book to discover your authentic leadership that was written by Bill George. This will help new managers assess themselves and discover the purpose of their leadership. And how to effectively optimize it in managing a team.

Written by an ex-silicon valley chairman and CEO, Groves shares many of the tips and skills that he has honed over the years to become a successful business leader. There are plenty of lessons to learn here, including for example a very informative section on how to build cooperative and highly efficient teams. This is just one example of the kind of advice Groves shares with the reader, with many more examples of how managers can deal with the types of real-world challenges managers may encounter in the workplace. It’s an excellent book, and I have used many of the lessons I learned from it in my own career. I would recommend it to anybody going into management for the first time.

Humans have an inherent need to find purpose in everything we do. As social beings, purpose provides us with a deeper connection to others and society as a whole. Without this, we lose the meaning and significance behind the things that we do—and in turn, we lose the motivation to do them. In the workplace, employees need to understand the purpose of their work in order to feel like their contributions are meaningful and valued. Employees who feel a sense of purpose through their work are more engaged in the workplace, and more fulfilled as human beings. Once employees understand the purpose and value behind their work, everything else follows.

One of the hardest things to do in a workplace is to provide honest feedback that won’t crush the souls of the employees that look to us. Radical Candor provides us examples and actionable lessons for how we can bring honest dialogue to our relationships that will improve our employees sense of achievement and productivity while making sure the work is done to the standards we expect. Kim Scott reminds us that, “clear is kind.”

In this book, a film director, psychologist, and actor share their combined experiences to help new managers in improving their presenting skills. There are numerous tips that will help you to acquire more resources and opportunities for your team and gain confidence while communicating your ideas. It is a real page turner that you won’t be able to drop till you’re done.