With all of our modern technology, the written word remains the best source of learning and information. If you’re passionate about self-development and becoming an exceptional leader within your industry following reading habits of a CEO will help. Executives should be reading motivational books to help understand how to’s from experts who have been there. Following reading habits of CEO is key to ensuring continued professional growth and success in your leadership career, as you aspire to progress up the ladder.
Reading books that inspire CEOs, is an excellent way to learn new skills, challenge your brain to think in new ways, see from new perspectives, and relax. Reading can also reduce stress by up to 68%! As every business leader knows stress management is essential to surviving and thriving in the role of CEO.
List of CEO book recommendations
In the ever-evolving world of business, CEOs constantly seek new sources of inspiration and knowledge. It’s intriguing to delve into the reading habits of some of the world’s most successful CEOs.
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders From the Rest
Written by: Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra
Written by senior partners at one of the world’s most influential management consulting firms, McKinsey & Company, this book achieved bestseller status on both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal lists. The authors packed the book with revelatory interviews and insights into how some of the most celebrated CEOs do their jobs.
CEO Excellence reveals six successful mindsets and actions of the best CEOs, practical leadership and organization advice, stakeholder strategies, leadership development, and best practices for establishing organizational alignment.
Opening Your Presence: Presenting the YOU You Want Others to See
Written by: Greta Muller
This book published in 2022, is an empowering one to help the aspiring leaders who want to develop their confidence and personal branding presence as public speakers. Whether preparing to deliver a presentation at work or a keynote at a conference, this book helps you effectively craft your image and your message.
Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice
Written by: Clayton M. Christensen, Karen Dillon, Taddy Hall, and David S. Duncan
This books deliver years of research showing how companies can make innovation a sure thing. This gives customers what they want and are willing to pay a premium for. The book also depicts how businesses focus on understanding the customer when they should prioritize what the customer wants to accomplish.
Sticking Points: How to Get 5 Generations Working Together in the 12 Places They Come Apart
Written by: Haydn Shaw, Forwarded by Stephen M. R. Covey
For any CEO managing employees of all ages in all stages of their professional careers, Sticking Points is an essential, invaluable read that will help you understand the challenges that generational workplaces can create and the trick to successfully managing a workplace occupied by Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z. This book will help you better understand and identify the 12 places where relationships between these generations fall apart and how to help them work and stick together.
Innovation Management
Written by: Jan Van Den Ende
Innovation Management introduces new business development by focusing on new services and business models, not just new products. Its interactive format allows the reader to self-test and reflect with exercises and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
Author Van Den Ende provides evidence-based content with practical examples and ensures readers keep up with contemporary knowledge on innovation, covering design thinking, lean innovation, and open innovation. It’s an essential textbook for undergraduate students and executives.
Unbreakable: Building and Leading Resilient Teams
Written by: Bradley L. Kirkman and Adam Stoverink
This book teaches you how to bounce back as a leader, and the building blocks that enable you to lead teams that are resilient in the face of crisis and setbacks—whether remote, hybrid, or in-person.
Outsource Smart: Be Your Own Boss…Without Letting Your Business Become the Boss of You
Written by: Daven Michaels
This is a must book recommendation for CEO as it is a New York Times and Los Angeles Times Bestseller. It is filled with insights and guidance for leveraging outsourcing to put your business on autopilot so that business leaders can free up their time to do more of what they love. The book reveals an efficient system for improving productivity and problem-solving while teaching readers how to choose, use, and manage outsourced business service providers.
Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price
Written by: Madhavan Ramanujam and Georg Tacke
It talks about how in order to survive, businesses must innovate, making it one of the top CEO books to read. It delves into companies obsession with creativity and innovation and still failing to make money after designing and building products. Many accept this failure as part of doing business. Their book challenges this approach, claiming that companies can take the guesswork out of their processes by designing products around the price. By putting customer demand and desire to pay at the forefront, CEOs can replace the uncertainty of monetizing a product with confidence.
The Diary of a CEO: The 33 Laws of Business and Life
Written by: Steven Bartlett
From the host of the popular business podcast, The Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett’s similarly titled book presents 33 laws of business and life that demonstrate how you can take an unconventional path to success and power. In the book, you’ll learn principles for achieving excellence in both life and business, valuable insights into behavior and psychology, and a recipe for Bartlett’s secret sauce to success.
