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Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans Version 1

www.noop.nl November 7, 2008

Introduction This article contains a top 100 of the best management, leadership & personal development books. I have created this list using three different criteria:

1. number of Amazon reviews; 2. average Amazon rating; 3. number of Google hits;

Please refer to the second part of this article to find out how the calculations were performed.

Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans

# Title / Author(s) / Tags Year ISBN13

1 The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be Jack Canfield, Janet Switzer (personal growth, self-help, success, achievement)

2004 978-0060594886

2 The Elements of Style: 50th Anniversary Edition William Strunk, E. B. White (style, writers reference, writing)

1958 978-0205632640

3 How to Win Friends & Influence People Dale Carnegie (personal development, communication skills, self improvement)

1981 978-0671027032

4 Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die Chip Heath, Dan Heath (marketing, communication, ideas, persuasion, business)

2007 978-1400064281

5 Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams (Second Edition) Tom DeMarco, Timothy Lister (management, software development)

1999 978-0932633439

6 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert B. Cialdini (persuasion, psychology, influence, marketing, sales)

1998 978-0061241895

7 What Got You Here Won't Get You There Marshall Goldsmith, Mark Reiter (leadership development, executive coaching)

2007 978-1401301309

8 Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras (business, management, leadership development, leadership)

1994 978-0060566104

9 Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery Garr Reynolds (presentations, communication, public speaking)

2008 978-0321525659

10 Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity David Allen (management, productivity, time management)

2002 978-0142000281

11 The Magic of Thinking Big David Schwartz (positive thinking, personal development, self improvement)

1959 978-0671646783

12 Leading Change John P. Kotter (change management, leadership, organizational behavior)

1996 978-0875847474

13 The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox (theory of constraints, professional development)

1986 978-0884271789

14 Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't Jim Collins (business, leadership, management, success, excellence)

2001 978-0066620992

15 The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable Patrick M. Lencioni (leadership, team building, management, professional development)

2002 978-0787960759

16 The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done Peter F. Drucker (management, leadership, effectiveness, vision)

1967 978-0060833459

17 The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea Bob Burg, John David Mann (self-help, business, success, networking)

2007 978-1591842002

18 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R. Covey (personal development, self improvement, leadership)

1989 978-0743269513

19 The Gregg Reference Manual William A. Sabin (grammar, writing, reference, editing, english)

2004 978-0072936537

20 Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most Douglas Stone, etc. (communication skills, negotiation, self improvement)

1999 978-0140288520

Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans

# Title / Author(s) / Tags Year ISBN13

21 First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman (management, professional development)

1999 978-0684852867

22 Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High Kerry Patterson, etc. (communication, leadership, emotional intelligence, conflict)

2002 978-0071401944

23 The Toyota Way Jeffrey Liker (lean, business, quality control, toyota production system)

2003 978-0071392310

24 The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail Clayton M. Christensen (innovation, technology, business, marketing)

1997 978-0875845852

25 The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything Stephen M.R. Covey (trust, leadership, relationships, business, success)

2006 978-0743297301

26 The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Malcolm Gladwell (economics, networking effects, sociology, competition)

2000 978-0316316965

27 First Things First Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill (time management)

1994 978-0684802039

28 The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization Peter M. Senge (systems thinking, organizational learning, management)

2006 978-0385517829

29 A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age Daniel H. Pink (business, creativity, thinking, cognitive psychology)

2005 978-1573223089

30 Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques - 2nd Edition Michael Michalko (creative thinking, imagination, business, decision-making)

2006 978-1580087735

31 Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us Seth Godin (marketing, leadership, community, motivational, networking)

2008 978-1591842330

32 The Leadership Challenge James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner (leadership, professional development)

2007 978-0787984915

33 Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In Roger Fisher, Bruce M. Patton, William L. Ury (negotiation, business, brainstorm)

1992 978-0395631249

34 Getting Past No William Ury (negotiation, collaboration, conflict resolution, improvement)

1993 978-0553371314

35 Developing the Leader Within You John C. Maxwell (business leadership, self control)

2000 978-0785266662

36 Love 'Em or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay Beverly Kaye, Sharon Jordan-Evans (effective management, employee engagement)

2005 978-1576753279

37 The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter Juanita Brown, etc. (conversation, facilitation, dialogue, team building)

2005 978-1576752586

38 Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes - Revised 25th Anniversary Edition William Bridges (change, transition, personal transformation, leadership)

1980 978-0738209043

39 The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More Chris Anderson (internet marketing, consumer behavior, business)

2006 978-1401309664

40 Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization Ken Blanchard (business, empowerment, inspirational, leadership)

1997 978-0688154288

Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans

# Title / Author(s) / Tags Year ISBN13

41 The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't Robert I. Sutton (management, leadership, workplace, abuse, business)

2007 978-0446526562

42 Leadership and Self Deception: Getting Out of the Box The Arbinger Institute (leadership, self awareness, relationships, management)

