Leadership development is a lifelong process. It is made possible with a quality that we spend a lifetime acquiring: self-awareness. People don't experience our intentions; they experience our behavior. It is a theme that runs through most of these titles.

Books like Helping People Change and The Power of Bad, have the power to change forever how we work with others and address the things that hold us back.

Grace is a tough concept to sell in today's environment. Grace looks at the bigger picture. It is not primarily concerned for the self. It does not rejoice in the downfall of others. It does not seek its own way. It is outwardly focused. We marginalize others when we insist on our rightness. The need for an outward focus is the underlying conclusion of these titles.

The biographies on this list are more than mere memoirs. They all provide insights into leading and how others have tried to make sense of the world. They all share their methods, their successes and failures, and the lessons they learned. Biographies provide, like no other genre, roadmaps and guardrails in a context that makes them relevant for our own lives. It's like having a mentor guide your journey.

When we get our thinking right, the success comes almost automatically.