So, you want to be a better businessperson. An MBA program could certainly help—but not everyone has multiple years and tens of thousands of dollars to spare. And even if you have an MBA, much of what you learned will inevitably need an update. Where else can you acquire expert advice and discover the latest best practices?
The world of business books offers an excellent alternative for our community. Every season, our curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink, and Adam Grant pick two exciting reads to share with Next Big Idea Club members. The rankings below, however, are based on the popularity of “Book Bite” audio summaries in the Next Big Idea App. In other words, they are among 2024’s best business books, according to our thousands of app users. Read on to discover the secrets of today’s brightest business minds.
24. Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges
By John Winsor and Jin H. Paik
With rich stories, keen insights, and an abundance of practical advice, Open Talent provides a new framework and operating model for transforming your organization into a talent-orchestrating, problem-solving machine. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author John Winsor, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
23. The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Costs
By Christopher Marquis
An exposé of how society pays for corporations’ “free lunch” and the cost of environmental damage, low wages, systemic discrimination, and cheap goods. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Christopher Marquis, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
22. Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption
By Steve Dennis
Leaders Leap goes beyond the standard business playbook and teaches you the secrets to creating the bolder, faster, and essential transformation needed to avoid becoming irrelevant in an era of profound and accelerating change. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Steve Dennis, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
21. The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism
By John Mackey
Whole Foods Market’s co-founder and CEO for 44 years offers an intimate and provocative account of the rise of this iconic company—and the personal and spiritual journey that inspired its remarkable impact. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author John Mackey, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
20. Build Like a Woman: The Blueprint for Creating a Business and Life You Love
By Kathleen Griffith
From the self-made businesswoman and founder of the global platform Build Like A Woman comes the essential resource to unleash your business, take up space, and create your dream life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kathleen Griffith, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
19. The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life
By Leslie Zane
An award-winning Fortune 500 brand consultant and behavioral expert shatters conventional marketing wisdom, showing readers how to tap into the hidden brain where instinct prevails, creating a powerful network of connections that drive people to buy your product, company, or vision. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Leslie Zane, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
18. Red Helicopter―A Parable for Our Times: Lead Change with Kindness (Plus a Little Math)
By James Rhee
A poignant and uplifting celebration of humanity, red helicopter—a parable for our times is a tale of struggle and triumph, compelling for its honesty and relatability as much as for the instructions we can all use to balance the books of our lives. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author James Rhee, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
17. 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: …And the Truth We Need to Succeed
By Bonnie Hammer
Written with humor and heart, and full of insights and research, 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work doesn’t just explain one woman’s rise to the top in a tough industry; it shows how any woman can rise as high as she wants in her own work world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Bonnie Hammer, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
16. Beyond Discomfort: Why Inclusive Leadership Is So Hard
By Nadia Nagamootoo
An acclaimed chartered psychologist reveals a new model of inclusive leadership, describing four belief systems and associated emotional responses to DEI. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nadia Nagamootoo, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
15. The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World
By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian
Borders draw one map of the world; money draws another. A journalist’s riveting account exposes a parallel universe that has become a haven for the rich and powerful. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
14. Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It
By Malissa Clark
A preeminent researcher on the culture of overwork delivers a comprehensive, nuanced definition of workaholism, busting myths along the way. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Malissa Clark, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
13. Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion
By Anne Chow
Drawing from over three decades of experience, a former CEO of AT&T Business shares how to lead bigger by leveraging inclusion beyond DEI, to elevate your work, workforce, and workplace. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Anne Chow, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
12. Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places that Bring People Together
By Kevin Ervin Kelley
Irreplaceable provides a comprehensive roadmap for creating human experiences that have the power to convene and bring friends, neighbors, and strangers together in prosocial environments in ways the digital replacements can’t replicate. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kevin Ervin Kelley, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
11. Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life
By Robert C. Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff
This book places rapidly advancing technologies―from generative AI and 3D printing to lab-grown meats, renewable energy, and virtual reality―in context and explores the factors accelerating the transformation. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by authors Robert C. Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
10. Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations
By Mary Murphy
An award-winning social psychologist offers a groundbreaking reconsideration of individual and team success—showing how to create and sustain a growth mindset in any organization’s culture. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mary Murphy, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
9. Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing
By Laura Mae Martin
Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor offers insights on how to make the new way of work work for you, providing actionable steps to optimize your productivity, accomplish more, prevent burnout, and cultivate a harmonious work-life balance. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Laura Mae Martin, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
8. Good Judgment: Making Better Business Decisions with the Science of Human Personality
By Richard Davis
From an experienced organizational psychologist comes a unique guide to learning how to better read and understand people and make improved, more informed business decisions about them. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Richard Davis, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
7. Make Your Own Rules: Stories and Hard-Earned Advice from a Creator in the Digital Age
By Andrew Huang
A YouTube sensation shares stories from his two decades as a music industry misfit and offers advice on both the artistic and business sides of working as a creator in our digital era. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Andrew Huang, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
6. Sell Like a Spy: The Art of Persuasion from the World of Espionage
By Jeremy Hurewitz
An expert in sales and corporate espionage taps into the history of intelligence-gathering and his own relationships with former agents of the CIA, FBI, and counterterrorism in this handbook of field-tested spycraft strategies and government agency tactics to build relationships, persuade, and sell anything. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jeremy Hurewitz, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
5. Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World
By Parmy Olson
A Bloomberg tech writer tells the astonishing story of the battle between two AI firms, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the hazardous direction they could go as they serve two powerful tech monopolies. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Parmy Olson, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
4. All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams
By Mike Michalowicz
An acclaimed entrepreneur shows readers how to recruit the right talent, transform struggling employees into superstars, match individual abilities to client and company needs, and motivate every employee to care as much as an owner. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mike Michalowicz, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
3. The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment
By Eric Siegel
A bestselling author presents the gold-standard, six-step practice for ushering machine learning projects from conception to deployment, illustrating the practice with stories of success and of failure from UPS, FICO, and prominent dot-coms. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Eric Siegel, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
2. Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings
By Steven Rogelberg
There are an estimated 200-500 million 1:1 meetings held each day around the world, but are they run as transformatively as they could be? Or are they just talk? Glad We Met helps us maximize the potential of these crucial conversations. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Steven Rogelberg, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
1. The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking: Leading Your Organization into the Future
By Michael Watkins
The international bestselling author of The First 90 Days presents an actionable new framework to help aspiring leaders learn to think strategically—a set of skills more necessary than ever in a world of constant change. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Michael Watkins, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon
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 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!
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