2002 978-1427087836

43 The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict The Arbinger Institute (peace, conflict resolution, relationships, leadership)

2006 978-1576753347

44 The Power of Full Engagement Jim Loehr, Tony Schwartz (leadership, personal development, self improvement)

2003 978-0743226745

45 The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary Mark Sanborn (leadership, business, motivational, relationship building)

2004 978-1578568321

46 Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School John Medina (brain science, education, business, success, learning)

2008 978-0979777707

47 Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas Seth Godin (marketing, ideas, business, internet, customer service)

2006 978-1591841265

48 Winning Jack Welch, Suzy Welch (leadership, business, management, success)

2005 978-0060753948

49 The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management Peter F. Drucker (effective management)

2001 978-0066210872

50 The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life Rosamund Stone Zander, Benjamin Zander (leadership, inspiration, innovation)

2002 978-0142001103

51 The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less Barry Schwartz (sociology, consumerism, economics, positive psychology)

2003 978-0060005689

52 Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak (knowledge management)

1997 978-0875846552

53 Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner (economics, sociology, statistics, business)

2005 978-0060731328

54 Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable Seth Godin (marketing, business, innovation, ideas, advertising)

2003 978-1591840213

55 Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production Taiichi Ohno (lean, kanban, toyota production system)

1988 978-0915299140

56 The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century Thomas L. Friedman (globalization, economics, business, outsourcing, culture)

2005 978-0312425074

57 The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You John C. Maxwell (leadership, empowerment, influence, self-help)

1998 978-0785289357

58 Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! Anthony Robbins (motivation, success, self-help, nlp, achievement)

1991 978-0671791544

59 Full Steam Ahead!: Unleash the Power of Vision in Your Work and Your Life Ken Blanchard, Jesse Stoner (applied psychology, business, leadership, management)

2003 978-1576752449

60 Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time Brian Tracy (time management, self-improvement, personal productivity)

2001 978-1576754221

Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans

# Title / Author(s) / Tags Year ISBN13

61 The Three Signs of a Miserable Job: A Fable for Managers (And Their Employees) Patrick M. Lencioni (management, leadership, team building, employee engagement)

2007 978-0787995317

62 The Halo Effect: ... and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers Phil Rosenzweig (management, strategy, decision making, business)

2007 978-0743291255

63 Crossing the Chasm Geoffrey A. Moore (marketing, technology, business strategy, management)

2002 978-0060517120

64 True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership Bill George, Peter Sims (leadership, executive coaching, business, enlightenment)

2007 978-0787987510

65 The Power of Positive Thinking Norman Vincent Peale (motivational, positive thinking, inspirational, self improvement)

2003 978-1416560616

66 The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor (innovation, business leadership)

2003 978-1578518524

67 The One Minute Manager Kenneth H. Blanchard, Spencer Johnson (management, leadership, business)

1982 978-0688014292

68 The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Nassim Nicholas Taleb (decision making, risk, complexity, knowledge)

2007 978-1400063512

69 Now, Discover Your Strengths Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton (strengths, personal development, leadership)

2001 978-0743201148

70 The Black Book of Outsourcing: How to Manage the Changes, Challenges, and Opportunities Douglas Brown, Scott Wilson (globalization, outsourcing, economics, business)

2005 978-0471718895

71 Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson (cognitive dissonance, social psychology, reasoning)

2007 978-0156033909

72 QBQ! The Question Behind the Question John G. Miller (personal accountability, leadership, business, responsibility)

2001 978-0399152337

73 Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets Nassim Nicholas Taleb (complexity, decision making)

2005 978-1400067930

74 Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking Malcolm Gladwell (intuition, decision making, psychology, business)

2005 978-0316172325

75 Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time Keith Ferrazzi, Tahl Raz (networking, success, business, relationships)

2005 978-0385512053

76 Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life Spencer Johnson (self improvement, leadership, change, business, success)

1998 978-0399144462

77 The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures Dan Roam (presentation, communication, problem solving, business)

2008 978-1594201752

78 Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions John Kotter, etc. (change management, leadership, innovation)

2006 978-0312361983

79 Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change William Bridges (transitions, change management)

2003 978-0738208244

80 The Wisdom of Crowds James Surowiecki (sociology, marketing, behavior, business, management)

2004 978-0385721707

Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans

# Title / Author(s) / Tags Year ISBN13

81 Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen (motivation, leadership)

2000 978-0786888825

82 Prisoners of Our Thoughts: Viktor Frankl's Principles for Discovering Meaning in Life and Work Alex Pattakos (workplace, positive thinking, self improvement)

2004 978-1576752883

83 Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations Thomas A. Stewart (wealth, knowledge, economic, strategy)

1997 978-0385483810

84 It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy Michael Abrashoff (leadership, management, decision-making, business)

2002 978-0446529112

85 The Myths of Innovation Scott Berkun (innovation, creativity, software development, business)

2007 978-0596527051

86 Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People G. Richard Shell (negotiation, persuasion)

