Top Coaching books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Coaching books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Coaching

Understanding the concepts of Coaching starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success

Dweck, Ph. D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Effective Group Coaching: Tried and Tested Tools and Resources for Optimum Coaching Results

This book provides a foundation and practical perspective on group coaching―what it is and how it differs from one-on-one coaching and training, and includes ready-to-use tips and resources for coaches/practitioners in the development, implementation, and marketing of their own group coaching programs.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Coaching Questions: A Coach's Guide to Powerful Asking Skills

In this volume, master coach trainer Tony Stoltzfus joins with 12 other professional coaches to present dozens of valuable asking tools, models and exercises, then illustrates these coaching strategies with over 1,000 examples of penetrating questions.

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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Grit is the combination of passion and perseverance. It's about moving in a direction with consistency and endurance, like having a clear inner compass that guides all your decisions and actions. Dr. Angela Duckworth is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

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The Coaching Effect: What Great Leaders Do to Increase Sales, Enhance Performance, and Sustain Growth

Authors Bill Eckstrom and Sarah Wirth have spent a decade researching the activities, behaviors, and performance of leaders. After studying more than 100,000 coaching interactions in the workplace, primarily of sales teams, they have been able to determine how coaching affects team outcomes and growth. The authors share three critical performance drivers, along with the four high-growth activi…

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Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth

Helping others is a good thing. Often, as a leader, manager, doctor, teacher, or coach, it's central to your job. But even the most well-intentioned efforts to help others can be undermined by a simple truth: We almost always focus on trying to "fix" people, correcting problems or filling the gaps between where they are and where we think they should be. Unfortunately, this doesn't work well, …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Additional Coaching Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Coaching, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

The Prosperous Coach: Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients

Steve Chandler is a powerful motivational speaker who used his expertise to write his first book 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever. The book, which received the 1997 King Features Syndicate AudioBook of the Year Award, teaches interested individuals how to remove the barriers that keep them from realizing their dreams. Believing that anyone can become a highly energetic, …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

The coaching habit : say less, ask more & change the way you lead forever

In Michael Bungay Stanier's The Coaching Habit, coaching becomes a regular, informal part of your day so managers and their teams can work less hard and have more impact. Drawing on years of experience training more than 10,000 busy managers from around the globe in practical, everyday coaching skills, Bungay Stanier reveals how to unlock your peoples' potential. He unpacks sevenessential coac…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Unlocking Potential: 7 Coaching Skills That Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations Michael K. Simpson

It describes how to assist your people to execute their goals flawlessly. To do this you will need to give feedback that is effective in helping the person move forward, and not feel complacent. There is advice on how to tap into the talent so many people possess, and how this can be developed.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Coaching for Performance

Performance coaching, also known as high-performance coaching, is an ongoing process that aims to improve an employee's performance in the workplace. It's not about giving advice or being an expert though – it's about providing support as a performance coach, sharing feedback, and encouraging continuous improvement.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Coach the Person, Not the Problem: A Guide to Using Reflective Inquiry

This book will free coaches from the cult of asking the magical question by offering five essential practices of reflective inquiry: focus on the person, not the problem; summarize what is heard and expressed; identify underlying beliefs and assumptions; unwrap the desired outcome; and articulate insights and commitments. Using these practices, combined with a respectful and caring presence, h…

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Coaching for Performance Fifth Edition: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership UPDATED 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

An international bestseller, featuring the influential GROW model, this book is the founding text of the coaching profession. It explains why enabling people to bring the best out of themselves is the key to driving productivity, growth, and engagement. A meaningful coaching culture has the potential to transform the relationship between organizations and employees and to put both on the path …

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Specializations and Deeper Coaching Knowledge

You've got your basics in order – time to move on to some advanced and specialized concepts. Coaching is evolving every day, these books can help you master it.

The HeART of Laser-Focused Coaching: A Revolutionary Approach to Masterful Coaching

This book is different because it: Includes brilliant tools for beginner-to-seasoned coaches. Offers advanced techniques for developing powerful questions without any lists. Provides principles of human behavior that help you quickly identify what's really going on.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition

As an agile coach, you can help project teams become outstanding at agile, creating products that make them proud and helping organizations reap the powerful benefits of teams that deliver both innovation and excellence. More and more frequently, ScrumMasters and project managers are being asked to coach agile teams.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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Is your tech strategy falling short, or do you aspire to lead as a CTO? Are you facing challenges with your development team or becoming senior? I'm here to steer you to success. Leveraging my 25-year experience as CTO and developer, I focus on your professional growth through tailored mentorship. …

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Need help with data science and machine learning skills? I can guide you to the next level. Together, we'll create a personalized plan based on your unique goals and needs. Whether you want to build a strong portfolio of projects, improve your programming skills, or advance your career to the …

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I am a seasoned Marketing Executive with a proven track record of revenue growth, cross team collaboration and successful outcomes with experience scaling organizations from $1m to $350m+. Highlights of my career to date include: *A successful exit to Atlassian for $175M *Driving revenue growth, from $160M to $320M for …

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Do you want to speed up your career or successfully transition to the leadership role? Do you need to define the product strategy or expand the operations? Let's work together! MY EXPERIENCE: I have 15 years of experience in Tech including 12 years in Google; a tenured leader with experience …

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Hi, I'm Rick! With over 10 years as a Software Engineer at FAANG companies and startups, I specialize in Backend Distributed Systems and have a broad skill set in various technologies. I've also founded two startups. In the past, I mentored many engineers/non-engineers through work, volunteering, and bootcamps, focusing on …

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Welcome to Your Next Step in Information Security Mastery! In a field as dynamic and critical as information security, your journey from learning the ropes to mastering the domain requires more than just technical knowledge—it demands a roadmap tailored to your unique career aspirations and challenges. That's where I come …

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