Being a great CEO starts with reading great books.

Sure, you can have a fancy degree, an MBA, and maybe you went a little crazy a got a Ph.D., but if you’re not a reader, you’re not a leader. I hated reading growing up. I blame the teachers who tried to force whack novels down my throat. But once I started to read for development, my life changed forever.

These three books should be required reading for every leader, especially the CEO:

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth About Extraordinary Results

CEOs are the executioners of a strategic vision and plan.

Without knowing what direction to head, a company flails its wings in the wind of mediocrity. However, when CEOs focus their attention on one big objective, miracles happen within their business. Everyone becomes aligned and focused.

The company begins to execute The One Thing that matters.

Less Is More

“In productive companies, the culture is the strategy.”

Jason Jennings compares productive companies with their evil, wasteful counterparts. He brings up great points that tend to get lost in the cycle of business.

You can easily translate his points into the guiding principles of your company.

Principles like setting a big objective (The One Thing), communicating truthfully, asking alignment questions, and turning every business process into a system of best practices designed to eliminate waste.

When you focus on less, a company CEO can achieve more.

The Road Less Stupid

Finding the right answer is never the problem.

“What keeps us stuck are inferior questions that produce tactical or unattractive choices.” A problem is an unanswered question. When you ask great questions, you get great answers.

As a CEO, it’s crucial you schedule think time to ask yourself critical questions about your company. The Road Less Stupid gives you an endless list of questions to start your brain dump session.

And as Peter Drucker said, “most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.”