Folks, the world of business is changing. Advances in technology, post-pandemic aftershocks, new developments in management and leadership practices—it all adds up to an exciting yet volatile environment in which to make a living. So to help you navigate it, we’ve put together this list of essential new business books.
Our curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink, and Adam Grant pick two exciting reads per season to share with Next Big Idea Club members. The rankings below, however, are based on the most popular “Book Bite” audio summaries in the Next Big Idea App. In other words, they are 2023’s best business books, according to our tens of thousands of app users. So if you’re ready to sharpen your business acumen, check out the 50 remarkable titles below.
50. Where Is My Office?: The Post-Pandemic Edition
By Chris Kane and Eugenia Anastassiou
This new follow-up edition of Where Is My Office? highlights some of the bold new frameworks and practical considerations for business leaders, workplace practitioners and those involved in commercial real estate as they navigate the complex post-pandemic working landscape. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Chris Kane and Eugenia Anastassiou, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
49. Facing Our Futures: How Foresight, Futures Design and Strategy Creates Prosperity and Growth
By Nikolas Badminton
A fascinating insight into how professionals and businesses can develop their foresight and strategy to ensure that they are prepared for an unpredictable future. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nikolas Badminton, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
48. The Leader’s Guide to Managing Risk: A Proven Method to Build Resilience and Reliability
By K. Scott Griffith
A former airline pilot and socio-technical physicist offers practical and proven methods to build processes within organizations that will withstand the winds of uncertainty while driving success. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author K. Scott Griffith, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
47. Rising Together: How We Can Bridge Divides and Create a More Inclusive Workplace
By Sally Helgeson
In this follow-up to her international bestseller How Women Rise, an acclaimed leadership coach draws on three decades of work with executives and aspiring leaders around the world to offer practical ways to build more inclusive relationships, teams, and workplaces. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sally Helgeson, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
46. Culture Is the Way: How Leaders at Every Level Build an Organization for Speed, Impact, and Excellence
By Matt Mayberry
An essential roadmap to organizational transformation, Culture Is the Way will earn a place on the bookshelves of managers, executives, and other business leaders seeking to improve the performance of their team members. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Matt Mayberry, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
45. Inside the Competitor’s Mindset: How to Predict Their Next Move and Position Yourself for Success
By John Horn
An economics professor from Washington University in St. Louis presents a systematic approach to competitive intelligence that starts with three frameworks to get inside the competitor’s mindset, predict their reactions to your moves, and assess whether the competition is getting ready for a spontaneous move of their own. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author John Horn, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
44. Building a New Leadership Ladder: Transforming Male-Dominated Organizations to Support Women on the Rise
By Carol J. Geffner
More than a how-to guide on how women can ascend to the top, Building a New Leadership Ladder is a bold call to action for organizations and their leaders to proactively foster the conditions under which women’s efforts to rise up are consistently recognized and rewarded. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Carol J. Geffner, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
43. For Blood and Money: Billionaires, Biotech, and the Quest for a Blockbuster Drug
By Nathan Vardi
For Blood and Money tells the little-known story of how an upstart biotechnology company created a one-in-a-million cancer drug, and how members of the core team―denied their share of the profits―went and did it again. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nathan Vardi, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
42. The Trade Trap: How to Stop Doing Business with Dictators
By Mathias Döpfner
Sharing the author’s encounters with major global figures including Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, George W. Bush, Angela Merkel, Jack Ma, and more, The Trade Trap offers personal insight into the dangerous consequences of doing business with autocrats, along with a bold proposal for a values-based trade policy. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mathias Döpfner, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
41. Smart Startups: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know—Advice from 18 Harvard Business School Founders
By Catalina Daniels and James H. Sherman
Two startup company founders and angel investors go inside 18 companies founded by Harvard Business School graduates, uncovering surprising lessons for success and unexpected pitfalls that all aspiring entrepreneurs should know about. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Catalina Daniels and James H. Sherman, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
40. Which Way Is North: A Creative Compass for Makers, Marketers, and Mystics
By Will Cady
Through a combination of essays, meditations, and memoir, Which Way Is North offers an illuminating journey into the interior of the human heart and mind, revealing how your inner experience informs who you can be and what you express out in the world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Will Cady, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
39. The Creativity Factor: Using the Power of the Outdoors to Spark Successful Innovation
