The Top 22 Business Books of 2022
Magazine / The Top 22 Business Books of 2022

The Top 22 Business Books of 2022

Career Entrepreneurship
The Top 22 Business Books of 2022

2022 has been an amazing year for books of all kinds, and business books are no exception. And yet with so many great titles, where do you start?

At the Next Big Idea Club, we crunched the numbers to identify the business books that were loved most by our tens of thousands of app users. (Our curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink, and Adam Grant only pick each season’s two official selections.) So if you’re ready to sharpen your business acumen in 2023, check out the 22 books below.

Learn something new every day with “Book Bites,” 15-minute audio summaries of the latest and greatest nonfiction. Get started by downloading the Next Big Idea App today!

How to Make Work Not Suck: Honest Advice for People with Jobs by Carina Maggar

22. How to Make Work Not Suck: Honest Advice for People with Jobs

By Carina Maggar

In this straight-talking guide to the real world of work, discover genuinely useful advice that will help you find the confidence to go for that promotion, quit your job, break into that industry, nail that pitch, or climb over a creative brick wall. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Carina Maggar, in the Next Big Idea App

Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career By Jason Feifer

21. Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career

By Jason Feifer

The moments of greatest change can also be the moments of greatest opportunity. Adapt more quickly and use the power of change to your advantage with this guide from the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the Build for Tomorrow podcast. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jason Feifer, in the Next Big Idea App

How Big-Tech Barons Smash Innovation―and How to Strike Back by Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke

20. How Big-Tech Barons Smash Innovation―and How to Strike Back

By Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke

Two market experts deconstruct the drivers and inhibitors to innovation in the digital economy, explain how large tech companies can stifle disruption, and outline policy changes to take power away from big tech and return it to entrepreneurs. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Ariel Ezrachi and Maurice E. Stucke, in the Next Big Idea App

Converted: The Data-Driven Way to Win Customers' Hearts By Neil Hoyne

19. Converted: The Data-Driven Way to Win Customers’ Hearts

By Neil Hoyne

Google’s Chief Measurement Strategist and a Senior Fellow at the Wharton School offers a simple, research-backed playbook that anyone can use to find their best customers and develop relationships that last. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Neil Hoyne, in the Next Big Idea App

Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind by Andy Dunn

18. Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind

By Andy Dunn

Burn Rate is an unconventional entrepreneurial memoir, a parable for the twenty-first-century economy, and a revelatory look at the prevalence of mental illness in the startup community. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Andy Dunn, in the Next Big Idea App

Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source by Kathryn Judge

17. Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source

By Kathryn Judge

A finance expert, law professor, and fellow overwhelmed consumer investigates the surprising ways that middlemen have taken control of the economy at the expense of the rest of us, and provides practical guidance about how to regain control, find more meaning, and contribute to a more sustainable economy. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kathryn Judge, in the Next Big Idea App

Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good for Your Kids By Lara Bazelon

16. Ambitious Like a Mother: Why Prioritizing Your Career Is Good for Your Kids

By Lara Bazelon

In this captivating and radical look at work-life balance, an acclaimed law professor and mother reframes our understanding of working women—and shows how prioritizing your career benefits mothers, kids, and society at large. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Lara Bazelon, in the Next Big Idea App

How Creativity Rules the World: The Art and Business of Turning Your Ideas into Gold By Maria Brito

15. How Creativity Rules the World: The Art and Business of Turning Your Ideas into Gold

By Maria Brito

This timeless guide promises to make the creative process of successful seven-figure artists and billion-dollar entrepreneurs accessible and actionable, to help you to take the power of your ideas to the next level. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Maria Brito, in the Next Big Idea App

Moonshot: Inside Pfizer's Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible by Albert Bourla

14. Moonshot: Inside Pfizer’s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible

By Albert Bourla

A riveting, fast-paced, inside look at one of the most incredible private sector achievements in history, Moonshot recounts the intensive nine months in 2020 when the scientists at Pfizer created, tested, and manufactured a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine that previously would have taken years to develop. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Albert Bourla, in the Next Big Idea App

Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley by Carolyn Chen

13. Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley

By Carolyn Chen

We all want our jobs to be meaningful and fulfilling. Work Pray Code reveals what can happen when work becomes religion, and when the workplace becomes the institution that shapes our souls. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Carolyn Chen, in the Next Big Idea App

Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs By Jamie Fiore Higgins

12. Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs

By Jamie Fiore Higgins

Both a revealing, extraordinary look at the industry and a top Wall Streeter’s explosive personal story, Bully Market is an essential account of one woman’s experience in a flawed system that speaks to the challenge and urgency for change. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jamie Fiore Higgins, in the Next Big Idea App

