Real Leaders

What Award-Winning CEOs Are Reading Now

While we still find ourselves in the era of social distancing, many of us have had to find new ways to pass the time while confined in our homes.

Given the circumstances, there’s never been a better time to brush up on your reading. Reading has been shown to improve communication, emotional intelligence, and organizational effectiveness. All of these traits are critical requirements for effective leadership. We were curious to know what books the world’s top impact business leaders are reading.

We asked the CEOs of the winning companies of the Real Leaders Impact Awards to tell us what books inspire them to achieve greatness as they build their careers. These are the answers we received:

The China StudyT. Colin Campbell
A Year of YesShonda Rhimes
How to Stop Worrying and Start LivingDale Carnegie
Rain of GoldVictor Villasenor
A New EarthEckhart Tolle
SiddarthaHerman Hesse
The RoadCormac McCarthy
BlinkMalcom Gladwell
Good to GreatJim Collins
The GameKen Dryden
FactfulnessHans Rosling
Winters TaleMark Helprin
First Things FirstStephen Covey
Extreme OwnershipJocko Willink
The Holocaust by BulletsFather Patrick Desbois 
The ProphetKahlil Kiyosaki
Sophie’s WorldJostein Gaarder
The Heartfulness WayKamlesh D Patel & Joshua Pollock
HiroshimaJohn Hersey
Science & Health Mary Baker Eddy
The AlchemistPaulo Coelho
The IdiotFyodor Dostoevsky
The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsBen Horowitz
Leadership: In Times of CrisisDoris Kearns Goodwin
New Rules for the New EconomyKevin Kelly
Hillbilly ElegyJD Vance
SapiensYuval Harari
Selling the InvisibleHarry Beckwith
Seven Storey MountainThomas Merton
Let My People Go SurfingYvon Chouinard
The Four AgreementsDon Miguel Ruiz
Playing BigTara Mohr
City of ThievesDavid Benioff
A Light in the AtticShel Silverstein
Into Thin AirJohn Krakauer
Things Fall ApartChinua Achebe
Divine PoemsJohn Donne
The Big Orange SplotDaniel Pinkwater
Nine Lies About WorkMarcus Buckingham
What Works in Stressful TimesHamish McRae
Selling Without Selling OutSunny Vanderbeck

World’s Top Impact Companies – Call for Entries

The Real Leaders Impact Awards honors the top impact companies applying capitalism for greater profit and greater good. This award helps companies attract new business, top talent, and raise awareness within their industry as well as the impact investing community. You deserve to have your company recognized as one of the world’s top impact companies. Apply for the 2021 Real Leaders Impact Awards before August 31st to get our special Early Bird Rate.