Here are 100 books that Amp It Up fans have personally recommended if you like
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As a veteran of the United States Army Special Operations Command, my time in the army will always guide my actions. When I began my career in cybersecurity and later took on the role of President and Chair of Conquest Cyber, I looked to my military experience for guidance. The lessons I learned from leaders were much like those I’ve learned through these books, and they are lessons that will benefit any leader, business owner, or founder.
I’m a proud fighter against the conventional. Bigger is not necessarily better; Compliance is not enough. General McChrystal spends much of his book sharing in this mindset. His experience leading the Joint Special Operation Task Force in their efforts to take down Al Qaeda is inspiring, but for those less military-minded leaders, he shares other examples of where small and agile teams have found success in a hospital ER to NASA. It’s bold, fun to read, and fast-paced. Team of Teams is worth the read for leaders at any stage of their career.
As commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), General Stanley McChrystal discarded a century of management wisdom and pivoted from a pursuit of mechanical efficiency to organic adaptability.
In this book, he shows how any organization can make the same transition to act like a team of teams - where small groups combine the freedom to experiment with a relentless drive to share their experience.
Drawing on a wealth of evidence from his military career and sources as diverse as hospital emergency rooms and NASA's space program, McChrystal frames the existential challenge facing today's organizations, and presents a compelling, effective…
As a veteran of the United States Army Special Operations Command, my time in the army will always guide my actions. When I began my career in cybersecurity and later took on the role of President and Chair of Conquest Cyber, I looked to my military experience for guidance. The lessons I learned from leaders were much like those I’ve learned through these books, and they are lessons that will benefit any leader, business owner, or founder.
Becoming a founder is not for the faint of heart. It requires you to be bold, creative, and innovative—if you want to be successful, that is.
The thing that stands out about this book to me is that it takes the bold heart of a leader and transforms it into a brand.
Dave guides you through marketing yourself and your brand—teaching key lessons for start-up success. His tactical approach serves as a guidebook or a battle plan to take both you and your company to the next level.
You're part of an elite group of builders, creators, and innovators who have accomplished something few can claim: you've founded a company. Now the challenge of standing out in the crowd begins-and how you differentiate yourself counts.
Building a brand and growing a business can be expensive and time-consuming. But you have a key advantage and secret strategy, one that will set you apart no matter your industry, product, or company size. You have a story, and it's one of your most valuable assets.
In Founder Brand, marketing expert Dave Gerhardt reveals how to build your brand by positioning yourself…
As a veteran of the United States Army Special Operations Command, my time in the army will always guide my actions. When I began my career in cybersecurity and later took on the role of President and Chair of Conquest Cyber, I looked to my military experience for guidance. The lessons I learned from leaders were much like those I’ve learned through these books, and they are lessons that will benefit any leader, business owner, or founder.
As the founder and first commanding officer of Delta Force, Col. Charles Beckwith has been a long-term role model for me. When beginning my corporate career, it was only natural for his example to influence my actions.
Col. Beckwith saw a gap in the U.S. army’s capabilities and pushed to create Delta. This is the spirit of Conquest—recognizing the gaps of America’s cybersecurity and pushing companies beyond compliance towards resiliency. For any leader or motivated business person, reading Delta Force will inspire you to push for what you believe in.
Wanted: Volunteers for Project Delta. Will guarantee you a medal. A body bag. Or both. When Charlie Beckwith issued this call to arms in Vietnam in 1965, he revolutionized American armed combat. This is the story of what would eventually come to be known as Delta Force, as only its maverick creator could tell it - from the bloody baptism of Vietnam to the top-secret training grounds of North Carolina to political battles in the upper levels of the Pentagon itself. This is the heart-pounding, first-person, insider's view of the missions that made Delta Force legendary. Through it all, the…
As a veteran of the United States Army Special Operations Command, my time in the army will always guide my actions. When I began my career in cybersecurity and later took on the role of President and Chair of Conquest Cyber, I looked to my military experience for guidance. The lessons I learned from leaders were much like those I’ve learned through these books, and they are lessons that will benefit any leader, business owner, or founder.
Even corporate America needs heroes. While Tier One Wild is fiction, it was written by a true hero, Dalton Fury. Fury was the senior ranking officer in the Battle of Tora Bora. He helped author the operation to hunt and kill bin Laden.
This book, the second in the Raynor series, has the flair of someone who has been there as Fury has been. Its fast moving and includes elements of both redemption and sacrifice. While this would be easy to dismiss as fiction or another war story, readers will be surprised by how applicable the lessons can be in the business world.
New York Times bestselling author and former Delta Force commander Dalton Fury (Black Site and Kill Bin Laden) is back with an explosive new thriller
Former disgraced Delta Force commander Kolt "Racer" Raynor has earned his way back into The Unit after redeeming himself during an explosive operation at a black site in Pakistan. But he is about to face his deadliest challenge yet.
