47 Best management books for leaders & entrepreneurs

Effective management is critical to your success as a business leader, yet it’s an area where many business leaders and entrepreneurs struggle with.

That’s why we’ve curated a list of our most recommended management books including actionable guides, biographies of great leaders/managers, scientific research into management, strategic management guides and much more to support you on the way to becoming a management expert.

The First-Time Manager

The book is an extremely practical guide to management skills and techniques the author has developed and cultivated over time to get, keep and progress to his dream job. It’s a perfect handbook and dive into management for first-time managers.

Start With Why

Breaking down the actions great leaders take to inspire, Simon Sinek brings to light the leadership and management techniques that great leaders like Steve Jobs and Martin Luther King used to create and grow successful organisations and movements.

The Five Temptations of a CEO

Legendary consultant Patrick Lencioni reflects on the key challenges faced in business and leadership through telling the story of a young CEO who is failing and doesn’t understand why in an utterly gripping and informative book.

Startup leadership

Long-time CEO Derek Lidow brings his knowledge to bear on how entrepreneurs can battle the odds and build successful companies through strong leadership and innovation. The book covers areas including motivation, management and successfully driving change.

God Is My CEO

Larry Julian has produced a practical, informative and extremely useful book that teaches CEOs to create loyalty, keep employees and increase productivity without sacrificing their morals or beliefs. Whether you’re religious or not, God Is My CEO is not a read to miss.

Hackers & Painters

Far from a book for programmers, Hackers and Painters offers insight into the minds and character of some of the successful technology entrepreneurs behind some of the world’s biggest innovations.

Predictably Irrational

Taking a deep dive into psychology, Dan Ariely, a respected behavioural psychologist, takes a riveting look at what drives our decisions. A must read for leaders looking to understand the mindset behind their own decisions and their teams.

High-Output Management

Andrew S. Grove, one of the first employees at Intel and arguably one of Silicon’s Valleys most successful CEOs, delivers a fantastic management book with a focus on developing extremely productive teams.

Steal Like An Artist

Austin Kleon is one hell of a manifesto that takes you through unlocking your creativity to become a successful entrepreneur and creative. It’s a must-read for anyone managing a product team and a company.

In The Plex

Steven Levy guides you through how one of the world’s most successful companies thinks and works. It’s an interesting read and a must for anyone who wants to understand what’s behind Google’s success.

The Score Takes Care of Itself

You don’t have to know anything about football to know this books is a great review of the techniques and thought process behind the visionary leadership that brings success.

The Art of War

Since the book was translated into European languages, the Art of War by Sun Tzu has been on the must-read list of many great leaders. It’s one of the greatest books ever written on strategy and well worth a read.

Purple Cow

Seth Godin brings to life the ways in which you can transform your business into something remarkable, by taking you through how Apple, Dyson and others achieve and sustain spectacular growth. He teaches you how to build services and products worth marketing.

Good To Great

After five years of in-depth research, Jim Collins showcases his findings on how companies go from good to great, coupled with a detailed look at the underlying variables that make this possible.

Think Like Zuck

Ekaterina Walter takes a look at the five main principles responsible for Facebook’s gigantic growth over the last decade, the book is very actionable focusing on how you too can apply these principles to drive growth.

Why Startups Fail: And How Yours Can Succeed

It demonstrates the top mistakes early stage companies and leaders make that ultimately lead to their demise. It’s an interesting look at how you as a leader can recognise and, avoid and combat these mistakes.

Smartcuts

Successful entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow takes us through the day to day of companies and people who achieve extraordinary growth in an incredibly short time.

ReWork

It takes a look at how the emergence of new technologies enables anyone to start a business on zero budget and in their spare time. ReWork is a play by play guide for small business owners and entrepreneurs starting up or looking to grow.

The Tipping Point

From Malcolm Gladwell, the Tipping Point is a hard look at the social dynamics that lead to extremely fast change. It’s a must read for leaders looking to understand how an idea progresses to a product or service that grows exponentially.

Elon Musk

Ashlee Vance gives us a rare insight into the man behind Tesla and SpaceX, looking at where he’s come from, what drives him and what he is planning to do next.

