The 12 Leadership Books Every Cleaning Business Owner Should Read

Excellent leadership skills lead to an excellent staff, which leads to a successful and profitable business. How then, can a cleaning business owner improve their leadership skills?

The answer: the right tools. There are many classes and specialists available, but that might not be the most economical choice for you. That is why we wanted to share with you some of our favorite leadership books.

These books have been an enormous help to us, and to make sure we've given you a well-rounded reading list, we've asked other successful business owners about their favorite leadership books. We've compiled a list of 12 fantastic leadership books.

The 12 Leadership Books Every Cleaning Business Owner Should Read

1. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. One of the top leadership books of all times, this book has helped multi-million dollar business owners, and even presidents, to make consistent and meaningful progress with their leadership goals.
2. Good to Great by Jim Collins. Jim Collins, a student of leadership, had a thirst for knowing what makes businesses great. Over a five year period, he studied twenty-eight successful companies. Good to Great shows what they have done to achieve greatness and how you can too.
   
   
3. Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute. It is easy to deceive ourselves. Unfortunately, doing so leads to self destructive behavior and reduced effectiveness. As leaders in the house cleaning business industry, it is vital to know if we're being honest with ourselves. Avoid self deception and enjoy a successful business.
   
   
4. Energy Leadership: Transforming Your Workplace and Your Life from the Core by Bruce Schneider. Energy Leadership shows us how to utilize energy, a precious resource in our business. Find out why cleaning technicians and clients behave the way they do and learn how to effectively communicate. Ineffective leaders deplete the energy of those around them; true leaders energize and inspire confidence, respect and loyalty from their employees.
   
   
5. The Leadership Challenge - Kouzes and Posner; E-Myth Revisited - Michael Gerber. The Leadership Challenge is based upon learnings from leaders at all levels--and shows how "regular people" can make a huge, positive difference in their organizations. It is written in a way that can help business owners, managers, supervisors, and even individual contributors--better understand how they can lead and immediately apply what they have learned in their work.
   
   
6. Uncommon Sense, Common Nonsense—Why Some Organizations Consistently Out Perform Others by Jules Goddard and Tony Eccles. Jules Goddard and Tony Eccles, business school professors, point out the need to understand the difference between conventional management and leadership tactics and a really strategic approach.
   
   
7. Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek. If you want to know how effective leaders behave toward subordinates—as in the case of cleaning business owners and their cleaning technicians—Leaders Eat Last will tell you. Learn how to foster cooperation, trust, and a team-spirit within your house cleaning business.
   
   
8. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni. The story of a CEO, who must unite her chaotic team to save her business. Learn how to develop the courage needed to take action. Figure out which one of the five types of dysfunction those around you are displaying and how to effectively deal with them.
9. Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable…About Solving the Most Painful Problems in Business by Patrick Lencioni. Bad meetings—the bane of every business. Nothing productive happens; no problems will be solved during a bad meeting. Instead, learn how to develop an engaging and supportive environment for your team meetings.
   
   
10. Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. A truly successful business is one that sees consistent growth, one that easily acquires new customers. Traction helps you figure out the best channel for growth for your house cleaning business.
     
11. What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful by Marshall Goldsmith. What helps a person in management become an effective leader, one who achieves their ultimate business goals? It could be as easy as remembering to say “thank you.” Start focusing on the details. It is the little things that add up to create an extraordinary leader.
    
    
12. The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations by James M. Kouzes. With examples from companies all over the globe, The Leadership Challenge will show you what your cleaning technicians want from their work and what they're looking for in a leader. Leadership can be learned, as long as it is nurtured.

Our Leadership Reading List Is Just the Tip Of The Iceberg

Our goal is to help our members achieve optimal success in their house cleaning business. We're sure with the information in the above books and with some of the tools available on our site; you will begin to see stronger leadership skills emerging before you know it!