25 Best Management Books for Personal and Professional Growth

Introduction

Excellent leaders are committed to lifelong personal and professional growth. Management books are valuable for continued learning, providing new ideas, strategies, tools, techniques, and knowledge.

Reading management books is an affordable and accessible way to reduce stress, increase time management, raise life satisfaction, and expand career opportunities. Struggling to find free time to read? No problem; audiobooks allow you to read while driving, jogging, or doing chores.

How We Chose the Best Management Books

To find the 25 best management books for personal and professional growth, we considered the following criteria:

Recommended reads from top-ranked CEOs and other excellent and admired leaders.
Esteemed award winners and shortlisted titles.
Reviews from respected publications and readers.
Relevance to the modern economic and business landscape.
Qualifications and experience of the authors.
Popularity and impact on readership, management styles, and workplace culture.

Top 25 Management Books for Personal and Professional Growth

Please note that our recommended books contain affiliate links, and we will earn a small commission if you purchase through our links.

Book 1: “Right Kind of Wrong” by Amy Edmondson

Amy Edmondson’s “Right Kind of Wrong” was the 2023 Financial Times Best Business Books of the Year Winner for Leadership & Management.

Edmondson’s research has revealed that organizations and managers must change their mindset on failure and learn when it can benefit business and personal growth.

She breaks failure into three archetypes:

Basic.
Complex.
Intelligent.

Using examples from real-life stories, she shows how the damage of failure can be minimized while maximizing opportunities and gains.

“Right Kind of Wrong” is available from Amazon.

Book 2: “Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World” by Ginni Rometty

In her book, “Good Power,” Ginni Rometty, former IBM CEO, combines memoir, leadership lessons, and ways to create meaningful change in your life and business. Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, is a huge fan and highly recommends it.

Bastian credits it for making him realize, “There’s an amazing amount of talent around us that we don’t look at or give opportunity to.”

“Good Power” is available from Amazon.

Book 3: “Unapologetically Ambitious: Take Risks, Break Barriers, and Create Success on Your Own Terms” by Shellye Archambeau

Shellye Archambeau was one of the first African American women to be a CEO in Silicon Valley. She uses her story in “Unapologetically Ambitious” to provide strategies, tools, steps, and approaches to help leaders reach their personal and professional goals.

Archambeau’s empowering and inspiring read was Fortune and Bloomberg’s Best Business Book of 2020. Want a taste of what Archambeau has to offer? Watch her TEDx Talk, Knowing Your Power.

“Unapologetically Ambitious” is available from Amazon.

Book 4: “The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World” by Robert E. Rubin

Robert Rubin has had to make many tough decisions, having served as co-chairman of Goldman Sachs and former secretary of the Treasury.

Yet, with all our fancy technology, he has found his yellow pad one of the most useful tools in making decisions in work, public policy, and life.

“The Yellow Pad” is an excellent read for those looking to improve their framework for exploring ideas and making decisions.

“The Yellow Pad” is available from Amazon.

Book 5: “Move Fast and Fix Things” by Frances Frei & Anne Morriss

Frances Frei, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Anne Morriss, CEO and founder of GenePeeks, believe excellent leaders can make progress and care for people.

They explain how in “Move Fast and Fix Things,” featured on the 2024 Thinkers50 Best New Management Booklist.

Frei and Morriss break their philosophy down into five essential steps:

Identify the real problem.
Build trust.
Create a thriving culture.
Communicate powerfully.
Empower your team.

“Move Fast and Fix Things” is available from Amazon.

Book 6: “The 29-Hour Work Day: A High Performer’s Guide to Leveraging Your EA” by Ethan Bull & Stephanie Bull

Ethan and Stephanie Bull believe the secret to reducing stress and maximizing your performance is understanding how to cultivate a partnership when hiring an executive assistant. In “The 29-Hour Work Day,” they outline the five performance multipliers that empower EAs.

Their advice will allow leaders to gain freedom and reach personal and professional growth goals. A must-read for executives and EAs who want to capitalize on untapped potential.

“The 29-Hour Work Day” is available from Amazon.

Book 7: “The Happiness Advantage: How a Positive Brain Fuels Success in Work and Life” by Shawn Achor

In the Harvard Business Review, Shawn Achor stated that “a happy and engaged workforce” is the greatest advantage to our modern economy. He has stats to back this up, showing that happy employees result in:

31% more productivity.
37% increase in sales.
19% more accuracy.

In “The Happiness Advantage,” Achor goes beyond the benefits for companies and explains how individuals can rewire their brains to seize opportunities and spot patterns of possibility. He believes embracing positive change will have a ripple effect, impacting a person’s family, company, and teams.

“The Happiness Advantage” is available from Amazon.

Book 8: “No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention” by Reed Hastings & Erin Meyer

Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder, shares his unorthodox and innovative management principles in “No Rules Rules.” His uniquely flexible style transformed the entertainment landscape, making his company a household name.

The book is an excellent choice for those seeking fresh, outside-the-box strategies and approaches to their personal and professional growth.

