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NOAA Corps Recommended Leadership Reading List

This reading list is designed to offer NOAA Corps officers recommended books related to leadership. This is not an all-inclusive list. The goal is to provide a starting point or expand existing knowledge and skills.

Selections from RADM Hann:

  • The Road to Character
    by David Brooks
  • Dare to Lead
    by Brene Brown
  • Leadership in Turbulent Times
    by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • Stillness is the Key
    by Ryan Holiday
  • Meditations: The Annotated Edition
    by Marcus Aurelius
  • Phosphorescence: A Memoir of Finding Joy When Your World Goes Dark
    by Julia Baird

Leading Self and Core Organizational Values:

  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
    by Stephen R. Covey
  • Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
    by Roger Fisher
  • Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
    by Simon Sinek
  • Can't Hurt Me
    by David Goggins
  • How Full Is Your Bucket?
    by Tom Rath

Leading Others:

  • Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons from the Great Antarctic Explorer
    by Margot Morrell
  • The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
    by Patrick Lencioni
  • First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently
    by Marcus Buckingham
  • Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
    by Carol Dweck
  • It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
    by Capt D. Michael Abrashoff

Leading Performance and Change:

  • Leading Change: An Action Plan from the World's Foremost Expert on Business Leadership
    by John P. Kotter
  • The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader
    by John Maxwell
  • The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell
    by Oren Harari
  • Shut Up and Lead: A Communicator's Guide to Quiet Leadership
    by M.J.Clark
  • Take the Reins!: 7 Secrets to Inspired Leadership
    by Shari Jaeger Goodwin

Leading Organizations:

  • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't
    by Jim Collins
  • Leading at The Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition
    by Dennis N. T. Perkins
  • Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead
    by Sheryl Sandberg
  • Stealth Coaching Everyday Conversations for Extraordinary Results
    by Rob Kramer
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. on Leadership: Inspiration & Wisdom for Challenging Times
    by Donald Phillips

Organizational heritage and the meaning of our work:

  • Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
    by Alfred Lansing
  • Matthew spanaine Maury, Father of Oceanography: A Biography, 1806-1873
    by John Grady
  • The Complete Art of War
    by Sun Tzu
  • The Founding Fathers on Leadership: Classic Teamwork in Changing Times
    by Donald T. Philips
  • Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character
    by ADM. James Stavridis

Situating NOAA in the modern world:

  • The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy
    by Scott E. Page
  • Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
    by Mark Kurlansky
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow
    by Daniel Kahneman
  • Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead
    by Jim Mattis and Bing West
  • The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
    by Atul Gawande

Promoting a Diverse and Inclusive Environment:

  • See the DE&I Recommended Reading List linked here.

Recommendations from the fleet:

A selection from calls for reading list recommendations that seem to be particularly important to Officers.
  • Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
    by Jocko Willink
  • Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders
    by L. David Marquet
  • Leaders Eat Last
    by Simon Sinek
  • Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
    by Angela Duckworth
  • My Own Words
    by Ruth Bader Ginsburg