Top 5 Must-Read Books for CEOs: 2020 Edition

With only a few months left in 2019, now is the time to start lining up your professional development opportunities for 2020. Leading CEOs are often avid readers and stay engaged in learning how to lead and how to inspire others. If you are looking for must-read books to add to your professional development plan for next year, here are my top 5 business books that I believe all CEOs should read.

Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up by Jerry Colonna 

As a CEO, the leadership of your organization starts with you. This book forces you to ask the tough questions you need to reflect on in terms of your habits, your belief systems, and your weaknesses. Impeccably-written to spur inner dialogue, this book guides you through each chapter with self-evaluation exercises. If you’re looking for a profound way to enhance your leadership skills by better understand who you are, then be sure to order your copy of Reboot.

Unstoppable: A 90-Day Plan to Biohack Your Mind and Body for Success by Ben Angel 

Your mental and emotional health is just as important as your professional success. The innovative biohacking approach revealed in this book can help you unlock new ways to boost your energy, increase your stamina, and improve your overall well being. Deciphering the author’s 90-day plan can be a great way to pinpoint areas in your life that need to be in better balance and exactly how you can realign them to help you maximize your potential.

Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle 

The world’s most successful CEOs make learning from others a top priority. And, this book is the perfect example of why you must “pick the brains” of business geniuses to help you take your organization to new heights. Over 80 of the top Silicon Valley CEOs and masterminds were interviewed and their incredible insights are distilled in this book to give you a snapshot into their processes and, more importantly, how they have achieved their success.

Elevate: Push Beyond Your Limits and Unlock Success in Yourself and Others by Robert Glazer 

Do you feel stuck? It happens and it happens often for executive leaders. Whether you feel stuck professionally, personally, or emotionally, this book details proven ways to get “unstuck”. Elevate will help you have breakthroughs in all facets of your life, including the emotional, spiritual, mental and physical. The more motivated you feel to move forward on your goals, the more momentum you can generate for your company as a whole.

It’s the Manager by Jim Clifton and Jim Harter 

When it comes to training your leaders, how are you doing it? It’s the Manager challenges what we think of traditional professional development and delves into why empowering your managers is the key to propel your company into the future.  Highlighting the CliftonStrengths assessment, clever management-training ideas, and convincing empirical research, this must-read book enhances your understanding of what you can do to unlock the potential in all of your employees.

What other books do you have on your “must-read” list? As an experienced CEO professional development coach, those CEOs that are able to lead and inspire others are also those that invest in their own professional development. I invite you to explore The Brain Trust to learn how we can help you achieve your professional development goals in 2020 and beyond.