Effective management involves far more than simply providing your staff with planning or productivity tips. Sharing your expertise with your colleagues won’t help you excel at work, but learning how to plan, assign tasks, and pay attention just could! The success of numerous illustrious businesses over the years has been fueled by this style of leadership. It is no secret that these powerful people have features in common, whether it be their extensive experience, great emotional intelligence, or distinctive leadership philosophies.
There is a tonne of widely accepted philosophies that describe what makes a good leader. Reading a few management books can be quite beneficial if you’re trying to figure out how to adapt their approach to leadership to create your own special management style. This will help you determine whether your current management techniques are appropriate. As such, in the following post we are featuring 15 best management books to read in 2025.
Best Management Books to Read
1. The One Minute Manager (Kenneth Blanchard Ph.D. and Spencer Johnson M.D.)
The book presents a straightforward yet useful method for truly effective leadership. One Minute Goals shows readers how to create precise, succinct, and easily attainable goals. It will become easier for managers to recognise when workers perform things correctly and to compliment them. Additionally, managers will learn a more effective method for addressing poor performance or conduct while providing feedback for future development. It is definitely one of the best management books to read.
2. The Making of a Manager (Julie Zhuo)
At the age of 25, Julie Zhuo, Facebook’s first intern, was promoted to manager. Zhuo was forced to learn on the job due to her lack of management expertise and the considerable pressure her staff placed on her. After many years and numerous teams, Zhuo wrote The Making Of A Manager with a specific goal of assisting new managers by offering clear guidance and useful counsel for those who have just been promoted.
3. On Becoming a Leader (Warren Bennis)
For more than three decades, one of the best management books has been On Becoming a Leader, a well-known classic. The book explores the author’s significant expertise and experience from years of working as a leadership consultant and counsellor. He describes the essential characteristics that make a leader, and he offers practical advice that anyone may use to become a more effective leader. Numerous quotes from well-known people are included in On Becoming a Leader to motivate and impact readers as they learn.
4. The Silo Effect (Gillian Tett)
In The Silo Effect, Gillian Tett poses the query, “Why do humans acting in groups in contemporary institutions occasionally behave in ways that seem stupid?” and continues by discussing how the conventional corporate sector structure might result in choices that could otherwise appear counter-intuitive. Tett not only analyses instances of bad decisions being made as a result of this silo effect way of thinking, but she also gives examples of situations when managers and the organisations in which they function have been successful in overcoming the silo effect.
5. Turn the Ship Around (L. David Marquet)
Turn the Ship Around explains how Marquet improved the USS Santa Fe from a sub with poor performance to one of the best in the navy. He explains how the Santa Fe wasn’t a good fit for the typical naval leadership style, in which captains yell commands and the crew blindly obeys. Marquet gives examples of how he used a “intent-based leadership” framework to empower his team, instill self-reliance in them, and establish a leadership culture.
6. Measure What Matters (John Doerr)
In Measure What Matters, renowned VC John Doerr explains how the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) goal-setting framework has contributed to some of the top businesses in the world achieve greatness and how it can do the same for you and your business. Doerr explains the OKR system by using a series of case studies to show how key outcomes are the actions that will get you where you want to go while goals outline what you want to accomplish.
7. Leaders Eat Last (Simon Sinek)
Sinek investigates the premise that leaders in prosperous organisations put their coworkers’ and employees’ happiness and wellbeing first in Leaders Eat Last. The importance of trust in leadership is discussed in the book, as well as how leaders can foster trust within their organisations. In addition to examining how relationships are affected by modern technology, Sinek contends that face-to-face contacts remain among the most effective and successful ways to foster trust.
8. Dare to Lead (Brene Brown)
It can be difficult to define a manager’s title. When given the position of manager, are people innately good at inspiring their teams, exhibiting empathy towards team members, seeing possibility in others, and having the courage to help those others reach that potential? In Dare To Lead, Brown demonstrates how more courageous, daring managers who are ready to share their power rather than hoard it may create successful organisations through research, tales, instances, and other examples.
9. Primal Leadership (Daniel Goleman, Richard E. Boyatzis, Annie McKee)
In Primal Leadership, the topic of emotional intelligence is discussed in relation to effective leadership. According to the authors, leaders who can control their emotions and act properly to others are more effective in general. The authors also discuss different theories of leadership and the ways in which managers can foster a supportive emotional environment within their staff and organisations. Primal Leadership, considered one of the best books on people management, provides useful tools and techniques for enhancing emotional intelligence in both you and others.
10. The Happiness Advantage (Shawn Achor)
In this book, Shawn Anchor makes a point that success does not precede happiness; rather, the reverse is true. With support from research in neuroscience and psychology, he examines seven positive psychology tenets that can aid individuals in achieving happiness and success. Overall, The Happiness Advantage is one of the best management books to read, especially if you want to maintain a positive and productive office environment.
11. Indistractable (Nir Eyal)
There has been much written and spoken regarding how we are getting more and more distracted, as well as the possible effects this may have on managers and the employees they oversee. The book examines the psychology of digital distraction and suggests four steps for overcoming it. These steps show how to use technology in daily life without becoming Pavlovian in response to notification pings.
12. The Speed of Trust (Stephen M.R. Covey, Rebecca A. Merrill)
The Speed of Trust is one of the best books on people management. It makes it clear that the most crucial element of effective leadership is trust. The book emphasises that trust can be acquired and restored while providing helpful advice and solutions, defining trust as the combination of character and ability. It also lists the five trust waves that must be built in order to build trust in an organisation, along with thirteen behaviours of high-trust leaders.
13. Talking To Strangers (Malcolm Gladwell)
Talking To Strangers explores how most of us have a tendency to assume that other people are being truthful and open, even though it wasn’t developed specifically for managers or even individuals in the business world. Gladwell expands on this idea by asserting that we typically react suspiciously or negatively if an individual acts in manner that is perceived as out of the ordinary. The book also addresses how our interactions can result in miscommunication, disagreement, and even disastrous outcomes.
14. Lean In (Sheryl Sandberg)
Lean In seeks to encourage women of all identities to assume leadership positions in the workplace. The book examines a variety of particular difficulties faced by women in the workplace, including prejudice, bias, and double standards. Without compromising or surrendering their own lives or principles, Sandberg shows women how to build their own chances, support networks, and networks.
15. Helping People Change (Richard Boyatzis, Melvin L. Smith, Ellen Van Oosten)
Many managers erroneously feel that coaching their team entails pointing out what they have done incorrectly and asking them to do it correctly the next time. Unfortunately, this strategy is neither beneficial nor constructive and, over time, may cause strained interpersonal and professional ties as well as staff attrition. The authors advise us to concentrate on figuring out a person’s aspirations, objectives, or the positive components of their self-worth.
Conclusion
There you have it. 15 best management books to read in 2025. Although some people have an innate aptitude for leadership, others can develop their abilities. Anyone may succeed as a manager if they put enough effort into learning and developing themselves. Reading some of these books about management is a fantastic place to start. Grab one of these fantastic books for yourself now. Perhaps you and your team will discover the ideal approach!
Also Read:
- 20 Best Leadership Books to Read
- 10 Best Books on How to Start a Business
- 15 Best Inspirational Books to Read
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