3 Outstanding Leadership Books

Extraordinary leadership requires learning skills you don’t learn in school.

The higher you go, the more you need to master what often looks like 𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 —
but is learnable if you have the right guide.

Here are 3 books that demystified some of the most important leadership skills for me:

𝟭. 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 — 𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙤𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙞𝙙𝙚
One of the most crucial skills I had to learn was 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴.
If you don’t understand it, you’ll be used (and sidelined) by those who do.

𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘚𝘪𝘥𝘦 is like an engineer’s guide to influence.
It teaches you how to:
• Create centers of gravity in an organization
• Trigger domino effects of support
• Read the political landscape
• Build genuine influence without becoming “political”

Best of all: it gives you a simple, repeatable model for mastering 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 — essential if you want to lead big change.

𝟮. 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗮 — 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙢𝙖 𝙈𝙮𝙩𝙝
It’s a myth that you either “have” charisma or you don’t.
Charisma is a learnable skill — a combination of:
𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿, 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, and 𝗪𝗮𝗿𝗺𝘁𝗵

Charisma is one of the highest forms of leadership power.
An insight that served me well early at Microsoft:
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘀 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰.
(From another favorite: 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘈𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘨.)

Leaders who build charisma lead movements, not just meetings.

𝟯. 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 — 𝙀𝙭𝙚𝙘𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝗯𝘆 𝗦𝘆𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗮 𝗔𝗻𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝘄𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁
Executive Presence once felt like the most elusive skill of all.
But with a 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵, you can learn anything —
if you find the right source.

Sylvia was a rebel with a cause — but realized that without Executive Presence, she’d hit a ceiling in both life and leadership.

She decoded it into 3 practical pillars:
𝗚𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘀, 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀, and 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳

This book helped me see that Executive Presence isn’t a mysterious “𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿” —
it’s a skill set you can build intentionally.

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: If you want to lead at the highest levels —
learn 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲, 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗺𝗮, and 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

These 3 books helped me.

They might just unlock your next level too.