Which Leadership Books Will Actually Help Your Gym Right Now?

Different gym owners need different leadership books.

In this episode of “Run a Profitable Gym,” Two-Brain founder Chris Cooper shares a simple plan to help you use the contents of any book to improve yourself and your business, and then he recommends specific books in each realm of leadership.

Self-Leadership (to go fast, go alone):

• “Think Like a Monk” by Jay Shetty
• “The Creative Act” by Rick Rubin
• “Courage Is Calling” by Ryan Holiday
• “Dare to Lead” by Brené Brown
• “The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield
• “Drive” by Daniel Pink

Team Leadership (to go far, go together):

• “Be the Unicorn” by William Vanderbloemen
• “Good to Great” by Jim Collins
• “Vivid Vision” by Cameron Herold
• “Leadershift” by John Maxwell

Peer Leadership (share the mission beyond your gym):

• “Influence” by Robert Cialdini
• “Building a StoryBrand” by Donald Miller
• “The Go-Giver” by Bob Burg and John David Mann
• “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie

Tribe Leadership (influence your community at scale):

• “The Wisdom of Joseph Campbell” by Michael Toms
• “The Dichotomy of Leadership” by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
• “Enchantment” by Guy Kawasaki
• “Resilience” by Eric Greitens
• “Tribes” by Seth Godin

Plus, from Feb. 9 to 13, 2026, only, Coop is giving away free digital copies of his 10 books for gym owners.

Go to Gym Owners United (linked below), DM him with your biggest challenge, and he'll send you the right book to start with.

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Gym Owners United

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1:56 - Your leadership diagnostic

6:31 - Self-leadership books

8:44 - Team leadership books

10:57 - Peer leadership books

11:58 - Tribe leadership books