“He who thinks he knows everything has a lot to learn.”
— unknown [this is my take on the original]

Leadership books, tools and resources

I read widely across leadership, human behaviour, performance, business, psychology and personal development. Some of these books have changed the way I coach. Others have changed the way I think about teams, work, relationships or life.

Rather than create another list of “must-read” books, I’ve pulled together the ones I’ve found genuinely useful and added a short note on what I took from each.

My favourite and most useful books:

A New Earth - Awakening to Your Life's Purpose — Eckhart Tolle
This is my favourite book of all time. I’ve listened to it 7 times and counting – each time a new lesson and insight emerges. Highly recommended.

12: The Elements of Great Managing — Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter

First, Break All the Rules — Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman

It’s the Manager — Jim Clifton and Jim Harter

Strengths Based Leadership — Tom Rath and Barry Conchie

Wellbeing at Work — Jim Clifton and Jim Harter

Nine Lies About Work — Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall

Love + Work — Marcus Buckingham

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team — Patrick Lencioni

Working With Gen Z — Santor Nishizaki and James DellaNeve

Never Split the Difference — Chris Voss and Tahl Raz

Atomic Habits — James Clear

Deep Work — Cal Newport

Mindset — Carol Dweck

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance — Angela Duckworth

Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman

Learned Optimism — Martin E. P. Seligman

Scaling Up — Verne Harnish

Buy Back Your Time — Dan Martell

Reentry: SpaceX, Elon Musk, and the Reusable Rockets That Launched a Second Space Age — Eric Berger

Elon Musk — Walter Isaacson

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike — Phil Knight

Steve Jobs — Walter Isaacson


Professional Library

Business, Systems & Scale

Coaching, Influence & Communication

  • Daring Greatly — Brené Brown
    “I define vulnerability as uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure. With that definition in mind, let’s think about love. Waking up every day and loving someone who may or may not love us back, whose safety we can’t ensure, who may stay in our lives or may leave without a moment’s notice, who may be loyal to the day they die or betray us tomorrow—that’s vulnerability.” ― Brené Brown

  • How Full Is Your Bucket? — Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton

  • The 48 Laws of Power — Robert Greene

  • The Wolf of Wall Street — Jordan Belfort

Innovation & First-Principles Thinking

Leadership, Strengths & Teams

  • Lean In — Sheryl Sandberg

  • Maverick! — Ricardo Semler

  • Start With Why — Simon Sinek

  • The Leadership Code — Dave Ulrich, Norm Smallwood and Kate Sweetman

  • The Seven-Day Weekend — Ricardo Semler

  • Trillion Dollar Coach — Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle

Marketing, Sales & Positioning

Performance, Focus & Behaviour

  • Eat That Frog! — Brian Tracy

  • Get It Done — Ayelet Fishbach

  • Hidden Potential — Adam Grant

  • How to Break Up With Your Phone — Catherine Price

  • Hyperfocus — Chris Bailey

  • Limitless — Jim Kwik

  • Little Voice Mastery — Blair Singer

  • Noise — Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein

  • Outliers: The Story of Success — The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

    For those of us who feel like our peers are more gifted and talented than we are, this book proves that being ‘gifted’ is just the foot in the door of success. The other 90% is hard work and persistence.

  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen R. Covey

  • The Power of Less — Leo Babauta

  • The War of Art — Steven Pressfield

  • Tools of Titans — Tim Ferriss

  • Work Smarter, Not Harder — Jack Collis

Personal Development & Perspective

Resilience, Wellbeing & Health

Wider Bookshelf

Money, Investing & Property

Performance, Focus & Behaviour

  • 365 Days of Getting Sh*t Done — Daniel W. Kuss

  • Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself — Joe Dispenza

  • Comfort Zone: Stepping Beyond — Russell C. James

  • Meditations for Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself — Joe Dispenza

  • Unleash the Power Within — Tony Robbins

  • Unlimited Power — Tony Robbins

  • Who Moved My Cheese? — Spencer Johnson

Personal Development & Perspective

  • 12 Rules for Life — Jordan B. Peterson

  • As a Man Thinketh / From Poverty to Power — James Allen

  • Becoming Supernatural — Joe Dispenza

  • Beyond Order — Jordan B. Peterson

  • Inspired Destiny — John Demartini

  • Living an Exceptional Life — Jim Rohn

  • Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor E. Frankl

  • Meditations — Marcus Aurelius

  • Mind Power for the 21st Century — John Kehoe

  • Mind Power Home Study Program — John Kehoe

  • Quantum Warrior — John Kehoe

  • The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho

  • The Daily Stoic — Ryan Holiday

  • The Magic of Thinking Big — David J. Schwartz

  • The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari — Robin Sharma

  • The Mountain Is You — Brianna Wiest

  • The Power of Now — Eckhart Tolle

  • The Power of Positive Thinking — Norman Vincent Peale

  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck — Mark Manson

  • Understanding Life — Lawrence West

Relationships & Parenting

  • Raising Men — Eric Davis and Dina Santorelli

  • Strengths Based Parenting — Mary Reckmeyer

  • The Tantra Experience — Osho
    This life is a gift from existence, to be lived and enjoyed. But with the seemingly impossible and conflicting demands of society, morality, and culture, people struggle with feelings of unfulfilled potential, frustration, and guilt rather than living full lives.

    The world of tantra has no division between higher and lower. The simple, ordinary things of life are transformed into great things when we enter into them totally - be it car fixing, floor cleaning, or lovemaking. Osho shows how, by living this vision, new heights of consciousness and freedom are realised.

Resilience, Wellbeing & Health

  • Exercised — Daniel E. Lieberman

  • The Joy of Living — Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

  • You Are the Placebo — Joe Dispenza

  • Younger Next Year, 2nd Edition — Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge