Top Leadership and Management Books 2026
- Nancy Maher
- 7 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
People who are treated as followers treat others as followers when it’s their turn to lead. L. David Marquet, Turn the Ship Around!
Most leaders say “people skills” matter, yet only a minority invest regular time in building them with the same discipline as functional skills like strategy, finance, or tech.
There is a mix of new management books and older popular management books, but all have a theme of making work better for all of us.
Contents
Why these Leadership Books Now
AI is reshaping how work gets done at a pace none of us can keep up with. The ground feels shaky - because it is shaky.
The core challenge for leaders is to learn to lead with courage and humanity in a time of deep uncertainty, rather than relying on outdated approaches to leadership.
Leaders need fresh perspectives and practical tools to both inspire them to shed outdated beliefs and provide ideas for experimenting with ways of leading and evolving workplace culture for the better.
Employees who are strongly connected to their team culture are 3.7 times more engaged and 68% less likely to experience burnout - Workhuman Gallup Research 2023.
Top Leadership and Management Books
Strong Ground – Brené Brown
Brené Brown is THE thought leader on vulnerability and shame. Check out her TedTalk, with 7.5+ million views. Strong Ground is Brené Brown’s latest playbook for courageous leadership in a world that feels permanently shaky. She argues that being “grounded” is less about having all the answers and more about building an internal stance you can return to when things get messy. What I love about this book is that you can pick and choose the chapters that most resonate. The chapter on pocket presence is one I particularly like. As always, Brené challenges the status quo and brings a diverse range of research and perspectives to make you think deeply about the responsibility of leadership.
Ideal if you want language and practices for leading with both backbone and heart, especially through organisational change and technological disruption
Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People) - Amy Gallo
A research-based, very relatable book on navigating the relationships at work that keep you awake at night. Amy Gallo identifies eight familiar “difficult coworker” types – from the insecure boss to the passive-aggressive peer and the biased colleague – and offers strategies for working with each while protecting your own wellbeing and values. Instead of promising to fix other people, the book helps you focus on what you can control: your perspective, your boundaries, and your next move. It is a must-read for managers, team leaders, HR and people leaders who struggle to navigate personality clashes.
Great for leaders who want a toolkit to make even the most challenging relationships work well.
Emotional Agility – Susan David
Emotional Agility tackles the inner game of leadership: how you relate to your thoughts and feelings when the ground feels shaky. Susan David defines emotional agility as the ability to notice emotions with curiosity and then choose a values-aligned response instead of reacting on autopilot. Emotional intelligence is a learnable skill, and Susan gives you tools to label your emotions, accept them, create space, and act on your values.
Perfect if you want to stay steady under pressure, make cleaner decisions, and build teams where people can be honest and kind to each other.
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking - Susan Cain
Susan Cain’s work on introversion challenges noisy, always-on models of leadership. Her TED Talk went viral for a reason. There is not one way to lead - that's a leadership myth. Her core message: quieter strengths like active listening, deep thinking, and reflection are not “nice extras” but essential for complex problem-solving and inclusive teams.
A strong pick if you want to create inclusive workplace cultures, have better meetings, healthy team culture norms, and embrace diverse leadership styles.
The Manager’s Path – Camille Fournier
The Manager’s Path is a clear, practical guide to growing as a leader in technical and complex organisations, from individual contributor to CTO. Camille Fournier breaks down each transition, focusing on fundamental leadership skills: giving feedback, running teams, managing managers, and shaping team culture.
Particularly useful for managers in tech or engineering who suddenly find themselves leading people instead of writing code.
Turn the Ship Around – L. David Marquet
This is a bit of a golden oldie, but it remains relevant in these fast-moving times. Turn the Ship Around is a leadership story from a nuclear submarine that reads like a case study in modern autonomy. David Marquet shifts from a traditional “leader–follower” model to “leader–leader,” giving control to the people closest to the work.
Shows how to build competence and clarity so people can make decisions without waiting for permission.
Ideal if you want practical ideas for distributing authority, building ownership, and moving beyond heroic, exhausted leadership.
The No Asshole Rule – Robert Sutton
A blunt book about stopping everyday toxicity from becoming normal. Robert Sutton shows how even “small” demeaning team behaviours add up to real damage for people, performance, and reputation.
Robert defines clear tests and behaviours for spotting the “asshole effect” at work and why tolerating it, even from high performers, is so expensive.
Great book for leaders serious about psychological safety, inclusion, and setting non-negotiable standards for how people treat each other
Leadership Unblocked - Muriel Wilkins
Muriel M. Wilkins 2025 book, Leadership Unblocked, is a practical guide for noticing and changing the hidden beliefs that quietly limit your impact as a leader. Muriel, with over 20 years of experience as a C-suite advisor and executive coach, explores familiar stories leaders tell themselves. These blockers may stem from leadership myths such as “I must be in control” or “I don’t belong here,” and shape what you see, how you make decisions, and how you relate to others. Muriel walks you through a practical self‑coaching process to reframe thinking patterns that do not serve you or anyone around you. It pairs well with her Coaching Real Leaders podcast, which is in our Top 15 Leadership Podcasts recommendations, where you can hear these blockers and breakthroughs play out in real-life coaching conversations.
This is a strong pick for senior leaders and first-time managers who want a structured way to get out of their own way and support their teams in doing their best work.
How To Use This Leadership Book List
Pick two books. Pick one inner game book (like Strong Ground or Emotional Agility) and one relationships and culture book (like How to Work with (Almost) Anyone or The No Asshole Rule).
Learn with others. Use these books in peer coaching circles, lunch-time learning with colleagues, and in combination with 30 Questions Great Leaders Ask Their Teams so learning and reflection become shared habits, not solo work.
📚 More Management Book Recommendations
In Summary
In times of great change, how you, as a leader, collaborate, relate, empower, listen, and make decisions needs to be intentional.
You get intentional when you reflect on why you do what you do and are open to evolving your approach. This list of leadership books is a reflective toolkit to help managers in 2026 grow in intentionality and be the boss you've always wanted to be.
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