10 Books Every Sales Leader Should Read
Do you know what successful people have one thing in common?
It is the habit of reading books.
Some of the world’s most successful leaders spend hours in reading books. Great business leaders and entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk make reading one of their daily habits.
The habit of reading books is indeed one of the best qualities that a person can possess and is the key component to succeed in any business and in personal life as well.
In today’s workplace, sales leadership is crucial to maximizing the success of your business. Sales leaders have an important role in carrying the responsibility for the success of their sales teams.
There are many challenges that sales leaders face, in order to consistently stay ahead. Reading books is one of the most effective ways to stay ahead in sales. Allotting time to dive into an insightful book can provide you with techniques to manage your sales and take your business to the next level.
Based on my experience, I have compiled a special and exclusive list of 10 books that every sales leader must read to manage their sales team efficiently and to increase sales.
1. Sales Management. Simplified.: The Straight Truth About Getting Exceptional Results from Your Sales – Mike Weinberg
About the author: Weinberg is a consultant, coach and speaker who is specialized in new business development and sales management.
In part one of the book, Weinberg outlines the problems faced by the sales management and also points out the errors made by the sales managers.
In part two, he shares the strategies on how to empower your sales team, how to have productive meetings and how to create high performance sales culture. Weinberg also provides sales leaders some tips on how to match high performers with right roles and how to coach underperformers.
2. Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives – Keith Rosen
About the author: Keith Rosen is the CEO of Profit Builders, one of the best sales training and coaching company worldwide.
If you are a sales manager who want your sales team perform better and faster, ‘Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions’ is the essential book you must read. You can find clear ideas on how to find the potential of your sales team and retain the best talent.
In this book, Keith shares coaching framework that will make your sales team perform better. He also covers topics on how to increase your sales. The book includes case studies, a month turnaround strategy for underperformers, coaching templates, scripts and hundreds of powerful coaching questions you can use to coach anyone. You can even find ways to empower your sales team so that they could solve their problems and succeed in their work.
3. Cracking the Sales Management Code: The Secrets to Measuring and Managing Sales Performance – Jason Jordan & Michelle Vazzana
About the author: Jason Jordan is a partner of Vantage Point Performance and Michelle Vazzana is the CEO.
Do you want to manage a salesforce effectively? Then, this book is a perfect choice. It provides you with best approaches to make your sales team perform better and also provide metrics that drive business results.
The authors of the book provide practical advice to sales managers on how to change sales force behaviours while avoiding common pitfalls.
4. Sales Manager Survival Guide: Lessons From Sales’ Front Lines — David A. Brock
About the author: David Brock is a consultant and author who founded the media watchdog group Media Matters for America.
Are you new to the role of sales manager? This book will help you to have a great start in your new role. It is designed to help sales managers on how to guide their sales team to become more successful.
The book covers ideas on how to coach your team, how to work on performance improvement with someone in your team who is not performing well or how to develop sales tactics and many more. It has everything you need to become a great sales manager.
5. The Accidental Sales Manager: How to Take Control and Lead Your Sales Team to Record Profits – Chris Lytle
About the author: Chris Lytle is the President / Product Developer at Sparque, Inc. He delivers his sales advice in easily digestible knowledge bites on his website, Fuel.
Are you worried on how to manage your sales team with the unexpected promotion as a sales manager? This book is a perfect guide for being a better manager. Chris Lytle provides some techniques on how to prioritize your team, run efficient meetings or one-to-ones and more.
You will learn how to enhance your team, where to start and what to focus on to be a successful sales manager.
6. 52 Sales Management Tips: The Sales Manager’s Success Guide By Steven Rosen
About the author: Steven Rosen is a top sales management consultant. His popular blog and website can be found at
Are you a person who is looking to develop your skills as a sales manager? This book is the right choice. You’ll find tips for coaching salespeople as well as tips on how to overcome the challenges in your work life.
The book also covers techniques to lead and inspire salespeople to greater performance and how to grow yourself as a manager and leader.
7. Nuts and Bolts of Sales Management: How to Build a High Velocity Sales Organization –John Treace
About the author: John Treace has over 30 years of experience in sales and marketing in the medical device industry. He now owns sales and marketing consulting firm JR Treace & Associates.
John Treace provides a step-by-step guide for sales leaders to help them build a high performing sales team that will consistently produce desired results. It covers practical methods and strategies to achieve success in sales.
Leaders will learn how to develop effective sales process, promote high morale & team work and take the sales team to the next level. The insights in this book will help you to identify the problems and find better solutions to succeed in business.
8. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation – Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson
About the author: Brent Adamson is a managing director in the sales and marketing practice of CEB. Matthew Dixon is an executive director of the financial services and customer contact practices of CEB.
This book talks about customer relationships. The authors argues that best salespeople don’t just build relationships with customers, they also challenge them. You will understand how the challengers approach customers to build strong relationships. You will also learn how to identify the challengers in your organization and build a model that everyone should follow to form a strong team.
9. Smart Sales Manager: The Ultimate Playbook for Building and Running a High-Performance Inside Sales Team – Josiane Chriqui Feigon
About the author: Josiane is recognized among The Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professionals and as one of the world’s leading experts on inside sales team and management talent. Josiane is the founder of TeleSmart Communications.
Do you want to know strategies on how to effectively manage an inside sales team? This book is a good choice. It covers strategies for team building, managing and coaching people. The book points out some of the unique challenges that sales managers face day-by-day. It provides specific insights and tips to lead a sales team successfully. It provides innovative ideas regarding hiring, motivating, retaining and leading a team.
10. ProActive Sales Management: How to Lead, Motivate, and Stay Ahead of the Game By William “Skip” Miller
About the author: William ‘Skip’ Miller is the president of M3 Learning, a sales and management development company and an instructor for numerous AMA sales management training programs.
Looking for ways to drive your sales organization in a proactive manner? Miller has provided practical tools that can help us achieve our mission. He also covered approaches to hire, coach and develop a winning sales culture.
The book provides insights on how to gain better control over your life while achieving business goals.
Want to be a successful sales leader? Start reading books which can take your sales strategy to the next level. If you choose right books and make it a practice to read daily, sure you will be a successful leader.
The books listed above will provide you best insights on how to build and lead a successful sales team.
Happy reading!
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Books On Management And Leadership
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Top 10 Books On Management And Leadership
Management and leadership run parallel to each other in the corporate world. An individual who is not good at management cannot be a good leader. Likewise, an individual with poor leadership skills can never be good at managing. A manager is responsible for the work delegation and execution. At the same time, a leader takes responsibility for a whole team working together. So, both aspects are interconnected and must be practiced with efficiency and effectiveness. Here is the list of the most important books on management and leadership –
Let us go through each book on the list to understand why management and leadership are important –
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#1 – Biased
Uncovering The Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, And Do
By Jennifer L. Eberhardt
The book came out in 2019 and talked about how biasedness works inside people’s heads and what professionals can do to overcome it. It is one of the top books on management and leadership.
Book Review
The book is centrally focused on team leaders and management professionals who have to make healthy decisions in their work. The author discusses racial bias in society. Not just that, but how biasedness works in and around neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and the community. The book speaks about problems in leadership and gives out ways to solve them effectively. It stands tall among some of the good books on management and leadership.
Key Takeaways
The book essentially talks about the biasedness employees and colleagues have in their lives.
It is a must-read for managers, leaders, and young entrepreneurs.
The author talks about employees’ perspectives in the workplace environment and around their colleagues and superiors.
#2 – Start With Why
How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Take Action
By Simon Sinek
The book was released in 2009, and the author talks specifically about “how great leaders inspire action.”
