Maybe your career hasn’t started with the bang you were hoping for. Or maybe it did, but that was years ago—and now you’re feeling stuck. Either way, if you’re wondering how to unleash your full potential at work (or anywhere else), the five books below offer science-backed, experience-tested tips to finally make it happen.
Hyperefficient: Optimize Your Brain to Transform the Way You Work
By Mithu Storoni
Drawing on the latest research, a University of Cambridge-trained physician shows us how to seamlessly shift our brains into the best gear for the tasks we need to be doing, so we can perform at our best throughout the day, every day. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mithu Storoni, in the Next Big Idea App
Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success
By Molly Fletcher
In a world fixated on fleeting success, a renowned keynote speaker, podcast host, and entrepreneur invites you to challenge the status quo and redefine your understanding of drive so that you can achieve greater fulfillment and purpose-driven success. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Molly Fletcher, in the Next Big Idea App
LIT: Life Ignition Tools: Use Nature’s Playbook to Energize Your Brain, Spark Ideas, and Ignite Action
By Jeff Karp
The founder of a Harvard biomedical engineering innovation lab shares radically simple experimental tools to help anyone tap into a high-energy brain state to fire up innovative potential and shape their lives with intention. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jeff Karp, in the Next Big Idea App
The Creativity Leap: Unleash Curiosity, Improvisation and Intuition at Work
By Natalie Nixon
Combining creativity tools and techniques with real-world stories of innovative people and businesses, The Creativity Leap is a provocation, an inspiration, and an invitation to unleash the innate creativity that lies within each of us. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Natalie Nixon, in the Next Big Idea App
Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder’s Formula for a Long and Useful Life
By Eric Weiner
A New York Times bestselling author follows in the footsteps of Benjamin Franklin, mining his life for inspiring and practical lessons in a book that’s part biography, part travelogue, part personal prescription. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Eric Weiner, in the Next Big Idea App
The Key Ideas in 15 Minutes
“If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books,” Roald Dahl once famously said. The only trouble is, reading even one book from cover to cover takes hours—and you may not have many hours to spare.
But imagine for a moment: What if you could read a groundbreaking new book every day? Or even better, what if you could invite a world-renowned thinker into your earbuds, where they personally describe the 5 key takeaways from their work in just 15 minutes?
With the Next Big Idea App, we’ve turned this fantasy into a reality. We partnered with hundreds of acclaimed authors to create “Book Bites,” short audio summaries of the latest nonfiction that are prepared and read aloud by the authors themselves. Discover cutting-edge leadership skills, productivity hacks, the science of happiness and well-being, and much more—all in the time it takes to drive to work or walk the dog.
Go Deeper with a Next Big Idea Club Membership
The Next Big Idea App is free for anyone to try—and if you love it, we invite you to become an official member of the Next Big Idea Club. Membership grants you unlimited access to Book Bites and unlocks early-release, ad-free episodes of our LinkedIn-partnered podcast. You also gain entry to our private online discussion group, where you can talk big ideas with fellow club members and join exclusive live Q&A sessions with featured authors.
For a more focused learning experience, we recommend a Hardcover or eBook Membership. Every few months, legendary authors and club curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink select two new nonfiction books as the must-reads of the season. We then send hardcover copies straight to your doorstep, or eBook versions to your favorite digital device. We also collaborate with the authors of selected books to produce original reading guides and premium video e-courses, 50-minute master classes that take you step by step through their most life-changing ideas. And yes, it’s all available through the Next Big Idea App.
Learn Faster, from the World’s Leading Thinkers
Whether you prefer to read, listen, or watch, the Next Big Idea is here to help you work smarter and live better. Wake up with an always-fresh Idea of the Day, the perfect shot of inspiration to go with your morning coffee. Then dive into one of our Challenges, hand-picked collections of Book Bites that form crash courses in subjects like communication, motivation, and career acceleration. Later, watch the playback of an interview with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt, or philosopher John Kaag. And be sure to check the “Events” tab in the app, so that you can join an upcoming live Q&A and personally chat with the next featured thought leader.
If you’re hoping to grow as a person or as a professional, we hope you’ll join us and tens of thousands of others who enjoy the Next Big Idea. Get started by downloading the app today!