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future By Sebastian Mallaby

11. The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future

By Sebastian Mallaby

From the bestselling author of More Money Than God comes the astonishingly frank and intimate story of Silicon Valley’s dominant venture capital firms—and how their strategies and fates have shaped the path of innovation and the global economy. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sebastian Mallaby, in the Next Big Idea App

Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It's Different Than You Think) by Reshma Saujani

10. Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think)

By Reshma Saujani

The founder of Girls Who Code and bestselling author of Brave, Not Perfect confronts the “big lie” of corporate feminism and presents a bold plan to address the burnout and inequity harming America’s working women today. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Reshma Saujani, in the Next Big Idea App

Trustworthy AI: A Business Guide for Navigating Trust and Ethics in AI by Beena Ammanath

9. Trustworthy AI: A Business Guide for Navigating Trust and Ethics in AI

By Beena Ammanath

The founder of Humans for AI delivers a straightforward and structured way to think about trust and ethics in AI, and offers practical guidelines for organizations developing or using artificial intelligence solutions. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Beena Ammanath, in the Next Big Idea App

Present Future: Business, Science, and the Deep Tech Revolution by Guy Perelmuter

8. Present Future: Business, Science, and the Deep Tech Revolution

By Guy Perelmuter

“Perelmuter draws upon his own experiences as a successful tech entrepreneur and investor, and the writings of dozens of other experts, to highlight the most important implications of multiple emerging technologies.” – Ben Casnocha, investor. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Guy Perelmuter, in the Next Big Idea App

Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate By Barry Nalebuff

7. Split the Pie: A Radical New Way to Negotiate

By Barry Nalebuff

From a leading Yale expert and serial entrepreneur comes a radical, principled, and field-tested approach that identifies what’s really at stake in any negotiation and ensures you get your half—so you can focus on growing the pie. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Barry Nalebuff, in the Next Big Idea App

Leading with Heart: Five Conversations That Unlock Creativity, Purpose, and Results by John Baird and Edward Sullivan

6. Leading with Heart: Five Conversations That Unlock Creativity, Purpose, and Results

By John Baird and Edward Sullivan

In this Wall Street Journal bestseller, two veteran executive coaches help today’s leaders learn how to retain and inspire their teams through the one thing their research has found works: leading with heart. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors John Baird and Edward Sullivan, in the Next Big Idea App

Build the Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business If You're Not a Rich White Guy by Kathryn Finney

5. Build the Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business If You’re Not a Rich White Guy

By Kathryn Finney

For all the Builders striving to build their businesses in a world that has overlooked and underestimated them: this is the essential guide to knowing, breaking, remaking, and building your own rules of entrepreneurship. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kathryn Finney, in the Next Big Idea App

See, Solve, Scale: How Anyone Can Turn an Unsolved Problem into a Breakthrough Success By Danny Warshay

4. See, Solve, Scale: How Anyone Can Turn an Unsolved Problem into a Breakthrough Success

By Danny Warshay

The Executive Director of Brown University’s Center for Entrepreneurship overturns the common misconception that entrepreneurship is a hard-wired trait or the sole province of high-flying MBAs, and provides a proven method to identify consequential problems and an accessible process anyone can learn, master, and apply to solve them. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Danny Warshay, in the Next Big Idea App

Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers By Chip Heath and Karla Starr

3. Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers

By Chip Heath and Karla Starr

Whether you’re interested in global problems like climate change, running a tech firm or a farm, or just explaining how many Cokes you’d have to drink if you burned calories like a hummingbird, this book will help math-lovers and math-haters alike translate the numbers that animate our world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Karla Starr, in the Next Big Idea App

The Eye Test: A Case for Human Creativity in the Age of Analytics By Chris Jones

2. The Eye Test: A Case for Human Creativity in the Age of Analytics

By Chris Jones

In a world increasingly ruled by numbers and algorithms, an award-winning journalist makes a compelling case for a more personal approach to analytical thinking​.​ Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Chris Jones, in the Next Big Idea App

From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life By Arthur C. Brooks

1. From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life

By Arthur C. Brooks

Drawing on social science, philosophy, biography, theology, and Eastern wisdom, as well as dozens of interviews with everyday men and women, a Harvard professor shows us that true life success is well within our reach. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Arthur C. Brooks, 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.

Next Big Idea App Book Bites

“I love this app! The Book Bites are brilliant, perfect to have in airports, waiting rooms, anywhere I need to not doomscroll… You guys are the best!” – Missy G.

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.

Next Big Idea Club Hardcover or Ebook membership

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.

Next Big Idea Podcast and Ecourses

“My biggest Thank You is for the quality of book selections so far. I look on my shelf and see these great titles, and I find myself taking down one or two each month to reread an underlined passage. Full marks to all involved!” – Tim K.

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!

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