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Selection of the Top 35 Books on Leadership


During the last 18 years that I have been teaching Leadership Courses at Niagara University ---students have frequently asked--would you recommend the top books on leadership that should be read by school leaders? So here goes. Do not be alarmed by the dates when some of these books were published. For me they represent several of the classics and contain knowledge that will always be relevant. The books were selected because they represent a wide cross section of the concepts associated with leadership i.e. attributes, skills, change, the dark side, the human side, ethics/values, organizational structure etc. Hopefully you will review this list and recommend additional books on the subject of leadership. By no means does this list include all the important books on this subject. Please feel free not only to add to the list but to express your disagreement with some of the selections.

Note 1: We have added Wagner Rodd and Harter James K. (2006). The Elements of Great Managing. Washington D.C.: Gallup Press per the recommendation of " Shouldice. "

Note 2: We have added two books- Fullan Michael. (2008). The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations. San Francisco: Josey-Bass and Fullan, Hill and Crevola. (2006). Break Through: Corwin Press/Sage: Thousand Oaks, California per the recommendation of " Autumn."

NOTE: If you only wish to read a smaller number of books-- 15 have been designated with a *** and are highly recommended.

Buscaglia, Leo. (1982). Living, Loving, and Learning. New York: Fawcett Columbine.

*** Bennis, Warren. (1989). Why Leaders Can't Lead. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

*** Burns, James McGregor. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper&Row.

Clemens, John & Mayer, Douglas. (1987). The Classic Touch - Lessons in Leadership from Homer to Hemingway. Homewood, Illinois: Dow Jones Irwin.

*** Covey, Stephen. (1990). Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Czikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (1990). Flow-The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York:Harper & Collins.

Deal, Terry. (1999). Shaping School Culture: The Heart of School Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

DeLabedoyere, Michael. (1999). Francis of Assisi: The Man Who Found Perfect Joy. Manchester, N.H.: Sophia Institute Press.

Drucker, Peter. (1974). Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York: Harper & Row.

Duffy, Francis. (2006). Power, Politics and Ethics in School Districts. Lanham, Maryland:Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Erikson, Erik. (1964). Gandhi's Truth. New York: Norton.

Fayol, Henri. (1967: Originally published 1919). General and Industrial Management. London: Isaac Pitman.

*** Frankl, Viktor. (1963). Man's Search for Meaning. New York: Washington Square.

*** Friedman, Thomas. (2005). The World is Flat. New York: Farrar,Straus & Giroux.

*** Fullan, Michael. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fullan, Michael. (2001). The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers College Press.

*** Gardner, John. (1990). On Leadership. New York: Free Press.

*** Goleman, Daniel. (2002). Primal Leadership. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Greene, Robert. (1998). The 48 Laws of Power. New York: The Penguin Group.

*** Greenleaf, Robert. (1991). Servant Leadership. New York: Paulist Press.

Hersey, Paul & Blanchard, Kenneth. (1982). Management of Organizational Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Hill, Paul, Campbell, Christine, Harvey, James. (2000). It Takes a City: Getting Serious About Urban School Reform. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution.

Kouzes, John, Posner Barry. (1987). The Leaders Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Loth, David. (1929). Lorenzo the Magnificent. Cornwall, N.Y.: Blue Ribbon Books.

*** Machiavelli, Nicole.(1952 originally published in 1514). The Prince. New York: New American Library.

Marcu, Valeriu. (1939). Accent on Power: The Life and Times of Machiavelli. New York: Farrar & Rinehart.

***McGregor, Douglas. (1960). The Human Side of the Enterprise. New York: McGraw Hill.

Moore, Thomas. (1992). The Care of the Soul. New York: Harper Perennial.

Morgan, Garth. (1997). Imagination: New Mind Sets for Seeing,Organizing, and Managing. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.

***Nyberg, David. (1993). The Varnished Truth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

O'Toole, John. (1996). Leading Change: The Arguement for Values Based Leadership. New York: Balantine.

***Peters, Thomas, Waterman, Robert. (1982). In Search of Excellence. New York: Harper & Row.

*** Senge, Peter. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday.

***Snow, C.P. (1951). The Masters. New York: The Macmillan Press.