Book Review
The author says that when employees make decisions from their gut, the highest level of confidence they possess for themselves is that to them, the decision feels right, even if it has several errors and flaws. The book talks about how leaders and managers can get over it and plan an insightful strategy for their teammates and their personal and professional growth. This book has more meaning to life and is not just for employees reading it for professional aspects.
Key Takeaways
The book discusses an individual’s life purpose, how, why, and what.
The author talks about how every company knows what they are doing and shares a common viewpoint.
Simon Sinek, the author, points out the importance of having clarity, discipline, and consistency in a leader’s work and lifestyle.
#3 – Drive
The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
By Daniel H. Pink
The book was first published in 2009, and the author postulates purpose, autonomy, and mastery as the aspects of human motivation.
Book Review
The author has gathered all his experiences to write this book, especially about how motivation works in people. The book explains how certain factors are associated with motivation and how it changes from one individual to another. It surely is one of the good books on management and leadership. Pink uses the same theory to denote how it can be used in the business, workplace, and among coworkers. For example, he says that a good manager or leader must appeal to their teammate’s sense of accomplishment and positive approach.
Key Takeaways
The book talks about the failure of the carrot-and-stick punishment-reward leadership style.
It suggests that it is essential for managers to let their teammates create their own goals and follow what interests them.
The author believes that leaders should concern themselves with the employee’s inherent drive and motivation.
#4 – The Leadership Challenge
How To Make Extraordinary Things Happen In Organizations
By James M. Kouzes and Barry Posner
The book was released in 2012 and is focused on developing leadership skills and creating a positive and healthy environment for all team members.
Book Review
The book contains many examples to set out the tone and idea of the book about leadership and management skills. The authors help managers to navigate through team-oriented work relationships. They say that a good leader gets things done, and a great leader aspires and inspires team members to achieve more in life than just professional objectives. The book points out the difference between getting things done and making things happen.
Key Takeaways
The book offers insights into organizational health and leadership’s role.
It ranks high among the top books on management and leadership .
. The authors try to motivate and help leaders break through the new persuasive cynicism.
#5 – Outliers: The Story Of Success
By Malcolm Gladwell
The book was published in 2008 and discussed what makes great leaders successful and how other leaders and managers can follow them to get the same results.
Book Review
Malcolm Gladwell determines how it is important for young entrepreneurs to look for factors that make a manager successful. The book points out that it is about controlling what is outside and what goes inside people’s minds. Finally, the author asks the most important question: what makes successful leaders and achievers different and the secret of earning more than most corporate leaders.
Key Takeaways
The book is a delight for managers looking forward to excelling in their fields.
It is one of the best books on management and leadership , for it explores minute details and lifestyle patterns of successful people.
, for it explores minute details and lifestyle patterns of successful people. The author takes his readers on an interesting journey of self-discovery and realization.
#6 – Values
The Secret To Top Level Performance In Business And Life
By Betty Uribe
The book first came out in 2017, in which the author talked about her life struggles and how she overcame every hurdle in her life and accomplished everything she is today.
Book Review
The author takes readers to her past, where she tells that her first job was cleaning houses to support her family. She has become an internationally renowned senior banking executive, author, entrepreneur, and speaker. It is arguably one of the best books on management and leadership. In her book, Uribe talks about how she identified an inevitable need for good leadership.
Key Takeaways
The book is a life story of the author’s harsh struggles that she overcame.
It is an account of all the lessons learned by the author throughout her life.
The author talks about the values managers, and great leaders must possess while working in their fields.
#7 – Multipliers
How The Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
By Liz Wiseman with Greg McKeown
The book was initially published in 2017 and is focused on how smart people make everyone around them smarter and more enthusiastic about their life and work.
Book Review
Wiseman, as the author, talks about harnessing all the energy around and using it to elevate one’s mindset and intelligence. The book accounts for many skills and habits that distinguish good leaders from great leaders. She jots down the factors that distinguish a genius from a genius maker. The book states that there are personalities like multipliers and diminishers in a company, and it is important to identify each of them and associate with the right one.
