These nine books advise all levels, from achieving strategic goals to building high-performance teams.
First published on Inc.com, April 23, 2025
Throughout my career there are a few business books I continue returning to for inspiration and advice. As requests have come in over the years for a short list of recommended reads, it seems helpful to curate a list of those books categorized by purpose for various points in a professional journey.
This article covers starting a new role, achieving strategic goals, and building a high performing team. I identified nine books—think of them as a leadership library starter pack, serving as a solid foundation for early career professionals to executives. Many of these books are more than 15 years old and the sage advice has stood the test of time.
Start a new role
When taking on new responsibilities in any organization, be intentional about your onboarding to set yourself up for sustainable success. This is the time to focus on how to best leverage your talents and manage your work. It’s also an important time to learn about the organization and how your role fits into its strategic goals so you can make quick contributions to the organization’s success.
- StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath helps you assess your top strengths and put a name to them. The strength assessment is included and many organizations use it as a framework for common communication language so team members can also learn how to maximize your innate talents. Chapters dedicated to various strengths allow you to get more familiar with how that strength can work in your favor in the workplace and beyond.
- The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter by Michael D. Watkins provides a blueprint of activities to most effectively learn about the organization, your role, your department, and team. Even if the new role is not a leadership position, the guidance allows you to show up in the best position to contribute to short- and long-term goals. It also takes the guess work out of your onboarding with clear direction on best practices for a smooth transition.
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen is the authority on proven productivity hacks. The GTD framework teaches mechanisms for managing your tasks and work requests as effectively as possible while also teaching techniques to increase productivity. As technology has evolved, I find myself returning to the GTD basics with easy implementation options to sustain valuable habits for less stressful management of daily incoming requests and personal “big rock” items.
Achieve strategic goals
Once you begin to get settled in the new role, it’s important to set your sights on short- and long- term performance goals. As organizations rely more heavily on metrics and KPIs, it is important to know the key outcomes expected in your role so you can plan accordingly. This next set of books focuses on finding the right blend of motivation, structure, and organization to address your key objectives.
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink helps us unpack the intrinsic incentives that external rewards don’t always solve for—and often work against. Not only will it help you gain insights into how to get momentum toward your own goals, but the book also provides a great foundation for establishing the best motivation for you and your teams in the future.
- Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman shares an operating rhythm and framework to help organizations of all shapes and sizes manage strategic goals. The book introduces the idea of the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) and touches on topics beyond that of typical goal management, to encompass systemic components that can serve as barriers to success if not addressed. It offers a perspective on both long- and short-term goal orientation.
- Rapid Results!: How 100-Day Projects Build the Capacity for Large-Scale Change by Robert Schaffer and Ron Ashkenas was agile before agile was cool. The book covers strategies for taking large-scale change and making impactful smaller-scale projects that add up to a big transformation. As with the other books, there is a focus on teamwork and collaboration that make this book full of well-rounded advice.
Build a high-performing team
The next major milestones in a career usually come with leadership responsibility, whether you are managing project teams or supervising team members. This set of books covers those basics, starting with a focus on creating the right culture.
- The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups by Daniel Coyle gives direction for setting a team up for high trust and vulnerability to achieve the most purpose-driven, cohesive culture possible. The statement “culture eats strategy for breakfast” is a quote often attributed to the popular author and management consultant, Peter Drucker. This quote reminds us why culture is an important focus.
- Power Your Tribe: Create Resilient Teams in Turbulent Times by Christine Comaford relies on learnings from neuroscience to provide strategies for building an engaged, effective team. There is special focus on leading teams during uncertain times which one should anticipate throughout a leadership journey as more organizations are faced with external pressures to grow and/or transform.
- Successful Manager’s Handbook: Develop Yourself Coach Others by Susan Gebelein et al is a comprehensive playbook for the most foundational leadership capabilities. This large guide offers actionable insights and steps to take across many, everyday needs. As the subtitle references, it is a good self-help guide and can also assist in coaching team members on the most common dilemmas.
These nine books serve as a good starter pack for any professional—early career and beyond. If the intent is to enhance your journey or deepen satisfaction in your current role, this timeless set should provide inspiration and advice for personal growth, leadership development, and organization success.
