Readers are leaders. And if you’re leading, you oughta be reading. But let’s be honest: there are a lot of great books out there, and not enough time to get through them. The following are books that I have on my bookshelf (and you should, too). But if you just have time for a few sound bites, I gotcha covered.
“Top Ten Quotes” books (so far):
- Above All: The Gospel is the Source of the Church’s Renewal (J.D. Greear)
- All That’s Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment (Hannah Anderson)
- At Your Best: How to Get Time, Energy & Priorities Working in Your Favor (Carey Nieuwhof)
- Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation (Latasha Morrison)
- Bet on Talent: How to Create a Remarkable Culture that Wins the Hearts of Customers (Dee Ann Turner)
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott)
- Canoeing the Mountains: Christian Leadership in Uncharted Territory (Tod Bolsinger)
- The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More and Change the Way You Lead Forever (Michael Bungay Stanier)
- The Come Back Culture: 10 Business Practices That Create Lifelong Customers (Jason Young and Jonathan Malm)
- The Come Back Effect: How Hospitality Can Compel Your Church’s Guests to Return (Jason Young and Jonathan Malm)
- The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (Justin Earley)
- Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion (Rebecca McLaughlin)
- Confronting Injustice Without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice (Thaddeus J. Williams)
- Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration (Ed Catmull)
- The Cross of Christ (John R.W. Stott)
- The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups (Daniel Coyle)
- The Culture Solution: A Practical Guide to Building a Dynamic Culture (Matthew Kelly)
- The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life (Barnabas Piper)
- The Customer Service Revolution: Overthrow Conventional Business, Inspire Employees, and Change the World (John R. DiJulius III)
- Designed to Lead: The Church and Leadership Development (Eric Geiger and Kevin Peck)
- Developing Female Leaders: Navigate the Minefields and Release the Potential of Women in Your Church (Kadi Cole)
- Don’t Burn Out, Burn Bright: How to Thrive in Ministry for the Long Haul (Jason Young and Jonathan Malm)
- Empowering Leadership: How a Leadership Development Culture Builds Better Leaders (Michael Fletcher)
- Essentialism: the Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Greg McKeown)
- Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work (Tim Keller)
- Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise (Horst Schulze)
- The Experience Maker: How to Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait to Share (Dan Gingiss)
- From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (Arthur Brooks)
- Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just (Tim Keller)
- Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Dane Ortlund)
- God of All Things: Rediscovering the Sacred in an Everyday World (Andrew Wilson)
- God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul (Mark Buchanan)
- The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World (Rosaria Butterfield)
- The Green Letters: Principles of Spiritual Growth (Miles J. Stanford)
- Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus Through the Spiritual Disciplines (David Mathis)
- The Heart of Hospitality: Great Hotel and Restaurant Leaders Share Their Secrets (Micah Solomon)
- How to Lead When You’re Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority (Clay Scroggins)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People: The Only Book You Need to Lead You to Success (Dale Carnegie)
- Humble Roots: How Humility Grounds and Nourishes Your Soul (Hannah Anderson)
- Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness (Andrew Murray)
- Humor, Seriously: Why Humor is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas)
- The Ideal Team Player: How to Recognize and Cultivate The Three Essential Virtues (Patrick Lencioni)
- The Infinite Game (Simon Sinek)
- Leadership as an Identity: The Four Traits of Those Who Wield Lasting Influence (Crawford W. Loritts, Jr.)
- Lead with Hospitality: Be Human. Emotionally Connect. Serve Selflessly (Taylor Scott)
- Less Chaos. Less Noise. Effective Communications for an Effective Church (Kem Meyer)
- Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life (Tish Harrison Warren)
- More is More: How the Best Companies Go Farther and Work Harder to Create Knock-Your-Socks-Off Customer Experiences (Blake Morgan)
- The Multiplication Effect: Building a Leadership Pipeline that Solves Your Leadership Shortage (Mac Lake)
- Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (Liz Wiseman)
- Next Door As It Is In Heaven: Living Out God’s Kingdom in Your Neighborhood (Lance Ford and Brad Brisco)
- No Little Women: Equipping All Women in the Household of God (Aimee Byrd)
- No Silver Bullets: Five Small Shifts that will Transform Your Ministry (Daniel Im)
- None Like Him: 10 Ways God is Different from Us (And Why That’s a Good Thing) (Jen Wilkin)
- Not God Enough: Why Your Small God Leads to Big Problems (J.D. Greear)
- Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool)
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business (Charles Duhigg)
- The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact (Chip Heath and Dan Heath)
- Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (Tim Keller)
- Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager (Kory Kogon, Suzette Blakemore, and James Wood)
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (Susan Cain)
- Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (David Epstein)
- The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World (John Mark Comer)
- Secrets of a Secret Shopper: Reaching and Keeping Church Guests (Greg Atkinson)
- Servanthood as Worship (Nate Palmer)
- The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-by-Step-Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service (Jeff Toister)
- The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life (Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements)
- The Soul Winner (Charles Spurgeon)
- Sticky Leaders: The Secret to Lasting Change and Innovation (Larry Osborne)
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (Chip Heath and Dan Heath)
- Ten Words to Live By: Delighting in and Doing What God Commands (Jen Wilkin)
- Think Like a Rocket Scientist: Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life, Ozan Varol
- Toxic Church: How to Recognize—and Overcome—Burnout and Unhealthy Staff Culture (Janetta Oni)
- Transformative Friendships: 7 Questions to Deepen Any Relationship, Brad Hambrick
- Unlocking Your Church’s Invite Culture: Strategies for Church Growth That Work Today, Rich Birch
- Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect, Will Guidara
- Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen (Dan Heath)
- The Volunteer Effect: How Your Church Can Find, Train, and Keep Volunteers Who Make a Difference (Jason Young and Jonathan Malm)
- The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb (Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel)
- Welcome: Loving Your Church By Making Space for Everyone (Jen Oshman)
- What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done (Matt Perman)
- What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: Unlocking Consumer Decisions with the Science of Behavioral Economics (Melina Palmer)
- When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Daniel Pink)
- The Wisdom of Crowds (James Surowiecki)
- Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder (Chip Conley)
- Write Better: A Lifelong Editor on Craft, Art, and Spirituality (Andrew T. Le Peau)
- You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit (James K.A. Smith)
See all the Top Ten Quotes books on Amazon:
Disclaimer: FTC watchdogs will probably want you to know that the authors represented did not ask for this endorsement, nor did they provide me with free swag in order to do so (unless specifically mentioned otherwise on the particular page). I’m just a really satisfied customer who wants to let you know where you can get some great products. So there. Further, if you order a resource from a link on any “Top Ten Quotes” page, I may receive a small affiliate commission from Amazon. If that bugs you, feel free to bypass my link and buy from a vendor of your choice. But still: buy it. I only promote books that have benefitted me and that I believe will benefit you.