2006 978-0143036975

87 The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels Michael Watkins (professional development, leadership, effective management)

2003 978-1591391104

88 Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (10th Anniversary Edition) Daniel Goleman (self improvement, psychology, relationships)

1996 978-0553804911

89 Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story Jerry Weissman (presentation, improvement, inspirational)

2003 978-0130464132

90 Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations Clay Shirky (collaboration, social media, organizing, groups)

2008 978-1594201530

91 Bit Literacy: Productivity in the Age of Information and E-mail Overload Mark Hurst (productivity, email, organization, business, to-do)

2007 978-0979368103

92 Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything Don Tapscott, Anthony D. Williams (collaboration, business, internet, community)

2006 978-1591841388

93 Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk Peter L. Bernstein (risk, decision making, uncertainty, statistics)

1996 978-0471121046

94 The Ten Faces of Innovation Thomas Kelley, Jonathan Littman (innovation, creativity, design, business, marketing)

2005 978-0385512077

95 Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times Donald T. Phillips (leadership, business)

1993 978-0446394598

96 Primal Leadership - Realizing The Power Of Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman, Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis (leadership, human resources)

2002 978-1578514861

97 The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies Ivan Misner, Michelle R. Donovan (networking, marketing, business, self-improvement)

2008 978-1929774548

98 The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader John C. Maxwell (leadership, professional development, self-improvement)

1999 978-0785289043

99 Co-Active Coaching, 2nd Edition: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and, Life Laura Whitworth, etc. (coaching, leadership, motivation, empowerment)

1998 978-0891061984

100 The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton (strategy, balanced scorecard, metrics)

1996 978-0875846514

Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans

Scope of this List For this Top 100 list I have included only books covering subjects that might be of interest to (middle) managers, team members and employees interested in personal development, in any kind of organization. My main criterion for each book was: might this book help me and some of my subordinates to improve ourselves? (And would it help my managers solving their problems themselves instead of buggering me...) This means that I have left out books with primary topics such as business strategy, investment, marketing, entrepreneurship, and the art of flower arrangement. These topics, though very interesting, won't be helpful in enabling the average Joe the Programmer to develop himself into Joe the Leader or Joe the Communicator. (The other reason is that I had to limit the scope, or I would never be able to finish the bloody thing.) Finding the Books To find all these potentially timeless classics, I checked the best-selling books in these Amazon categories: Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Decision-Making & Problem Solving Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Leadership Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Management Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Management Science Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Motivational Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Production & Operations Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Quality Control Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Systems & Planning Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Teams Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Organizational Change Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Organizational Learning Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Workplace Books > Business & Investing > Skills Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Communications Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Running Meetings & Presentations Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Time Management

After I found all best-selling books, I subsequently found many other books through the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" cross-reference thingy. That's how I finally ended up with a list of 400 books, and a pair of eyes with the color of Sarah Palin's dress. Note: in case of multiple editions of the same book, only the most recent edition is listed on the chart, though reviews and ratings were combined for all available editions.

Top 100 Best Books for Managers, Leaders & Humans

Doing the Calculations Then it was time to do the calculations. I checked the number of customer reviews on Amazon, and I ranked the books according to these numbers (= a measure of quantity). I also calculated the average Amazon ratings, and I ranked the books according to these ratings (= a measure of quality). I then checked the number of Google hits for each of the books, and I ranked them accordingly (= a measure of popularity). Finally, I took the three rankings, and then re-calculated it into a final ranking. This resulted in the list you now have before you. Note: this little project was performed in the first week of November, 2008. Current Amazon reviews and ratings might have changed since then. I can guarantee that the system I used is scientifically ridiculous. Nevertheless, the results are quite interesting, and I'm sure this list can be of great help if you want to improve your skills as a manager, a leader, or as a human being who just wants to become a more interesting colleague. I suggest you start with number 1, and then slowly work you way down. However, you might want to start with Breakthrough Rapid Reading (by Peter Kump) and How to Read a Book (by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren). These might help getting you through the list somewhat faster... Copyright This work is released under a Create Commons License. You are free (and encouraged) to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to adapt the work, provided you attribute the author. Please send it to your colleagues, friends, family, neighbors and local zoo. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Profile Jurgen Appelo is Chief Information Officer at ISM eCompany (www.ism.nl), recently rated as the #1 fastest growing technology company in The Netherlands. He leads a horde of 50 software developers, development managers, project managers, consultants, quality assurance managers, service managers and kangaroos, some of which he hired accidentally. Jurgen is primarily interested in software engineering, quality improvement and complexity theory, from a manager’s perspective. He is trying to write a book about this, and he keeps track of it on his blog (www.noop.nl). However, sometimes he puts it all aside to do some intensive programming himself, or to spend some time on his ever-growing collection of science fiction and fantasy literature. Jurgen lives in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) -- and sometimes in Brussels (Belgium) -- with his partner Raoul. He has two kids, and an imaginary hamster called George.