9 Books I Recommend on Leadership

My article at The Gospel Coalition.

The 9 books are:

  1. The Cross and Christian Ministry: Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians, DA Carson
  2. Spurgeon on Leadership, Larry Michael
  3. Next Generation Leader: 5 Essentials for Those Who Will Shape the Future, Andy Stanley
  4. The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make, Hans Finzel
  5. Leaders Who Last, Dave Kraft
  6. The One Thing You Need to Know, Marcus Buckingham
  7. You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere, Can Make a Positive Difference, Mark Sanborn
  8. Leadership, Rudy Giuliani
  9. Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras

Read the whole thing for a short summary of the most significant insights from each, and why it’s important for Christians to read secular books on leadership as well as Christian ones.

One other thing (which is not in the post): The second book I listed was Spurgeon on Leadership. For those who don’t think it’s important for Christians to think about and understand leadership, I hope helps point in another way. If even Spurgeon understood leadership and was an effective leader, then maybe it is pretty important for the rest of us to care about leadership as well.

We should not pit caring about sound doctrine against caring about leadership. Spurgeon didn’t, and neither should we.

No related posts.

August 26, 2011 | Filed Under Leadership | 6 Comments 

Comments

6 Responses to “9 Books I Recommend on Leadership”

  1. Ryan on August 26th, 2011 11:50 am

    Matt: the title in book #8 is incomplete, and (possibly as a result) the link is broken. Just thought you’d like to know.

  2. Matt on August 26th, 2011 11:58 am

    Thanks! Fixed now.

  3. Roger Healey on August 26th, 2011 6:57 pm

    Thanks for the recommendations. I’m going to start with #7 since I’m more of a senior employee than a manager.

  4. Chris Poblete on August 26th, 2011 7:49 pm

    I picked up the Spurgeon on Leadership title when you featured it several months ago, and I’m so glad that I did. Even if all I read were the short pithy principles at the end of each chapter, it would have been worth the purchase. And aside from the valuable lessons, my appreciation for “the Spurge” certainly grew.

  5. Nine Recommended Books On Leadership (via Matt Permann) | mgpcpastor's blog on August 30th, 2011 1:03 am

    [...] post where Steve Cree of Creek Road Presbyterian shares his most valued resources on leadership, Matt Perman of Desiring God ministries has a post at the Gospel Coalition where he lists nine books on [...]

  6. But I Had Good Intentions « An Unchanging Message in a Changing World – Thoughts from Tim Schaaf @ CGS Lynnwood on September 13th, 2011 10:48 am

    [...] but in both cases we need to actually apply ourselves to learning from others — including through reading books — about what it means to lead [...]

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