The Essential Guide to Leadership for Small Business Leaders

Key Resources for Leadership

On My Quest for the Best, I’ve interviewed hundreds of published authors and business experts. 

Below I’ve summarized some of the best ideas, strategies, tactics, and tools in the area of leadership. 

Table of Contents

The Essential Guide to Leadership for Small Business Leaders

Use this table of contents to easily find helpful resources.

What is Leadership?

If individual contributions to an organization’s mission is productivity, and accomplishing objectives through prioritizing tasks, coordinating efforts, and measuring progress is management, then leadership is the realm of setting the vision for the company, communicating that vision to all stakeholders, building bench strength, and investing in the human and business assets to maximize their potential. 

As small business leaders, we learn to be more effective leaders by both models and mentoring, structures and experience, science and art. Academic studies inform us about effective communication skills. Organizational psychology describes how to structure a department or division effectively. The stories of successful business leaders, professional coaches, and historical figures – from Greek philosophers to religious teachers to military commanders to politicians and unelected heads of movements – all contribute to each of our personal leadership ethos, understanding, and practices.

Industry Leaders and Sources for Leadership

When Leadership is your priority, you will seek out articles and ideas from sources such as:

Sun Tzu, was a Chinese military strategist and philosopher whose influence reached western and asian strategies and philosophy.

His best-known book is:

Dale Carnegie was an American thought leader, author, and a developer of self-improvement, salesmanship, public speaking, and interpersonal skills.

His best-known books include:

Stephen Covey was an American author, Keynote Speaker, and business leader.

His best-known books include:

Napoleon Hill was an American self-help author.

His best-known book is:

Peter Drucker was an Austrian-American management consultant, author, and educator whose work served as one of the foundations of the modern business corporation.

His best-known books include:

Tom Peters is an American business and management expert and bestselling business author.

His best-known books include:

Ken Blanchard is a top business consultant, speaker, and author.

His best-known books include:

John Maxwell is a No.1 New York Times Bestselling author and an in-demand coach and speaker.

His best-known books include:

Jack Welch is an American business leader and author who served as chairman and CEO to General Electric.

His best-known books include:

Ray Dalio, the Founder, Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Bridgewater Associates, is an American hedge fund manager, investor, and author.

His best-known books include:

Jim Collins is a business management consultant, author, and researcher

His best-known books include:

Gary Hamel is a world-class management consultant who has worked with companies all over the globe. He founded Strategos, an international consulting firm.

His best-known books include:

John Kotter, is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. He is an author and one of the top international consultants in management, and is the founder of Kotter International, a top consulting firm based in Seattle and Boston.

His best-known books include:

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle professor of business at Harvard Business School, is an American author and thought leader whose work centered on corporate culture.

Her best-known books include:

Les McKeown is the CEO of Predictable Success and a business growth expert.

His best-known books include:

Dan Pink is a New York Times bestselling author and leader in business and management.

His best-known books include:

Brian Tracy is a Canadian-American motivational speaker, author, and on of the top specialist in training and development of companies and individuals.

His best-known books include:

Spencer Johnson was an American author and physician. His book ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ is a New York Times Bestseller.

His best-known books include:

John Wooden, the ‘Wizard of Westwood’ was an American basketball coach for the UCLA Bruins.

His best-known books include:

Lou Holtz was a former football player, a coach both in game, life, and business.

His best-known books include:

Leadership Resources on My Quest for the Best

On My Quest for the Best with Bill Ringle, the podcast for ambitious small business leaders, I have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting and learning from world-class authorities on the topic of Leadership. 

Featured Interviews – Leadership