Zero to One

Hailed in Silicon Valley as one of the must-reads for burgeoning and new CEOs, Zero to One demonstrates how great companies and people have created and driven forward great innovation.

Business Process Management

A scientific look at how work should be carried out in organisations to ensure reliability and maximum output. If you’re a fan of the scientific methods of management, then this is a must-read for you.

The Innovator’s Dilemma

Thought of as one of the most influential books on leadership, in The Innovator’s Dilemma Christensen looks at what underpins the work of some of the world’s greatest innovators including Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs.

The Lean CEO

Based on the principles behind the Lead Method of production popularised by the Japanese, Jacob Stoller how Lean techniques can be used to do more with less whilst driving growth. The book includes interviews with world renowned CEOs.

What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars

Following the lessons Jim Paul, high-flying investment banker learnt from losing millions of dollars and how you can avoid the same decision-making errors.

Becoming Steve Jobs

Schlender provides a gripping narrative on Steve Jobs growth as a leader and manager, taking at practical look at what skills critical to his success he developed and how he developed them.

Nail It then Scale It

Taking entrepreneurs through the step by step process of creating and building a high growth company, it’s a handbook for those looking to scale companies.

The Warren Buffet CEO

The world knows Buffet as the most successful investor of all time, this book offers a glimpse into the overlooked management strategies and techniques critical to his success.

The Method Method

Written by the founders of extremely successful consumer goods company Method, the book is a stark look at how consumers act, how companies battle for customers and how global change can be driven.

Rich Dad Poor Dad

A detailed look at what the savvy rich teach their children about money, it’s a little off topic but actually, offers much sound advice when it comes to financial decision making.

Blue Ocean Strategy

A few million copies later, Kim details the requirements for a successful strategy, giving you insight on how to make your company stand out and grow in a highly competitive environment.

Founders at Work

Through a series of interviews and cases studies, Jessica Livingston takes us through the stories and key learnings from some of the world’s most successful founders, entrepreneurs and business leaders.

The Naked CEO

Alex Malley brings you a gritty book on his rags to riches stories, focusing on how you can learn from his mistakes and triumphs, detailing how you can be a successful CEO.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany

Hailed as one of the most practical business books you can find, Blank explores the failures and successes of companies in the early stages of business planning, business models and execution.

The Prince

A famous work among many circles, Niccolo Machiavelli’s controversial book illustrates the rules and ideas critical to successful governance and management of people and kingdoms.

The Art of Start 2.0

Apple’s famous evangelist Guy Kawasaki covers the tools and technologies available to the modern entrepreneur and how you can best deploy them to succeed.

The Gamification Revolution

A great read focusing on how companies can utilise gamification to retain the best talent, drive productivity and create extreme customer loyalty.

The Leadership Pipeline

Driving organisations to develop leadership internally, the book covers frameworks and advice on how companies can incubate and support leaders within their organisations. It’s a good read for those with a small team looking to encourage leadership and management responsibility.

The Lean Startup

Eric Ries brings to life the Japanse principles of lean production in a management environment, focusing on how entrepreneurs can build successful companies and products with the least resources possible in the shortest time.

The Saint, the Surfer and the CEO

An actionable and powerful guide to living your life’s dream from one of the key thought leaders of the leadership world.

European Founders at Work

Showcasing how successful entrepreneurs and companies in Europe started and scaled through case studies and interview, similar to the US edition but from a European perspective.

The Success Gurus

Andrew Clancy brings you a summary book of the best lessons learned from leadership books over the last few years.

Crush It!

Gary Vaynerchuk takes you on a journey from hobby to viable business in this playbook on how you can turn your passion into a successful business.

The 48 Laws Of Power

Researched from three thousand years of human history, the 48 laws of power is a definitive guide for leaders and manager, illustrated through the failures, successes and practises of some of histories greatest figures.

The Paypal Wars

A detailed look at the strategy and decisions that allowed Paypal to survive the dot-com crash and thrive from one of Paypal insiders Eric M Jackson.

The McKinsey Way

The leadership techniques the world’s preeminent consultants utilise to drive business growth and successful change, easy to read, clear and concise, its an intelligent but practical read.

The One Minute Manager Meets The Monkey

The book focuses on how managers and leaders can get rid of other people’s responsibilities, whilst delegating and managing effectively.