The Leader's Shelf - Reading List
Welcome to The Leader's Shelf — your curated corner of timeless insights, modern strategies, and transformative ideas. This handpicked reading list is designed for leaders who are hungry to grow, curious about the world, and committed to leading with clarity and purpose.
Whether you're a seasoned executive, an emerging manager, or a pastor, ministry leader or changemaker, the titles on this shelf are selected to challenge your thinking, expand your perspective, and equip you with practical tools for real-world leadership. From classic leadership texts to fresh takes on culture, strategy, and self-awareness, each book offers something valuable to your journey.
Great leaders are always learning. Consider this your personal reading list for continuous growth.
The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth
– John C. Maxwell
Maxwell outlines timeless principles for personal growth, showing leaders how to be intentional about development. From awareness to consistency, this book helps leaders create a growth plan that ensures lasting impact.
​Leadership Gold
– John C. Maxwell
A collection of lessons Maxwell learned in over 40 years of leadership, offering wisdom that is practical, personal, and immediately applicable. Each chapter is designed to be a conversation between Maxwell and the reader.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership
– John C. Maxwell
One of Maxwell’s classics, this book presents 21 foundational principles of leadership, such as the Law of Influence and the Law of Respect. Each law provides insights that help leaders expand their influence and effectiveness.
The Power of Full Engagement
– Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz
This book emphasizes energy management over time management. It teaches leaders how to balance energy across physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual dimensions in order to sustain high performance and avoid burnout.
Leaders Eat Last
– Simon Sinek
Sinek explores how great leaders build trust and safety in their organizations by putting their people first. He explains the biology of leadership and how creating environments of belonging leads to stronger teams and greater results.
Trust and Inspire – Stephen M.R. Covey
Covey contrasts “command and control” leadership with a new paradigm: leading through trust and inspiration. It’s a blueprint for empowering others and unleashing their potential in today’s rapidly changing environment.
The Speed of Trust – Stephen M.R. Covey
Covey demonstrates how trust is a measurable asset that can be built, lost, and restored. He shows leaders how trust accelerates relationships and organizations, reducing friction while improving performance.
The Making of a Leader
– J. Robert Clinton
A Christian classic, Clinton maps out the stages of a leader’s development and highlights how God shapes leaders over time. It’s especially relevant for ministry leaders seeking to understand the process of spiritual leadership formation.
Outliers: The Story of Success
– Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell investigates what makes high achievers different, showing that success is not just about talent but also about opportunity, practice, and culture. It’s a thought-provoking read that challenges conventional views of leadership and achievement.
Strengthening
the Soul of Your Leadership
– Ruth Haley Barton
Barton explores spiritual practices that sustain leaders for the long haul, helping them lead from a place of depth, rest, and renewal.
The Emotionally Healthy Leader
– Peter
Scazzeroitle
Scazzero emphasizes the importance of inner life, integrity, and self-awareness for leaders who want to lead with sustainability and authenticity.
​Dare to Lead
– Brené Brown
Brown centers on courage, vulnerability, and authenticity as the foundation for building trust and resilience in leadership.
Leadershift
– John C. Maxwell
Maxwell shows how leaders must adapt, grow, and make critical shifts in thinking to stay effective in a constantly changing world.
An Unstoppable Force
– Erwin McManus
McManus reimagines the church and leadership as dynamic, catalytic movements designed to transform culture and society.
​Good to Great
– Jim Collins
A leadership classic that reveals how companies and leaders transition from mediocrity to sustained excellence by embracing discipline, focus, and leadership rigor.
Spiritual Leadership
– J. Oswald Sanders
A classic on Christian leadership, Sanders explores the character, vision, and discipline required for spiritual leaders. He emphasizes servanthood, integrity, and dependence on God as the true marks of lasting leadership influence.
Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control
– Ryan Holiday
Holiday argues that the strongest leaders are those who master themselves first. Through historical examples and philosophical insight, he shows how discipline shapes not just performance but character.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
– Patrick Lencioni
Lencioni identifies five core obstacles that prevent teams from achieving their potential—absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results. A practical framework for building cohesive, high-performing teams.