For the last several years Adm. James Stavridis and his co-author, R. Manning Ancell, have surveyed over two hundred active and retired four-star military officers about their reading habits and favorite books, asking each for a list of titles that strongly influenced their leadership skills and provided them with special insights that helped propel them to success in spite of the many demanding challenges they faced. The Leader's Bookshelf synthesizes their responses to identify the top fifty books that can help virtually anyone become a better leader.
Each of the works--novels, memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, management publications--are summarized and the key leadership lessons extracted and presented. Whether individuals work their way through the entire list and read each book cover to cover, or read the summaries provided to determine which appeal to them most, The Leader's Bookshelf will provide a roadmap to better leadership.
Highlighting the value of reading in both a philosophical and a practical sense, The Leader's Bookshelf provides sound advice on how to build an extensive library, lists other books worth reading to improve leadership skills, and analyzes how leaders use what they read to achieve their goals. An efficient way to sample some of literature's greatest works and to determine which ones can help individuals climb the ladder of success, The Leader's Bookshelf is for anyone who wants to improve his or her ability to lead--whether in family life, professional endeavors, or within society and civic organizations.
Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.) is a 1976 distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who spent over 35 years on active service in the Navy. He commanded destroyers and a carrier strike group in combat and served for seven years as a four-star admiral, including nearly four years as the first Navy officer chosen as Supreme Allied Commander for Global Operations at NATO. After retiring from the Navy he was the 12th dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He holds a PhD in international relations and was Chairman of the Board of the US Naval Institute. He is currently Vice Chairman, Global Affairs with The Carlyle Group; and serves as the 14th Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Rockefeller Foundation. He has written articles on global security issues for Time Magazine, Bloomberg Opinion, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Atlantic Magazine, Naval War College Review, and Proceedings and is the author or co-author of ten books, including 2034, The Leader's Bookshelf, and Destroyer Captain.
A former lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve with periods of active duty, R. Manning Ancell has worked in media for decades. The author of more than 200 articles in magazines, newspapers and journals, he has authored or co-authored six books, including Four-Star Leadership for Leaders and Who Will Lead? Senior Leadership in the United States Army. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with his wife.
