Many of us want to be good leaders.  To be one, we seek guidance from leadership coaches and experts.  We read books written by leadership gurus and professionals and even if we haven’t met them face to face, learning from their writings and books makes us feel being coached by them.

I am sharing with you my top ten favorite leadership gurus whose books and writings have influenced me in my struggle towards good leadership.

1. JOHN MAXWELL

John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold over 13 million books. His organizations have trained more than 2 million leaders worldwide. Dr. Maxwell is the founder of INJOY®, Maximum Impact, ISS and EQUIP. Every year he speaks to Fortune 500 companies, international government leaders, and organizations as diverse as the United States Military Academy at West Point and the National Football League. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell was one of 25 authors and artists named to Amazon.com’s 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Three of his books, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Developing the Leader Within You, and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader have each sold over a million copies.

2. ROBIN SHARMA

Robin Sharma is an internationally respected leadership expert and author who has worked with executives globally for over 10 years with exceptional results. Robin’s books on personal and professional mastery have sold millions of copies.

3. TOM PETERS

Fortune called Tom Peters the “Ur-guru” of management. The Economist tagged him the Uber-guru; and BusinessWeek’s take on his “unconventional views” led them to label Peters “business’s best friend and worst nightmare.”

4.  STEPHEN COVEY

Dr. Covey dedicates his life to teaching principle-centered living and leadership to individuals, families, and organizations. Holder of an MBA from Harvard and a doctorate degree from Brigham Young University, Dr. Covey is author of the international bestseller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, named the #1 Most Influential Business Book of the Twentieth Century, and other best sellers that include First Things First , Principle-Centered Leadership, and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families.

5.  MARCUS BUCKINGHAM

Marcus Buckingham is Internationally renowned and celebrated, He is the go-to consultant in his field, a sought-after speaker, and a New York Times bestselling author. Challenging accepted and entrenched social theory, Buckingham pioneered a revolutionary concept: that people will be dramatically more effective, successful, and fulfilled when they play to their strongest skills rather than attempting to improve their weaknesses.

Marcus Buckingham has dedicated his career to helping individuals discover and capitalize on their personal strengths. Hailed as a visionary by corporations such as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Master Foods, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, and Disney, he has helped to usher in the “strengths revolution,” persuasively arguing that people are dramatically more effective, fulfilled and successful when they are able to focus on the best of themselves.

6.  KEN BLANCHARD

Chief Spiritual Officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Dr. Marjorie Blanchard, founded in 1979 in San Diego, California. Ken is the Author of the Best Selling One Minute Manager Series that has sold Millions of copies around the world.

7.  WARREN BENNIS

Dr. Warren Bennis (Antioch College, Class of 1951) is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on organizational development, leadership and change. Since 1979, Dr. Bennis has served as University Professor and Distinguished Professor of the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. He considers that he has entered a truly generative stage in his life, one in which he pursues his greatest joy, writing, while also mentoring and taking pleasure in “people growing.”

8.  BRIAN TRACY

Brian Tracy is a recognized expert on business and leadership. He has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 40 other countries worldwide.

9.  MARSHALL GOLDSMITH

Marshall Goldsmith Partners LLC is a leadership development firm that delivers consistently superior executive coaching as well as other leadership development services to clients globally. We bring together the behavioral coaching expertise of Marshall Goldsmith, renowned executive coach, and the power of Katzenbach Partners LLC (KPL), a leading organizational performance consulting firm.

10. ANTHONY ROBBINS

Born February 29, 1960, is an American self-help writer and professional speaker. He became well known through the use of firewalking in his seminars. He initially studied Neuro-Linguistic Programming but went on to develop his own methods. He is now considered as the Leader of Leaders and the world’s best success coach.

I know you also have your own list of favorites and I invite you to share it with the other aspiring leaders by leaving your comments below this post.

Your friend,

Nimia Acebes