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Best Books Roundups

The Best Leadership
Books Of The
Past Decade

Leadership may be the most crowded shelf in any bookstore, which makes the great books easier to miss. From more than 800 books honored across a decade of the Non-Obvious Book Awards, these are the ones we most recommend on leading teams, building culture, and becoming the kind of boss people actually want to work for.

*This list does not include books published in 2026, which are currently under review as part of our 2026 awards program.

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You're the Boss by Sabina Nawaz — book cover
2025 · Longlist

You're the Boss

by Sabina Nawaz

Executive coach Sabina Nawaz reveals how power quietly distorts even well-meaning managers, and offers a practical reset for anyone who has become the boss they never wanted to be.

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Managing Up by Melody Wilding — book cover
2025 · Longlist

Managing Up

by Melody Wilding

Melody Wilding turns the overlooked half of leadership upside down: how to manage the people above you, advocate for yourself and gain influence without authority.

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How Leaders Learn by David Novak — book cover
2024 · Longlist

How Leaders Learn

by David Novak

Former Yum! Brands CEO David Novak profiles the habit that separates great leaders from good ones: active learning, practiced daily. Full of candid stories from the corner office.

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How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner — book cover
2023 · Most Important Winner

How Big Things Get Done

by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner

Oxford professor Bent Flyvbjerg spent decades studying why megaprojects fail. His findings apply to everything from kitchen renovations to moon shots. Our Most Important Book of 2023.

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When Everyone Leads by Ed O'Malley and Julia Fabris McBride — book cover
2022 · Longlist

When Everyone Leads

by Ed O'Malley and Julia Fabris McBride

Ed O'Malley and Julia Fabris McBride make the case that leadership is an activity, not a position, and show how organizations transform when everyone practices it.

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Leading with Gratitude by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton — book cover
2020 · Longlist

Leading with Gratitude

by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton

Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton bring the research on the most undervalued leadership behavior of all: genuine, specific, consistent gratitude.

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Nine Lies About Work by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall — book cover
2019 · Most Original Winner

Nine Lies About Work

by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall

Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall take a wrecking ball to workplace orthodoxy, from the annual review to the very idea of company culture. Our Most Original Book of 2019.

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Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic — book cover
2019 · Longlist

Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?

by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Organizational psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic answers his own provocative question with data, and explains what it teaches us about choosing better leaders of every kind.

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Powerful by Patty McCord — book cover
2018 · Longlist

Powerful

by Patty McCord

Netflix culture architect Patty McCord distills the radical philosophy behind the famous culture deck: treat people like adults, and build teams for the future, not the past.

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The CEO Next Door by Elena Botelho and Kim Powell — book cover
2018 · Longlist

The CEO Next Door

by Elena Botelho and Kim Powell

Elena Botelho and Kim Powell analyzed thousands of CEO assessments and found that the leaders who reach the top look almost nothing like the myth. A data-driven map of the path.

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Dream Teams by Shane Snow — book cover
2018 · Longlist

Dream Teams

by Shane Snow

Shane Snow explores the counterintuitive science of collaboration: why great teams need friction, difference and productive tension far more than harmony.

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No Ego by Cy Wakeman — book cover
2017 · Shortlist

No Ego

by Cy Wakeman

Cy Wakeman argues that most workplace drama is self-inflicted, and shows leaders how to trade ego-driven venting for accountability and results.

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Under New Management by David Burkus — book cover
2016 · Shortlist

Under New Management

by David Burkus

David Burkus surveys the companies quietly deleting management conventions, from unlimited vacation to abolishing email, and what happened when they did.

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Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday — book cover
2016 · Shortlist

Ego is the Enemy

by Ryan Holiday

Ryan Holiday draws on history and Stoic philosophy to show how ego sabotages leaders at every stage: when aspiring, when successful, and when failing.

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Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek — book cover
2014/15 · Shortlist

Leaders Eat Last

by Simon Sinek

Simon Sinek explains why the best leaders create circles of safety, putting their people first the way the best military officers do. A modern leadership classic.

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Keep Exploring

See every winner, every year.

Browse the full archive of winners, shortlists and 100-book longlists from every year of the Non-Obvious Book Awards.

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