Five books about leadership

Here are some recommendations from some of the leaders in our cluster.

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

“The leadership demonstrated by Shackleton, which eventually led to the safe rescue of the entire crew nearly 20 months later is a great example of leadership. It is not the military-like leadership of a typical, traditional polar expedition. On the contrary, it exemplifies the value of having an empathetic yet strong, visionary yet realistic leader who is honest and sets an example for his team members. Worst case, if you don’t get leadership inspiration like me, it is still a really good book!” – Peter Jenkins, CEO at 4Subsea

In August 1914, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton boarded the Endurance and set sail for Antarctica, where he planned to cross the last uncharted continent on foot. In January 1915, after battling its way through a thousand miles of pack ice and only a day’s sail short of its destination, the Endurance became locked in an island of ice. Thus began the legendary ordeal of Shackleton and his crew of twenty-seven men. When their ship was finally crushed between two ice floes, they attempted a near-impossible journey over 850 miles of the South Atlantic’s heaviest seas to the closest outpost of civilization.

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t.

“His research team explored – across industries – what are the key success criteria to grow and to maintain profitable growth over decades. One of the key findings in these books – which resonate well with my belief in sound leadership – is the slogan “get the right people on the bus, and THEN find out what to do”. In other words, quality people is the single-most-important criteria for success.” – Arild Selvig, CEO of ZEG Power

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

“Dale Carnegie’s 1934 “How to Win Friends and Influence People” is an evergreen management classic. Still relevant. Something to stretch for.” – Managing Director of Miko Marine, Cato Stoll.

In How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie offers practical advice and techniques, in his exuberant and conversational style, for how to get out of a mental rut and make life more rewarding. His advice has stood the test of time and will teach you how to make friends quickly and easily; increase your popularity; persuade people to follow your way of thinking; enable you to win new clients and customers; become a better speaker, and boost enthusiasm among your colleagues. This classic book will turn your relationships around and improve your interactions with everyone in your life.

5 Levels of Leadership by John Maxwell

“I read John Maxwell´s «5 Levels of Leadership” back in 2015 prior to becoming an entrepreneur and co-founder of Optime Subsea. Maxwell describes five levels of leadership in the book. Since then, I have grown increasingly reliant on its simple model. John Maxwell says: “Why you lead and the way you lead is important. They define YOU, your leadership, and ultimately your contribution.”  – Jan-Fredrik Carlsen, CEO Optime Subsea

Through humor, in-depth insight, and examples, internationally recognized leadership expert John C. Maxwell describes each of these 5 stages of leadership. He shows you how to master each level and rise up to the next to become a more influential, respected, and successful leader.

Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World, by Harvard Business Review

“The book clearly states the importance of how leaders of both digital and traditional businesses acknowledge the opportunities and challenges of the Digital Transition.” – Morten Dalsmo Executive Vice President at SINTEF Digital

Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani show how reinventing the firm around data, analytics, and AI removes traditional constraints on scale, scope, and learning that have restricted business growth for hundreds of years. From Airbnb to Ant Financial, Microsoft to Amazon, research shows how AI-driven processes are vastly more scalable than traditional processes, allow massive scope increase, enabling companies to straddle industry boundaries, and create powerful opportunities for learning–to drive ever more accurate, complex, and sophisticated predictions.