A lesson: Managers select employees for talent and then treat employees differently in order to achieve their maximum performance potential.

2. Mavericks at Work
by William Taylor, Polly LaBarre, 2006

A lesson: As your ability to attract great people in your company rises, the responsibility to design conditions under which they can do great work increases.

3. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
by Jim Collins, 2001

A lesson: Create a company culture where people can be heard and where the truth can be heard.

4. Your Leadership Legacy: Why Looking Toward the Future Will Make You a Better Leader Today
by Robert M. Galford, Regina Fazio Maruca 2006

A lesson: Your legacy is the impact that you have in a given position based on a set of guiding principles you apply most consistently to your decisions.

5. Leadership for Everyone
by Peter J. Dean, 2005

A lesson: Active listening, which encompasses hearing what is being said, having an open mind, and recognizing tone of voice of person speaking, can lead to learning which can lead to better decision-making.

6. Now, Discover Your Strengths
by Marcus Buckingham, Donald O. Clifton, 2001

A lesson: Like Buckingham’s previous book, this argues that emphasis should be placed on building on strengths rather than correcting weaknesses.

7. The Leader Within: Learning Enough About Yourself to Lead Others
by Drea Zigarmi, Ken Blanchard, Michael O'Connor, and Carl Edeburn, 2004

A lesson: Leadership is learned and in order to be successful you must understand yourself, reflect, and act.

8. Success Built to Last: Creating a Life that Matters
by Jerry Porras, Stewart Emery, Mark Thompson, 2006

A lesson: You can achieve success by being so passionate about something that you would be willing to do it for free.

9. Great Leadership: What It Is and What It Takes in a Complex World

by Antony Bell, 2006

A lesson: A condition of great leadership is character, such as humility, focus and care for others, and competence such as people leadership.

10. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by Malcolm Gladwell, 2002

A lesson: To create positive change find connectors (social circle linkers), mavens (information and data experts), and salesmen (persuasive people).

11. How Great Leaders Get Great Results
by John Baldoni, 2005

A lesson: Leadership means getting things done, holding people accountable and rewarding them accordingly.