Key Takeaways
The book outlines five disciplines for young employees to consider and practice daily.
The authors discuss encountering two types of leaders in the business world.
They analyzed more than 150 leaders from around the world.
#8 – First, Break All The Rules
What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
By Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
The book came out in 1999 and sheds light on the skill of identifying quality employees and building strength in teams to help them all work together.
Book Review
The book is a work of 25 years of observation by Gallup, Inc. It stresses that the new age managers have destroyed the old notions and myths about management and set out some new groundbreaking rules by obtaining talented people in their organization. The key ideas in the book include what good managers do and don’t do. In addition, the authors share the pros and cons of leadership thoroughly.
Key Takeaways
The book is the result of a survey of 80,000 managers.
It is a must-read for every manager at every level there is.
The authors talk about the world’s greatest managers’ rules.
They demand that every employee must be treated as an individual in a team.
#9 – Radical Candor
Be A Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
By Kim Scott
The book was released in 2017, and it is all about providing guidance, becoming the best versions of one, and coming out as great leaders.
Book Review
The author explains that radical candor is the sweet spot between aggressive and emphatic managers. It is a point where criticisms and challenges match together to form a better result. It also helps employees develop their skills and stretch out their boundaries of success and performance. Finally, the author provides three simple principles for building better relationships with coworkers and superiors.
Key Takeaways
The book is written for all the bosses operating at every level of every organization, no matter how big or small it is.
It states that the managers who challenge their team members bring out the best in themselves.
The author talks about how compassion and kindness make good leaders in an organization.
#10 – Humble Leadership
The Power Of Relationships, Openness, And Trust
By Edgar Schein and Peter A. Schein
The book came out in 2018 and highlighted traditional leadership and hierarchy in the workplace.
Book Review
Both the authors bring a collective perspective on relationship-building and a deeper understanding of complex interpersonal relationships within an organization. The book highlights the differences between the traditional form of leadership and the modern age leadership values. It critically accounts for group dynamics, adaptiveness, and agility among team members. Finally, the authors outline some key steps towards climbing the corporate ladder.
Key Takeaways
The book discusses complex group work, diverse workforces, and cultural differences.
It is debatably one of the best books on management and leadership .
. Both the authors demand their readers to look for the emerging trends in leadership and management.
They talk about practicing creativity and humble leadership behavior in the office.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to the Top 10 Best Books On Management & Leadership. Here we briefly discuss them, review them, & explain why they are the best selling. You may also have a look at these suggested books below –
10 Books Every Nonprofit Leader Should Read
You're in to leadership development, eh? You'll want to check out my free workshop: The 5 Practices of Outstanding Nonprofit Leaders
My idea to publish a list of very useful nonprofit leadership books came from the class I teach at U Penn’s Annenberg School on Nonprofit Communications Strategy. Every year, I say to my students during the last class, “If nonprofit leaders – board and staff – read the same material you did this spring, the nonprofit sector would be infinitely more civil, impactful and effective.”
And so here you will find two lists. First, my top five nonprofit leadership books. Then what I’m calling “Honorable Mention.” I asked a few friends and clients to suggest a leadership book to me that was instrumental in helping them to become more effective nonprofit leaders.
Even if you grab only one of these and read it in its entirety, it will be a real investment in your professional growth and will help make the work you do even more remarkable.
And with no further ado…
JOAN’S TOP FIVE NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP BOOKS YOU MUST READ
1. Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins
You must own this book. It captures in just 40 pages (yes… 40… so you have no excuse not to read it) the recipe for taking a good organization to the next level. There are infographics that will totally stick with you as you go about your day. And I guarantee you – you will become way more intentional about the hires you make and the board members you invite to join you.
2. Give and Take by Adam Grant
This is bigger than just your role as a leader. It’s a book about who you want to be in the world. Grant identifies three kinds of people – ‘givers,’ ‘ takers,’ and ‘matchers.’ Those who give generously and freely of their time and expertise may not start out as the most successful but they end up at the top. They learn by solving others’ problems and they develop extraordinary social capital. This one is a great staff offsite read or a gift for your senior team or board chair.