The most wanted man in the world, American al Qaeda commander Daoud al Amriki, and his handpicked team of terrorist operatives, have acquired stores of Russian-built, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles (SAM's) from ex-Libyan spies in Cairo. Their…
I'm an executive coach, adjunct faculty at several top-tier business schools, and run a boutique firm consulting firm focused on organizational strategy solutions. My diverse and eclectic background in mergers & acquisitions, organization effectiveness, and strategy execution, coupled with two decades of experience in emerging markets in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, helps me grasp challenging people issues. I'm passionate about the topic of leaders as coaches having written several papers and columns. My research, and writing led Penguin to commission my book Coaching: The Secret Code to Uncommon Leadership that, released globally in late 2021 to much acclaim, is recommended by several academics as an essential read for aspiring and experienced managers.
Prof Useem, who teaches leadership at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, sent me a signed copy of this book through my spouse (a Wharton alum) and I cannot recommend it enough.
He eloquently equates a leader’s job to standing on the cliff edge, getting a grip on unfamiliar landscapes, and acquiring the skills to lead organizations in this constantly evolving, ever-changing business landscape.
I think this book is more relevant than ever given our turbulent times – Prof Useem draws on the experiences of ten bold CEOS to show us how, in a world characterized by unprecedented challenges of global pandemic and economic disruption, leaders need to find the edge for leaping across and breaking new ground on the other side.
An engaging and practical guide to being the ambidextrous leader who constantly propels the organization forward, without letting go of its core.
A leader's job-in a radically changing world-is standing on the cliff edge, getting a grip on unfamiliar landscapes, and acquiring the skills for leading the enterprise into new territory. In a world facing the unprecedented challenges of global pandemic and economic distruption, every leader needs to find the edge for leaping across the breach and breaking new ground on the other side.
Michael Useem provides rare insight into how ten leaders confronted hard realities. He looked close-in at the lide and work of people such as Bill McNabb of Vanguard, Jeffrey Lurie of the Philadelphia Eagles, Alex Gorsky of Johnson…
When I was a boy, my mother told me every day, “Be a leader.” By that, she meant to remember who you are, stand up for what you believe, do good, and be good. I was only five years old. That daily lesson on the doorstep sunk deep in my heart. For over forty years, I have had a passion for learning, teaching, and practicing small “L” leadership. I have done that as dean of Harvard Business School, president of BYU-Idaho, and Commissioner of Education for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have learned deeply from the books on this list, and I hope you will, too.
I love this book because it helped me understand that real care for people–love for people–is a crucial part of leadership. Real care means really helping people to see and realize their potential. That takes many small and simple things done consistently, coherently, and persistently. But those small and simple things like giving people real work with real responsibility are hard to do.
I saw that so clearly in the way this book weaves together Bob Chapman’s personal leadership journey and the journey of leadership in his company. Bob did not start out caring for his people. He was a classic hard-nosed, financially driven executive who wielded power. But he changed! His journey and his company’s journey did not just instruct me; they inspired me.
'If you're ready for a new way of doing business, this is the book for you' Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell Is Human and Drive
'Bob Chapman is on a mission to change the way businesses treat their employees' Inc.magazine
Do you want to boost the morale, loyalty, creativity and performance of your employees?
In Everybody Matters, CEO Bob Chapman and bestselling author Raj Sisodia challenge traditional thinking about how to run a business and show you how to lead your company so that everyone feels valued.
As CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, Bob Chapman has pioneered a dramatically different…
Everything in nature evolves by trial, error, and success—from fundamental physics, through evolution in biology, to how people learn, think, and decide.
This book presents a way of thinking and realistic knowledge that our formal education shuns. Stepping beyond this ignorance, the book shows how to deal with and even…
One remarkable leader I've studied, Bob Davids, said that the greatest scarcity in the world is not oil or food but leadership. For two decades, I've been on a quest to uncover the essence of a transformational leader, someone who cultivates an environment where employees' needs are so well-addressed that they are eager to show up and give their best every day. This journey led me to study hundreds of leaders and books, all serving as the foundation for my thoughts and writings. I trust that these books will kickstart your own journey. Mine has guided me to play a pivotal role in the corporate liberation movement, involving hundreds of leaders who have transformed their organizations.
I instinctively resonate with Robert Greenleaf’s servant leadership philosophy, as do numerous business writers and, more importantly, leaders.
Greenleaf had a dream job at AT&T: read, think, and write about management. I admire how his book draws not only from management authors but also from philosophers, political thinkers, poets, and novelists. I fully agree with his diagnosis that organizations "have the resources to do so much better than the [current] mediocre level because so much leadership is poor." He also devised a solution to this challenge: leaders who serve others by tending to their needs and aspirations.
I appreciate Greenleaf's benevolence but also expectation towards those in charge. He observes that "many guilty people are walking around with an air of innocence" because they have not embraced servant leadership when they had the freedom to do so.
