The best books for understanding how people skills support great leadership and career success

Personality is a very real thing! Understanding your personality and appreciating the different personalities around you is the foundation of strong communication and productive relationships. 

Most people have characteristic ways of thinking and reacting to others. Due to our lack of knowledge about personality, we make bad assumptions and engaged in unproductive routines (e.g., trying to make others be more like us).

In short, more intrapersonal and interpersonal understanding feeds your ability to connect and that, ultimately, makes you more productive and peaceful at work and at home. This is a classic for a reason! You can study DISC, MBTI, the Big Five, and others, but this is a great place to start.  

This is one of the few books I’ve read multiple times. 

Some feel this is a book about business operations, but for me it’s much more. I was assigned to read it in college and fell in love. To succeed in life, you must question your assumptions, embrace learning and improving as fundamental goals in life, and learn to leverage the knowledge of others, not just your own insights and abilities. 

This is a business novel that teaches Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints, but for me it’s a primer on how to think in a manner that will positively impact how one looks at relationships and leadership.  

It’s fascinating when terms and ideas become popular and pervasive, yet everyone has a slightly different take on what it is they are talking about. 

Coaching might be the best example ever in business. It’s a vital skill set, yet only in the last couple of decades have we begun to effectively grapple with what it is, how to do it, and the outcomes it produces.  Sara Canaday’s book is wonderful because it addresses these issues with great focus and clarity.

It’s the perfect first book for anyone who wants to dive in to coaching. It’s not too complex or academic, rather quick and applied. She offers a model, helps you understand how to actually use it, and sets you up to engage coaching far more effectively.  

I am a big fan of this book! Selena uses a voice that is warm, positive, and personal to share her ideas. 

From building confidence, to interacting with others, and dealing with challenges and setbacks, this is a career “must read.” It’s ostensibly about confidence, but really, it’s way more. I was an organizational behavior for years teaching MBA students, and this has all of the topical coverage you’d want to convey in any course related to leadership and career success. 

But instead of being boring like a textbook, it stays focused on crisp actionable advice for improving how you think, interact, and achieve. Not to mention, her use of short examples and anecdotes makes it a fast fun read too. Highly recommended.

Most leadership books are hyper-focused on one or two very finite and well-defined topics. 

Dean’s book intentionally takes the opposite approach. It’s like someone came up to this person who has had huge sales and general executive success and asked them to name their top twenty tips for having an effective career. But instead, Dean explodes with a few hundred amazing tips. 

From grand ideas such as “always be learning” and “fostering relationships” to very specific ones such as “be reliable” and “don’t show off or gloat,” this is an amalgamation of tried-and-true career wisdom delivered in an easy-to-digest manner. 

I imagine anyone reading this book will come away with several new maxims to live by. Bottom line – this is fast, useful advice.