3. Changing Minds by Howard Gardner
Gardner is a groundbreaking educator who teaches us that we each have multiple intelligences that lead to different learning styles and a diversity of skills across society. He understands how the mind works and thus what it takes to change a mind. This is the work of the nonprofit sector – to move someone to consider something differently so that it matters in a new way to them. Don’t be daunted by how long ago it was written. Trust me – like all good leadership books should be – this one is evergreen.
4. Difficult Conversations by Stone, Patton, and Heen
In my work as a consultant, I find myself contending with conflict. A LOT. Not just with those in opposition to the mission but within organizations themselves. Amongst staff members, between staff and board. This led me to become a certified mediator and also to this book.
First off, many of us are in the business of talking about difficult subjects (can you say Planned Parenthood or any organization that has to do with race, gender, politics, religion, homosexuality – just to name a few). Secondly, I find oh so frequently that managers simply don’t have tough conversations with staff and are reluctant to hold them accountable in ways that feel difficult.
This book teases out the WHY but then also is very actionable for both the internal and the external difficult conversations far too many folks avoid because of a lack of tools. Tools await you in this book.
5. Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath
This is a must read. And an easy one. To me, the biggest takeaway for nonprofits is that leaders love their work and want everyone to love it. So they over-tell and try to cover everything. The Heath Brothers talk about cutting through the clutter and “the curse of knowledge” – we know so much about our organizations that we get into detail that listeners don’t understand. They say that we can’t un-know what we know so we have to transform how we communicate to those who don’t know about our work.
FIVE MORE LEADERSHIP BOOKS FROM FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, AND CLIENTS
A quick survey unearthed five more leadership books you should know about. Heck, some of them are new to ME. I’m ordering them on Amazon right now.
6. Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Most leaders start by talking about what their organization does. But Sinek argues it’s not the what or the how that drives great staff candidates, five star board prospects or donors. It’s the why. Sinek gave a great TED talk if you don’t have time to read the full book.
Recommended by Dana Weeks at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia.
7. It’s Your Ship by Mike Abrashoff
I’ve actually never heard of this one, written by the former US Navy captain of the USS Benfold. His practical recipe? Lead by example; listen aggressively; communicate purpose and meaning; create a climate of trust; look for results, not salutes; take calculated risks; go beyond standard procedure; build up your people; generate unity; and improve your people’s quality of life. Sounds like a great nonprofit leader to me.
Recommended by Kevin Jennings, CEO of the Arcus Foundation.
8. Getting Things Done by David Allen
One of the biggest productivity books of the last two decades, I’ve added this to the list. That said, I haven’t read it and feel skeptical simply because the subhead reads: The Art of Stress Free Productivity. It may seem unattainable in a nonprofit setting, but my oh my, isn’t it worth a shot?
Recommended by Mark Pelavin at the Union for Reform Judaism.
9. How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work by Kegan and Lahey
I am so ordering this book, which tackles the inherent human resistance to change. One reader wrote, “Most of the time, when confronted to change, a little voice inside us will tell us why not to change.” The authors write that this voice speaks with 7 tongues. One could even say that these “voices” make us immune to change. Luckily, for each of the 7 languages, this book offers a powerful antidote.” I’m totally intrigued.
Recommended by Parisa Parsa, the E.D. of The Public Conversations Project in Boston.
10. Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization by Logan, King, and Fisher-Wright
A 10-year study of 24,000 people in two-dozen organizations revealed that within these organizations exist separate tribes. That’s certainly been my experience. This book is a unique look at high-performance organizational cultures.
Recommended by Glennda Testone, ED of the LGBT Center in NYC
ONE MORE…
Ok, so this wasn’t in my original list. But I’d be remiss to not mention MY new book.