Twenty-five years ago Robert Greenleaf published these prophetic essays on what he coined servant leadership, a practical philosophy that replaces traditional autocratic leadership with a holistic, ethical approach. This highly influential book has been embraced by cutting edge management everywhere. Yet in these days of Enron and what VISA CEO Dee Hock calls our "era of massive institutional failure," Greenleaf's seminal work must reach the mainstream now more than ever. Servant Leadership- * helps leaders find their true power and moral authority to lead. * helps those served become healthier, wiser, freer, and more…
Since 2014 I have studied, researched, and written about the concepts of meaning and purpose. In 2016, I published a book entitledThe Purpose Effect dedicated solely to the topic. In Work-Life Bloom, two of the key work-life factors that make up the accompanying model focus on meaning and purpose. I am known for urging people to declare their purpose, writing it down, and sharing it far and wide. My declaration is as follows: “We’re not here to see through each other; we’re here to see each other through.”
Ranjay Gulati delves—dare I say—deeply into the significance of purpose-driven organizations in today's business landscape.
The book emphasizes how cultivating a strong, authentic purpose can lead to exceptional performance and long-term success.
What I loved is that Gulati highlights that purpose is not just a tagline but rather a dynamic, guiding force that drives innovation, collaboration, and resilience. He shows how it can help decision-making.
Gulati shares several compelling case studies and practical tools that helped me affirm my position on the concept of organizational purpose. If you’re passionate about transformative leadership,Deep Purpose will inspire you to create meaningful impact in your organization.
'If you want to be inspired to build more sustainable organizations, Deep Purpose should be your next read' Arianna Huffington, Founder & CEO, Thrive Global
'Insightful, practical, and timely' Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife
'Deep Purpose points to the conversations we must have right now about how to redefine the role of business in society, restore trust, and enhance our license to operate ... Highly recommended' Paul Polman, former CEO, Unilever
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Distinguished Harvard Business School professor Ranjay Gulati takes readers inside some of the world's most…
I’m passionate about workplace leadership, both as a writer and former human resources executive. I spent three decades in corporate HR roles. At the same time, I wrote 17 books on effective people leadership practices and published hundreds of articles as a columnist for SHRM—the Society for Human Resource Management. I’ve taught in UCLA Extension’s School of Business and Management for years, trained for the American Management Association, and served as a keynote speaker at many conferences. I find leadership and management fascinating—hiring, motivation, professional development, accountability, innovation, and even termination. Building people's muscle while protecting companies from unwanted legal liability has been my passion throughout my career.
This was the best book I’ve read for new managers because of its broad coverage of key areas of responsibility and its practical application and wisdom for newly minted leaders to build their self-confidence and transition effectively into their new roles and responsibilities.
New managers are the base of the leadership pyramid—the foundational structure of what makes businesses work. They set the tone, serve as role models, and literally create each organization’s unique culture. And they need training—lots of it—to master their craft and forge strong relationships (sometimes with people who, until recently, were their peers).
This book gets them off on the right foot and helps them build critical muscle around effective leadership principles, legal awareness, self-care, emotional intelligence, remote team management, and so much more.
The trusted management classic and go-to guide for anyone facing new responsibilities as a first-time manager.
Learn to conquer every challenge like a seasoned pro with the clear, candid advice in The First-Time Manager. For nearly four decades, this expert guide has brought newcomers up to speed on the realities of managing people.
The updated seventh edition delivers new information that helps you manage across generations, use online performance appraisal tools, persuade with stories, oversee remote employees, build a team dynamic, match a boss's style, and more.
This manual addresses the need to ensure that people are at the centre of the organisation. There has never been a timelier reminder of the need to ensure that leading, supporting and developing staff are critical aspects of creating the right organisational culture to grow and develop. Written with sensitivity,…
I have been interested in leadership style since my teenage years. My father was a leader in a retailing organization, and I was entranced by behaviors that seemed to connect with others and those that did not. As I grew older, I started to think about leadership style behaviors and models that might capture the most effective ones. While I recognize that leadership needs vary based on industry, scope, and tenure, I do believe that we all should know the leadership styles that are important to us to the extent that we can describe them if we are asked to do so.
I met Kim Cameron as a guest on my podcast, Be Brave at Work, and he enlightened and incited within me a flame that I always knew was there yet did not know how to ignite. I have always believed that great leaders are energizers–they help people move from where they are today to a new place, positively and rewardingly.
This book focuses on identifying virtuous actions and relationships that create high performance. While we have never been told this, organizations must be led by people who value relationships and are focused on action. They help others, smile, and are trustworthy. I could not define what my leadership style was until I read this book.
This practical guide, the first to show how leaders can achieve extraordinary results through the positive energy generated by virtuous interactions with employees, is written by one of the giants in the study of positive leadership.
This book reveals one of the most important but frequently ignored factors that lead to spectacular performance in organizations. Kim Cameron, a true pioneer in the study of positive leadership, offers validated scientific evidence that all individuals are inherently attracted to and flourish in the presence of positive energy, a principle known in biology as heliotropism. Further, he shows that the positive relational energy…
