Most books on leadership give principles and science, which don't hurt to know, but leading is a practice -- an active, social, emotional, expressive, performance-based field.
We learn to perform by practicing the basics in any field.
Leadership Step by Step https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/... gives a set of 20 exercises that teach the basics of leading yourself and others. If you practice, you'll develop the skills, experiences, and beliefs of an effective leader. Other books are like music appreciation. This book is like learning to play the piano.
Written by a PhD in physics (me) then started several companies, got an MBA, and teaches leadership at NYU to stellar reviews. https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...
You might also be interested in my books, which teach the social and emotional skills of leadership, initiative, and entrepreneurship, based on courses I teach at NYU.
Leadership Step by Step: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...
One of my past students used the Initiative skills to teach the Leadership material to youths in Gaza https://leadpalestine.com. Every situation is unique and it's just one project, but his project shows promise of teaching youths before they get caught up in violence. He tells me that the program helps change views of leadership from command-and-control, authoritarian to based in understanding and support, though I'm oversimplifying. I'm just sharing one example.
After my PhD in physics, I learned starting a company that I needed such skills and devoted myself to learning them.
Now I teach the social and emotional skills underlying leadership, entrepreneurship, and initiative at NYU (student reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...
We learn to perform by practicing the basics in any field.
Leadership Step by Step https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/... gives a set of 20 exercises that teach the basics of leading yourself and others. If you practice, you'll develop the skills, experiences, and beliefs of an effective leader. Other books are like music appreciation. This book is like learning to play the piano.
Written by a PhD in physics (me) then started several companies, got an MBA, and teaches leadership at NYU to stellar reviews. https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...
https://www.amazon.com/Initiative-Proven-Method-Bring-Passio...
https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...
My friend's school that inspired me is Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. He's given TEDx talks and keynotes online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS2IPfWZQM4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FEMCyHYTyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSE-eJAye5Y
You might also be interested in my books, which teach the social and emotional skills of leadership, initiative, and entrepreneurship, based on courses I teach at NYU.
Initiative: https://www.amazon.com/Initiative-Proven-Method-Bring-Passio...
Leadership Step by Step: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...
One of my past students used the Initiative skills to teach the Leadership material to youths in Gaza https://leadpalestine.com. Every situation is unique and it's just one project, but his project shows promise of teaching youths before they get caught up in violence. He tells me that the program helps change views of leadership from command-and-control, authoritarian to based in understanding and support, though I'm oversimplifying. I'm just sharing one example.
Now I teach the social and emotional skills underlying leadership, entrepreneurship, and initiative at NYU (student reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...
Initiative: https://www.amazon.com/Initiative-Proven-Method-Bring-Passio...
- The Tao Te Ching, especially Ron Hogan's translation (freely downloadable here: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/...)
The suggestion I consider more valuable is to focus more on active behavior than relatively passive reading. Of course, still read. But it's easy to read more and more, telling yourself you're getting more perspective. You are, but nothing changes your perspective like actually moving.
Even if you don't know what will work best -- meditation, fitness, art, music, travel, cooking, gardening, starting a business, etc -- starting with something, even if you soon abandon it, will lead you to things you love and that develop you faster than reading alone. Plus activity will make what you read more meaningful.
I include my book because it's specifically a book of exercises that lead to developing social and emotional skills designed to build on each other.
Amazon has the preface and first chapter in the "look inside" link above the picture of it https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Step-Become-Person-Others/..., which develops what I wrote here more.
The movie Most Likely To Succeed http://www.mltsfilm.org is about project-based learning. The books and articles by the guys behind it, Tony Wagner and Ted Dintersmith, are on active education and I found valuable.
Here's a post of mine with a video of Ted and the movie director: http://joshuaspodek.com/another-problem-with-traditional-edu... and links to relevant posts of mine.
Note that one of its foundations is that developing social, emotional, expressive, performance-based skills takes practice and rehearsal to go from mechanical practicing, like playing scales, to effortless, genuine, authentic self-expression. The same as in learning to act, sing, play an instrument, play a sport, military, and so on.
The book gives you exercises. It's not for everyone. Just reading it will help you appreciate the skills. Practice will lead to growth.