“No Rules Rules” is available from Amazon.

Book 9: “Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building” by Claire Hughes Johnson

Claire Hughes Johnson earned a reputation for being a formidable leader at Stripe and Google. In “Scaling People,” ranked as a Best Books of 2023 by Bloomberg and The Economist, she shows how to be an empathetic and impactful leader and manager in a high-growth environment.

The book guides on:

Strategic and financial planning.
Hiring and team development.
Feedback and performance mechanisms.

“Scaling People” is available from Amazon.

Book 10: “Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers” by Timothy Ferris

“The perfect read for obsessives wanting to boost their new year productivity,” declared the Financial Times about Tim Ferriss’ “Tools of Titans.” Ferriss bills it as a “notebook of high-leverage tools.” We call it the CrossFit management book for personal and professional growth.

“Tools of Titans” is available from Amazon.

Book 11: “Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity” by Kim Malone Scott

Kim Scott has been an effective leader at notable companies like Google and Apple, where she was tasked with developing classes on being a good boss.

Her book, “Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity,” provides a helpful framework for leaders to have empathy while still challenging those under their command.

It’s essential reading for those wanting to cultivate a positive and motivated workplace culture where employees are happy to work together and enjoy helping a company succeed.

“Radical Candor” is available from Amazon.

Book 12: “How Big Things Get Done” by Bent Flyvbjerg & Dan Gardner

Big visions have a reputation for not fully materializing or becoming colossal failures. However, there are memorable successes, including the Empire State Building and Apple’s iPod.

Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner dive into the principles that divide triumphs from nightmares in “How Big Things Get Done.”

The book highlights factors that determine the fate of a project, including:

Understanding the odds.
Plan slow, act fast.
Creating a successful team.
Understanding the biggest risk (you).

“How Big Things Get Done” is available from Amazon.

Book 13: “The Dichotomy of Leadership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, former Navy SEALS, gained a huge understanding of the nuanced skills it takes to be an effective leader.

In “The Dichotomy of Leadership,” they explain how to know when to be an aggressive leader and when to step back and allow your team to develop and run.

Their tactics are relevant to today’s workplace, where teams and clients are spread worldwide, and many work remotely.

They explain how to manage and lead from a decentralized location and embrace humility while also being able to speak up and push back.

An excellent book for managers and bosses ready to take their leadership skills to the next level.

“The Dichotomy of Leadership” is available from Amazon.

Book 14: “The Bonfire Moment: Bring Your Team Together to Solve the Hardest Problems Startups Face” by Martín González & Josh Yellin

Startups fail more often than they succeed. Martin Gonzalez and Joshua Yellin, creators of Google’s Effective Founders Project, have invested in learning what it takes for a startup to flourish.

In “The Bonfire Moment,” they highlight the common traps that plague new ventures, how to avoid them, and how to build cohesion, focus, and effectiveness. An insightful read for entrepreneurs and leaders.

“The Bonfire Moment” is available from Amazon.

Book 15: “It’s About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated into Your Greatest Advantage” by Arlan Hamilton

As a Black, gay woman, Arlan Hamilton has never blended into Silicon Valley’s typical crowd.

In “It’s About Damn Time,” one of Fortune Magazine’s best books of the year, she demonstrates how she used being underrepresented and underestimated as a winning advantage.

An inspiring, witty, and knowledge-expanding read.

“It’s About Damn Time” is available from Amazon.

Book 16: “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown

New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown is a longtime favorite for readers seeking personal and professional growth.

Her TED Talk, The Power of Vulnerability, is one of the most viewed TED Talks ever. In “Dare to Lead,” she turns her eye to the corporate world, asserting that titles and status do not define leadership.

As Yahoo! Finance reported, Dare to Lead, tackles managerial skills that AI cannot replace. The book focuses on utilizing empathy, connection, and courage to make a difference and bring out the potential in people.

“Dare to Lead” is available from Amazon.

Book 17: “Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future” by Margaret Heffernan

Margaret Heffernan provides fresh approaches and radical exercises for modern leadership in “Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future.”

The former CEO draws on her wealth of experience to demonstrate how to navigate our disruptive and unpredictable environment with agility and confidence.

Uncharted: How to Navigate the Future is available from Amazon.

Book 18: “Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy” by Henry Kissinger

Reading the same books great leaders recommend is an excellent way to achieve personal and professional growth. “Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy” by Henry Kissinger has been listed as essential reading by:

Weijian Shan, PAG executive chairman and co-founder.
Laxman Narasimhan, Reckitt Benckiser CEO.
Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, Amnesty International board chair.

Kissinger carefully analyses six lauded leaders and dives into what made them so successful and admired, providing illuminating insights to his readers.

“Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy” is available from Amazon.

Book 19: “Harvard Business Review Manager’s Handbook: The 17 Skills Leaders Need to Stand Out”

New and merging managers can swiftly develop their leadership skills with the “Harvard Business Review Manager’s Handbook.”

