10 Best Business Strategy Books For Midmarket IT Leaders To Level Up In 2025
From ways to become a more appreciative leader to leading in the new age of artificial intelligence, there is a book here for any IT leader looking to expand their skill set.
As the year closes out, many start working on their goals for the new year. For IT leaders, those goals may include bolstering their skills to become more effective leaders and build high-performing teams.
Through scouring LinkedIn and a variety of online book review platforms, MES Computing narrowed down 10 books that midmarket IT leaders can use to level up their business strategy and leadership skills going into 2025.
The books’ topics range from focusing on more “softer skills” like ways to become a more appreciative leader to leading in the new age of artificial intelligence. These books cover myriad subject areas and offer advice from top leadership coaches and tech executives.
10 Best Business Strategy Books For Midmarket IT Leaders
AI Leadership Handbook: A Practical Guide to Turning Technology Hype into Business Outcomes
(Reflek Publishing, 2024)
This book written by Andreas Welsch, an AI thought leader and adviser who held global leadership positions at SAP, according to his bio, is all about directing an organization’s AI strategy.
With interviews and advice from 60 AI leaders and experts, Welsch dives into several subjects surrounding AI and leadership including: taking a product-centric approach to building AI applications, managing employees’ expectations of AI (including worries about job security), avoiding AI money pits, and more useful guidance.
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters
(Penguin Publishing Group, 2020)
While not a book focused on technology, the subject is about developing more productive interpersonal relationships whether at a cocktail party or in a conference room. Written by Priya Parker, the host and executive producer of the New York Times podcast, Together Apart, Parker’s years as a conflict resolver, facilitator, and strategic adviser, have led to thousands of accolades for this book, from those seeking advice in their personal and professional lives. Parker explores how to bring people together in a positive and impactful way.
“Enthusiastically delivered formulas for better get-togethers… useful to those whose job it is to plan meetings, conferences, and the like and a worthy survival manual for consumers of the same.,” Kirkus Reviews said of Parker’s book.
Chief Inspiration Officer: How to Lead the Team Everyone Wants to Be On
(Amplify Publishing, 2021)
Described as a “leadership playbook,” author Val Ries, a culture expert and leadership trainer, offers insight into how to make teams loyal, engaged and productive. Ries also provides advice on being an inspirational leader, how to have difficult conversations with team members, and how to make the right hires.
(Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2022)
Author Raji Rajagopalan shares her account of becoming a woman leader in tech. From being a self-described “scrawny, motherless child” to becoming the VP of product in AI platform at Microsoft and a UN global speaker, Rajagopalan shares her insight. She gives advice to women and underrepresented people in tech on “how to deal with difficult people, how to calm meeting nerves, how to get their voice out, how to silence their inner critic, how to make good career decisions ... and so on.”
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
(Random House, LLC, 2014)
There is a reason why this New York Times bestseller by podcaster and business commentator Greg McKeown has sold more than two million copies – it gives eye-opening insight into how to achieve more by doing less.
The book makes the case that essentialism isn’t just about time management, but about how to discern what is absolutely essential to get done – a goal which all business leaders can benefit from.
It's Not the Tech: Leadership Lessons from the I.T. Field
(Richard Blalock, 2024)
Author Richard Blalock is a technology executive with more than two decades of experience in IT. In this book, Blalock explores “the real issues plaguing and handicapping organizations globally - issues that go far beyond the technology itself,” according to a blurb on the book. The author doles out advice though anecdotes about his own career in IT. “Throughout my career, I’ve navigated various roles and environments, from managing a one-person IT department to being part of small teams and working in large, complex enterprise settings. This journey has brought me face-to-face with a myriad of interesting, difficult, frustrating, and sometimes humorous situations, many of which I share within these pages,” he writes.
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't
(Portfolio/Penguin, 2014)
Simon Sinek’s bestseller "helps leaders unlearn the mistakes of the past in order to make a positive change in today’s world of business,” according to a Sinek’s website.
“A brilliant read, easy to understand and full of ideas and examples that really make you reflect on your leadership actions and styles,” an Amazon reviewer wrote.
In 2017, the book was updated to include guidance on leading Millennials.
(Harper Business, 2020)
Proclaimed “apostles of appreciation” and bestselling authors Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick contend that expressing gratitude is key to successful leadership.
“The expression of gratitude for employees' efforts—when the acknowledgement is authentic, specific, and timely—can be a huge motivation and productivity booster especially during tough times,” the authors write and share eight strategies on how to become a more appreciative leader.
Tech Leadership: The Blueprint for Evolving from Individual Contributor to Tech Leader
(Base Two Publishing, 2023)
Author Andrew Swerdlow has held leadership roles at Google, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, and has been awarded more than 35 patents, according to his online bio.
With his book, Swerdlow offers a guide to more impactful tech leadership and includes insider secrets from the top tech companies, how to build your mentorship capacity, better ways to collaborate and more—all from a tech leader’s perspective.
Tech Leadership Unlocked: Insights from the Frontlines
(Independently published, 2024)
The book’s author, Ari Volcoff, began his tech career as a software engineer, eventually becoming a CTO. This book is ideal for aspirational tech leaders who want to ascend to the highest levels of tech leadership.
Volcoff details several strategies (with flowcharts, in line with his engineering background) including how to build and lead high-performing teams, defining a technology strategy and vision, and ensuring stakeholder buy-in.