There are already many selections of best business or management or leadership books available. So, why does it require another one? The answer is simple: because we did not like the other selections!

In fact, it is not always clear what criteria are being adopted to develop specific selections of titles, nor is it clear who is influencing such selections and for what reasons. Either way, we do not like the outcomes.

Leadership requires professional development and is, by its very nature, multi-faceted. Good leaders must develop a wide understanding, through both practice and theoretical learning, about domains like philosophy, psychology, management science, economics, history, political science, sociology - to name just a few. In addition, most leaders have already got a basic understanding of relevant areas, so the focus must be on writings that can provoke new and critical insights, and go beyond traditional wisdom. Finally, much of the prevalent literature is not sufficiently underpinned by credible academic research - and much of academic literature is obscure and unreadable.

So our intention is to provide a set of texts that we - and our invited experts - have found:

• Breaking new grounds: promoting or offering critical thinking on important leadership topics
• Credible: based on academic research or well-rounded theories
• Well-written: ideas are expressed in a way that the truly interested and curious reader can follow
• Caring: authors do not only offer a critical perspective, but a genuine desire to do good