Lead Like a CEO: The 10 Best Leadership Books for Women Today

Are you an ambitious woman who wants to lead with impact, confidence, and purpose. Strong leadership can help you be more strategic and drastically increase your (and others’) performance. Female leadership matters.

Here are the best leadership books for women who want to be future CEOs, effective leaders, and female founders. These female leadership books offer lessons from some of the most famous female leaders. They can help you climb the corporate ladder, make meaningful connections, and lead daringly.

Here are the best books on female leadership – and how they can help you lead like a CEO.

Top 10 Leadership Books for Women in 2025

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg

Summary: Facebook’s former COO, Sheryl Sandberg, asks us if we could be unintentionally holding ourselves back in our careers. Using personal stories and practical advice, Sheryl can help us take risks and be more engaged at work and believe in ourselves.

How this book can help you lead better: This book will empower you to ask for a raise, promotion, or equal pay.

Radical Candor by Kim Scott

Summary: Kim Scott is a former manager at Google and Apple, and a CEO coach to Silicon Valley. Radical Candor draws directly on her experiences at these companies to reveal a groundbreaking approach to effective management. Great bosses have a strong relationship with their employees. Scott offers a leadership and communication framework for honest and direct feedback while keeping genuine empathy for team members.

How this book can help you lead better: learn how to be a kickass boss without losing your humanity.

The Confidence Code by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman

Summary: Working women today are better educated and more well-qualified than ever before. But research has shown that women are much less confident than men in the workplace, and Claire Shipman and Katty Kay believe it is why men still dominate the corporate world. They combine cutting-edge research in genetics, gender, behavior, and cognition—with examples from their own lives and those of other successful women in politics, media, and business—to offer inspiration and practical advice women need to close the gap and achieve the careers they want and deserve.

How this book can help you lead better: Be as confident as your male counterparts to own your careers.

Dare to Lead by Brené Brown

Brené Brown is a social worker, podcast host, and one of the most revered female motivational speakers. She has written one of the best leadership books for women. She helps today’s leaders have tough conversations and lead daringly. The main principles of daring leadership are vulnerability, value, trust, and the ability to rise wholeheartedly.

How this book can help you lead better: Be more daring and vulnerable to create deeper and more meaningful relationships at work and home.

When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin

Summary: CNBC’s reporter, Julia Boorsti, dives deep into the top characteristics of female leaders and executives. She shares over 60 stories from female CEOs and leaders (including Katrina Lake, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Whitney Wolfe Herd). She gathers fascinating insights on how women run companies and how influential women lead. She discovered female leaders who thrived shared key commonalities that made them uniquely equipped to lead, grow businesses, and navigate crises.

How this book can help you lead better: Help you tap into your unique leadership qualities and learn from other famous female leaders to thrive.

Playing Big by Tara Mohr

Summary: In her coaching and programs for women, Tara Mohr saw how women were “playing small” in their lives and careers, were frustrated by it, and wanted to “play bigger.” She devised a plan for women to play big from the inside out. Playing Big provides real, practical tools to help women quiet self-doubt, identify their callings, “unhook” from praise and criticism, unlearn counterproductive good girl habits, and begin taking bold action.

How this book can help you lead better: Think big and be bold to have a creative and meaningful career and life.

What to Read Next? Why Women Need to Stop Playing Small in Business

The Making of a Manager by Julie Zhuo

Summary: Congratulations, you’re a manager! What now? That’s exactly how Julie Zhuo felt when she became a rookie manager at the age of 25. She now had to hire, fire, pitch, plan, and face thousands of uncertainties. Now, having managed teams spanning tens to hundreds of people, Julie knows the most important lesson of all: great managers are made, not born. The Making of a Manager is a modern field guide packed with everyday examples and transformative insights.

How this book can help you lead better: Get insights to manage an everyday task like interviewing, build trust, and navigate uncertainty.

Executive Presence by Sylvia Ann Hewlett

Summary: You can have the experience and qualifications of a leader, but without executive presence, you won’t advance. Executive presence is an amalgam of qualities that true leaders exude, a presence that telegraphs you’re in charge or deserve to be. Filled with eye-opening insights, analysis, and practical advice for women, mixed with illustrative examples from executives learning to use the EP, Executive Presence will help go from working like an executive to feeling like an executive.

How this book can help you lead better: Develop a presence and gravitas that will earn you an executive status.

Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois P. Frankel

Summary: Internationally recognized executive coach Lois P. Frankel reveals a distinctive set of behaviors that women learn in girlhood that ultimately sabotage them as adults. She teaches you how to eliminate these unconscious mistakes that could be holding you back and offers invaluable coaching tips that can easily be incorporated into your social and business skills. Stop making “nice girl” errors that can become career pitfalls. This is one of the best leadership books for women, especially “nice girls.”

How this book can help you lead better: Let go of the nice girl errors and embrace confidence, assertiveness, and negotiation skills to skyrocket your career.

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown

Summary: Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we dared to step into the arena – whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, a creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.

How this book can help you lead better: Be more courageous and vulnerable to be seen and create connections.

More Books for Ambitious Women?

michelle obama, author of one of the best leadership books for women

Ambition is what drives progress and change – these books for ambitious women can help you tap into yours. If you want to craft the right mindset, get gritty, build unbreakable confidence, and be a true visionary, grab a copy of one of these books for ambitious women.

Young and Restless by Mattie Kahn

Young and restless seems like a potent combination, especially if you are an ambitious woman. This ground-breaking and highly acclaimed book shares how women have shaped and built the foundation for some of America’s most historic moments.

Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

In her groundbreaking book, Carol Dweck explores and popularizes the term “growth mindset.” She encourages us to challenge our fundamental assumptions about our capabilities and see how we can grow and reach new heights by developing a growth mindset.

Becoming by Michelle Obama

This is one of the greatest self-improvement books for women. The former first lady shares her remarkable story about how to find your voice in a discriminatory society and emerge strong, fearless, and confident, making it one of the greatest books for ambitious women.

What to Read Next? 12 Brilliant Books for Ambitious Women

Who Are The Most Famous Female Business Leaders?

Reading some of the most acclaimed leadership books for women can offer insights into how you can lead better. Learning about famous business leaders and their revolutionary messages can also help you succeed. So who are some powerful female leaders and what can we learn from them?

Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg is the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Facebook (now Meta Platforms). Sandberg was the first woman to serve on Facebook’s board of directors and wants to help other women embrace their ambitions, having written the cultural sensation Lean In, and founding the non-profit and one of the best networking groups for women, Lean In.

Leadership Lessons from Sheryl Sandberg: Sheryl is considered a good leader because of her ability to inspire, mentor, and empower others. She’s known for setting high expectations, recognizing talent, and pushing for growth, both personally and professionally.

Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is one of the most inspiring women in business, a media mogul, and a sleep warrior with an impressive net worth of $100 million. She is also a best-selling author, having authored over 10 books.

Leadership Lessons from Arianna Huffington: Her journey is both authentic and inspiring – she constantly reinvents and challenges herself personally and professionally.

Julie Sweet

Image credit: Julie Sweet at the World Economic Forum by World Economic Forum is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Julie Sweet is one of TIME’s most influential people and Forbes‘s most powerful women. In 2015, she was appointed CEO of Accenture’s North America business, the company’s largest market. Her strategic vision and leadership led to her historic appointment as Accenture’s global CEO in September 2019, making her the first woman to hold this position.

Leadership Lessons from Julie Sweet: She has helped Accenture through multiple digital transformations while focusing on sustainability and inclusivity. She continues to lead through the AI revolution, effectively combining technology and leadership.

Sara Blakely

Image credit: Sara Blakely by TechCrunch is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Sara Blakely transformed a simple frustration into a billion-dollar enterprise. Frustrated with traditional undergarments and hosiery, she invested $5,000 of her savings to develop a new kind of undergarment – Spanx. In March of 2012, Founder Sara was named the world’s youngest, self-made female billionaire by Forbes Magazine and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People.

Leadership Lessons from Sara Blakely: Sara Blakely not only embraces failure, but encourages it. She is also celebrated for her unrelenting positivity, resilience, and problem-solving skills. She is one of the most inspiring women in business today.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah’s net worth of $2.8 billion is a testament to her vision, authenticity, and entrepreneurial acumen. Oprah’s career began in local radio and television news in Nashville and Baltimore. In 1984, she moved to Chicago to host “AM Chicago,” a morning talk show. Within months, the show’s ratings soared, and it was renamed “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Over 25 years, Oprah transformed her talk show into a cultural phenomenon, addressing topics ranging from self-improvement to social justice.

Leadership Lessons from Oprah Winfrey: Throughout her career, Oprah has taught us about the power of authenticity, doing good, and being a true visionary.

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life because you become what you believe.” – Oprah Winfrey

The Importance of Female Leadership (It Starts With You)

Female leadership isn’t just important — it’s essential. When more women lead, businesses thrive, innovation accelerates, and teams perform better. But beyond the data and bottom lines, the real impact of female leadership is cultural. It challenges outdated norms, brings diverse voices to the table, and reshapes what power and success look like.

Leadership books for women are more than reading material — they’re tools for transformation.

Whether you’re climbing the ladder, launching your own business, or redefining your leadership style, remember this: your perspective is powerful. Your voice matters. And the world needs more female leaders — starting with you.

FAQS: Books about Female Leadership

What is the best book to read on leadership?

There are countless female leadership books out there, but one standout is “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown. With a focus on courage, vulnerability, and authenticity, it’s a must-read for anyone who wants to lead with heart and strength. “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg and “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott are also some of the best leadership books for women to read.

What is the number 1 leadership trait?

Leadership starts with self-awareness. Only once you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses can you improve. Awareness is the number one leadership trait, which inspires growth and development.

What are the 3 traits of great leaders, according to Simon Sinek?

Simon Sinek, leadership expert and author of Start With Why, often highlights these three core traits of great leaders:

Empathy – Understanding and caring about the people you lead.
Courage – The willingness to take risks and speak the truth.
Vision – A clear sense of purpose that inspires others to follow.
These traits are reflected in many of the best books on female leadership today.

Who is the most inspiring female leader?

There are many inspiring women leading across industries, but Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, is often cited for her empathetic and decisive leadership style. In business, leaders like Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, and Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder of Bumble, are widely recognized for breaking barriers and redefining leadership for women.

Which leadership style is preferred by females?

Research shows that women often lean toward transformational leadership — a style that focuses on collaboration, mentorship, emotional intelligence, and leading by example. This style tends to foster inclusive, innovative environments and is increasingly valued in modern workplaces.

Are leaders born or made?

While some people may have natural leadership tendencies, great leaders are made through experience, learning, and personal growth. That’s why leadership books for women are so important — they provide the tools, strategies, and inspiration needed to grow into strong, confident leaders.