The Everyday Leader's Journal

Learn To Lead: 14 Best Free Leadership Resources

Written by Michelle Bennett | May 9, 2023 9:30:00 AM

What do the best leaders do? They never stop learning. The fundamental shifts in the last couple of years in where we work, how we work, and employees' expectations of their leaders require continual upskilling to keep pace. So, if you’re looking to up your leadership game with fresh insights or are new to management and looking to learn to lead, you’ve come to the right spot.

These outstanding (and free!) leadership resources offer plenty of valuable takeaways. Develop your leadership skills and build your knowledge with these guides and blogs to read, videos and webinars to watch, and podcasts to listen to.

 

 

14 Best Free Leadership Resources

  1. How to Be a Leader: Lessons on Leadership 
  2. The Free 30-Day Leadership Challenge
  3. What Makes a Great Leader?
  4. The Guide to Giving Feedback
  5. The First-Time Supervisors and Managers Guide
  6. Leadership Skills Bootcamp
  7. How to Be a Great Leader Playlist
  8. Leadership Webinars 
  9. Leadership Hub
  10. Work Life: Articles on Leadership
  11. Leadership + Management
  12. Leadership Blog
  13. Inspire Podcast
  14. 20 Best Leadership Podcasts

 

Guides To Bookmark

Are you looking for a quick read on a specific topic or general insight to help you learn to lead? We’ve curated five favorite guides that inspire, build knowledge, and deliver practical advice.

 

How To Be a Leader: Lessons on Leadership from HubSpot Co-Founder Dharmesh Shah - HubSpot

This first guide recommendation is a compilation of insightful leadership lessons from HubSpot’s co-founder, Dharmesh Shah. In this inspiring guide, you’ll learn how to lead in a way that your team members feel truly valued and appreciated. In addition, you’ll gain lessons on confidence, leading by example, and more.

 

THE FREE 30-DAY LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE - Niagara Institute

This is the guide for you if you want to gain practical knowledge and skills using a clearly defined learning roadmap. The team at Niagara Institute created it to help leaders to take their leadership skills to the next level. It’s a self-paced challenge that contains a daily micro-lesson, an article to read, and an action item to complete.

 

What Makes a Great Leader? - Officevibe

The team at Officevibe crafted a comprehensive overview guide exploring the qualities of a great leader. The guide covers three laws all leaders must follow, the ten leadership skills all leaders need to hone, and the subtle differences between management and leadership.

 

The Guide to Giving Feedback That People Actually Want - Verity International

Leaders at all levels and tenures can need help with giving constructive feedback. In this practical guide, created by Niagara Institute’s partner, Verity, you’ll walk away with helpful tips for handling various scenarios leaders find themselves in when delivering feedback at work.

 

The First-Time Supervisors and Managers Guide - Niagara Institute

Making the change from being led by a supervisor to leading your peers as their supervisor can be one of the biggest challenges of your career. To prepare new managers for the leadership transition, the team at Niagara Institute created a guide outlining the common mistakes made by new leaders, the hard truth about leadership, and the new skills and behaviors needed to succeed in management.

 

 

Videos and Webinars To Watch

Even if you only have a brief gap in your schedule, you can make the most of it and learn to lead with a short topical leadership skills video, a playlist of some of the greatest TED Talks, or an on-demand webinar.

 

Leadership Skills Bootcamp Series - Eagle’s Flight

Niagara Institute’s partner, Eagle’s Flight, created a 10-video series that deliver practical and applicable leadership tips and knowledge in under three minutes. These highly engaging videos help you learn to lead by covering topics on teams, communication, time management, empowerment, and decision-making, to name a few.

 

How To Be a Great Leader Playlist - TED

TED Talks created a playlist to address a fundamental question, “What makes a great leader?” In this series of 12 TED talks, you’ll hear from some of the most outstanding thought leaders on the topic of leadership. They will take you behind the curtains of what leadership really is and how you can hone your leadership skills to become a great leader.

 

Leadership Webinars - Hone

Hone has compiled ten timely webinars to help managers elevate their leadership. These webinars, which you can watch at your convenience, cover topics such as leading your people in crises, having a stress-free performance review session, and building a thriving culture during turbulent times. 

 


Blogs to Follow

Get leadership insights and resources delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing to one (or all) of these insightful blogs that focus on helping you to learn to lead.

 


Leadership Hub - Indeed

Indeed, the number one job site in the world has a whole blog focused on timely and topical articles on leadership. With a frequent publishing schedule covering topics such as the future of work and diversity and inclusion, to name a few, subscribing to this blog will be sure to have your inbox frequently filled with the latest thinking on leadership.

 

Work Life: Articles on Leadership - Atlassian

The Work Life blog at Atlassian promises to “Show you how to lead with focus, communicate with empathy, and inspire transformational work among your team.” With practical and focused articles delivered to your inbox twice a month, what’s not to love about this free leadership resource?

 

Leadership + Management - Career Contessa

The leadership and management section of the Career Contessa blog is full of practical advice for new leaders. Their website and blog are geared towards women, with their mission being to “help working women be more fulfilled, healthy, and successful at work.” Outside their plentiful blog, they have free downloads, webinar recordings, podcasts, and more.

 

Leadership Blog - Trello

Trello, a well-known tool for team collaboration and productivity, has compiled an expansive collection of tips and tricks on its blog for leaders. Focusing on motivating and leading happy and productive teams, they leave readers with practical solutions to universal challenges leaders face.



Leadership Podcasts to Subscribe To

Podcasts are a great solution to improve your leadership skills while engaging in other activities. Check out these podcasts to play the next time you’re out for a walk or on a long drive.

 

Inspire Podcast - The Humphrey Group/Bart Egnal

With the goal of “helping listeners influence and lead others every time they speak,” the Inspire Podcast should be your go-to for everything leadership communications. The podcast is hosted by The Humphrey Group, a Niagara Institute partner that delivers the wildly popular program Speaking as a Leader. So if you want to amplify your impact and inspire those around you, this podcast is for you.

 

20 Best Leadership Podcasts - Audible

If you’re looking for variety, Audible has compiled a list of 20 podcasts leaders should be listening to. Their recommendations cover women in leadership, company culture, business advice, leadership stories, and more.