Must-Read Books for Leaders in Tech & Cybersecurity

This isn’t just another list of “Top 10 Leadership Books” or recycled business advice.

These are the books I come back to over and over. These books helped me develop better habits, lead better teams, and make better decisions under pressure. Whether you're switching roles, building a team, scaling a company, or trying not to lose your mind, there's probably something here for you.

In my experience, some of the best problem-solving techniques often come from outside the cybersecurity industry. While these books aren't about cybersecurity, they've made me better at it.

I’ve grouped them by use case. If you’re in any of these situations, one of these might help.

For Getting Your Life Together

• Atomic Habits - The best system I’ve found for making real, lasting change without burning out.

For Process Optimization & DevOps (Read In This Order)

• The Goal - The OG operations book that shows how bottlenecks kill flow (incredibly useful for cybersecurity).

• The Phoenix Project - This book brings DevSecOps to life through a fictional IT disaster and the story of how the team turned it around.

• The DevOps Handbook - The tactical “how” behind the Phoenix Project’s story.

• War & Peace & IT - A broader look at why alignment between tech and the business matters more than tools.

For Starting a New Role or Defining Strategy

• The First 90 Days - Probably the best framework for onboarding into a leadership role. I revisited this one with each new job.

• The Art of War - Old-school strategy still applies to modern leadership and conflict. Still wildly relevant for business strategy and staying ahead.

For Building and Leading Great Teams

• Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility - How Netflix built a culture of ownership (and how you can do the same).

• Leading Change - Step-by-step on what it really takes to shift a culture. Don’t sleep on this one.

• Shoe Dog - Nike’s origin story, packed with raw, unfiltered leadership lessons.

• Leadership Strategy and Tactics - Practical leadership advice from the battlefield to the boardroom.

• Trillion Dollar Coach - What the best leaders at Google and Apple learned from one guy.

For Navigating Uncertainty and Turnarounds

• Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? - How IBM pulled off a comeback no one expected.

• Losing the Signal - The amazing rise and fall of Blackberry with lessons on what to avoid.

• Creativity, Inc. - Leading with vulnerability, trust, and creative freedom at Pixar.

For Getting Better at Negotiations

• Getting to Yes - The calm, logical approach to getting what you want.

• Never Split the Difference - Tactical negotiation moves from an FBI hostage negotiator.

For Entrepreneurship

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things - An honest take on what it actually feels like to build something from scratch.

• The Almanack of Naval Ravikant - Life, wealth, leverage, and thinking in decades.

• The Business of Expertise - How to turn what you know into how you make money.

• Company of One - Why growth for its own sake isn’t always the answer.

For Seeing the World Differently

• Talking to Strangers - How we constantly misread people and what it costs us.

• Factfulness - A hopeful (and data-backed) view of the world that cuts through the noise.

• The Tipping Point - Why small things (and the people behind them) often spark the biggest change.

Got a Recommendation?

I plan to keep this list updated as I find more great reads. If there’s a book that changed how you think, work, or think about leadership, please send it my way. I’m always up for reading something that matters.