The step-by-step primer covers an array of essential topics, skills, and common challenges, including:

Building trust and credibility.
Developing emotional intelligence.
Fostering creativity.
How to provide effective feedback.
Using financial tools.
Developing a business case.

“Harvard Business Review Manager’s Handbook” is available from Amazon.

Book 20: “Measure What Matters” by John Doerr

The New York Times Bestseller “Measure What Matters” has sold over a million copies.

In it, John Doerr, an engineer and acclaimed venture capitalist, explains how to use Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to drive success. He breaks down the system’s strengths, including:

Fostering coordination.
Keeping employees on track.
Strengthening and unifying a company.
Raising workplace satisfaction.
Boosting retention.

“Measure What Matters” is available from Amazon.

Book 21: “The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work” by Ludmila N. Praslova

Adults being diagnosed as neurodivergent is on the rise, while a study has found 38% of young adults identify as having neurodivergent conditions.

Ludmila N. Praslova, PhD, tackles this challenge in “The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work.”

The book will help CEOs, managers, and HR departments build an inclusive workplace, allowing neurodiverse employees to thrive and use their diverse strengths to benefit the company.

It is a must-read, listed on the 2024 Top 10 Best New Management Books by Thinkers50.

“The Canary Code” is available from Amazon.

Book 22: “Acting Up: Winning in Business and Life Using Down-Home Wisdom” by Janice Bryant Howroyd

Janice Bryant Howroyd is the first Black woman to own a billion-dollar business. In Acting Up, she shares how she navigated racism, sexism, and challenges faced by all entrepreneurs starting a new venture.

She believes leaders must live by an ethos of growth, innovation, work for good, and family values. An insightful read.

“Acting Up” is available from Amazon.

Book 23: “Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t” by L. David Marquet

U.S. Naval Academy Graduate, Captain L. David Marquet is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His experience in the Navy has taught him many lessons on how to be a leader.

In his book “Leadership is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say – and What You Don’t,” he focuses on managing people in today’s modern, collaborative work environment.

Joel Trammell, the owner of Texas CEO Magazine, wrote that the book can help leaders understand how to take “organizations from a ‘can do’ mindset to a ‘can think’ approach.”

“Leadership is Language” is available from Amazon.

Book 24: “Nine Lies About Work: A Freethinking Leader’s Guide to the Real World” by Marcus Buckingham & Ashley Goodall

Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall believe many leaders are making serious mistakes by buying into popular myths surrounding management and organization.

In their book, Nine Lies About Work, they break down the essential truths about work. Their strategies can help leaders unlock the individual uniqueness of their team members to achieve maximum efficiency and success.

“Nine Lies About Work” is available from Amazon.

Book 25: “The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers” by Alex Bananyan

Alex Banayan’s “The Third Door” was Forbes’ number one career book in 2018 and remains relevant today.

Banayan met and interviewed successful people, including Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Larry King, Lady Gaga, and members of Warren Buffett’s shareholders meeting.

Banayan looks at the three ways people get their foot in the door, and the third way is the hardest but often the most rewarding. An empowering read for anyone trying to grow and reach for success.

“The Third Door” is available from Amazon.

The Most Preferred Management Book for Personal and Professional Growth

Book: “7 Habits of Highly Effective People: The Ultimate Revelations” of Stephen R. Covey

Stephen R. Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People””

is considered one of the most influential business books of the twentieth century.

The 1989 modern classic has sold over 40 million copies and continues influencing leaders today. The book enriches a person’s personal life as much as the professional.

The seven habits center around the following principles:

Being proactive.
Behaving according to your life plan.
Weekly planning over daily planning.
Cooperation wins over competition.
Listening and understanding a problem before trying to solve it.
Embrace differences.
How to ensure you are continuously renewing and improving yourself.

“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is available from Amazon.

Benefits of Reading Management Books

Benefits of reading management books include:

Enhancing leadership skills.
Increasing strategies and tools.
Gaining greater knowledge in areas like communication, problem-solving, and decision-making.
Understanding how to maximize productivity and get the most out of yourself and your team.
Improving satisfaction and happiness with your career and personal life.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can management books help improve leadership skills?

Management books can improve leadership skills by:

Strengthen skills.
Increasing knowledge.
Providing new strategies, tactics, and management tools.
Broaden understanding and scope.

Which management books are recommended for beginners?

Excellent management books for beginners include:

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown.
Harvard Business Review Manager’s Handbook.
Unapologetically Ambitious by Shellye Archambeau.

Are there any management books specifically for entrepreneurs?

Excellent management books for entrepreneurs include:

It’s About Damn Time by Arlan Hamilton.
The Bonfire Moment by Martín Gonzálex & Josh Yellin.
No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings.

Can management books help with career advancement?

Management books can help with career advancement, providing more skills, tools, and confidence to raise yourself to the next level.

Conclusion

Management books are an accessible tool to achieve personal and professional growth. Even people with little free time can still expand their skills and knowledge during their commute and sessions at the gym, thanks to audiobooks. So, what are you waiting for? Grab one of our recommended reads and start expanding your horizons today.

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