This is the 3×5 Leadership reading list – a compilation of the books that have impacted our development the most across our favorite subjects to read about. The list serves an option of recommendations others can consider. We are all shaped by the books we read and we don’t believe one list is objectively right, the best, or better than any other list. Our hope is that these books can impact you the way they have us.
This is a “living” list; it will continue to evolve and grow as we keep reading. So, come back and routinely check out the list for updates.
Within each category, books are listed in order of recommended preference, with the top book in the category being our top recommendation. If there is a book not on here that you believe should be, be patient; we likely have not gotten to reading it yet!
The 3×5 Leadership Reading List
Leader Development
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, by Stephen R. Covey
- The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, by Daniel Coyle
- The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You, by John Maxwell
- Leading with Gratitude: Eight Leadership Practices for Extraordinary Business Results, by Adrian Gostick & Chester Elton
- How to Win Friends & Influence People, by Dale Carnegie
- The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, by Michael Bungay Stanier
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni
- It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership, by Colin Powell
- Herding Tigers: Be the Leader Creative People Need, by Todd Henry
- Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude, by Raymond M. Kethledge & Michael S. Erwin
Military Leadership
- Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by L. David Marquet
- Leadership Is Language: The Hidden Power of What You Say — and What You Don’t, by L. David Marquet
- Leaders: Myth and Reality, by GEN (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal
- Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead, by Jim Mattis & Bing West
- Taking the Guidon: Exceptional Leadership at the Company Level, by Nate Allen & Tony Burgess
- Small Unit Leadership: A Commonsense Approach, by COL (Ret.) Dandridge M. Malone
- Common Sense Training: A Working Philosophy For Leaders, by LTC (Ret.) Arthur S. Collins, Jr.
- A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service, by Robert M. Gates
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead and Win, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
- Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, by Stanley McChrystal
Military History
- This Kind of War: A Study in Unpreparedness, by T. R. Fehrenbach
- Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor, by Clinton Romesha
- Black Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle of Death, by Jim Frederick
- An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, by Rick Atkinson
- East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950, by Roy Appleman
- The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education, by Craig M. Mullaney
- Carved From Granite: West Point Since 1902, by Lance Betros [for USMA graduates]
Fiction
- Once an Eagle, by Anton Myrer
- Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae, by Steven Pressfield
- Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
- Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution, by P. W. Singer & August Cole
- The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
- Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
- Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, by P. W. Singer & August Cole
- One Second After, by William R. Forstchen
Understanding the Human Condition & Human Growth
- Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, by Brene Brown
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck
- Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, by Malcolm Gladwell
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg
- Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World, by Bob Goff
Other Nonfiction
- LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media, by P. W. Singer & Emerson T. Brooking
- Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, by Donald Miller
- Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization, by Parag Khanna
- Superpower: Three Choices for America’s Role in the World, by Ian Bremmer
- The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder, by Peter Zeihan
- Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, by P. W. Singer
- Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War, by Paul Scharre