By Garry Pratt
The Creativity Factor clarifies how creativity is a key ingredient of effective leadership, highlighting strategies to help you cultivate your creative capabilities—like moving meetings and team-building exercises out of the office and into the great outdoors. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Garry Pratt, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
38. Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work
By Uri Gneezy
An informative and entertaining account of how actions send signals that shape behaviors—and how to design better incentives for better results in our life, our work, and our world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Uri Gneezy, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
37. Game of Edges: The Analytics Revolution and the Future of Professional Sports
By Bruce Schoenfeld
In the last two decades, innovation, data analysis, and technology have driven a tectonic shift in the sports business. Game of Edges is the story of how sports franchises evolved, on and off the field, from raggedly run small businesses into some of the most systematically productive companies around. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Bruce Schoenfeld, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
36. Credible: The Power of Expert Leaders
By Amanda Goodall
A leading business expert shows why expertise really matters, and how leaders who deeply understand the nuts and bolts of their organization make all the difference for its success and the happiness of people who work there. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Amanda Goodall, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
35. Walk Away to Win: A Playbook to Combat Workplace Bullying
By Megan Carle
A former Nike VP draws on her own experience as a target of workplace bullying―paired with the latest research in the field―to reveal how unhealthy workplace cultures enable this insidious behavior. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Megan Carle, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
34. Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work
By Nick Sonnenberg
An acclaimed entrepreneur shares the CPR® Business Efficiency Framework, a proven system for leaders, managers, and teams to maximize their performance and reduce overwhelm by using the right tools in the right way, at the right time. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nick Sonnenberg, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
33. Swipe Up for More!: Inside the Unfiltered Lives of Influencers
By Stephanie McNeal
Swipe Up For More! offers a rare glimpse into how three major influencers build their empires, struggle with the haters and snarkers, fight for creative control from the tech platforms that enable their businesses, parent in public, and try to look good while doing it. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Stephanie McNeal, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
32. Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism
By Macaela MacKenzie
As women athletes push for the same things all women want in their careers—money, power, and respect—their wins are showing the rest of us what’s possible in the fight for equality. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Macaela MacKenzie, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
31. Beyond Disruption: Innovate and Achieve Growth without Displacing Industries, Companies, or Jobs
By W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
A practical guide for driving innovation and growth, the rich research behind Beyond Disruption, coupled with its frame-breaking message, make it a must-read book for the next generation of innovators. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Renée Mauborgne, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
30. The Power Code: More Joy. Less Ego. Maximum Impact for Women (and Everyone)
By Katty Kay and Claire Shipman
Both a prescription for societal change and a professional guidebook for individual women, The Power Code shows you how to leverage the power you already have, find new sources of power in yourself and your community, and remodel your workplace and your home life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Claire Shipman, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
29. Turnaround Time: Uniting an Airline and Its Employees in the Friendly Skies
By Oscar Munoz
With candor, humor, and heartfelt wisdom, a former United Airlines CEO reveals how he rose from humble immigrant origins to lead United through one of modern business’s greatest corporate turnarounds. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Oscar Munoz, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
28. Strategic: The Skill to Set Direction, Create Advantage, and Achieve Executive Excellence
By Rich Horwath
A bestselling author offers business leaders a proven framework―the Strategic Fitness System―containing dozens of tools, techniques, and checklists to confidently master every area of the business, from designing market-winning strategies to shaping the organization’s culture. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Rich Horwath, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
27. Quitting: A Life Strategy: The Myth of Perseverance―and How the New Science of Giving Up Can Set You Free
By Julia Keller
Diving into the neuroscience of nope and the cultural messages that drive our reluctance to throw in the towel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist dismantles the myth of perseverance once and for all—because quitting can be an unexpected act of self-love. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Julia Keller, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
26. The Family-First Entrepreneur: How to Achieve Financial Freedom Without Sacrificing What Matters Most
By Steve Chou
Most entrepreneurs start a business seeking freedom but end up in a prison of hundred-hour workweeks isolated from their loved ones. This book is a guide to do entrepreneurship differently—letting go of the hustle and embracing a family-first mindset instead. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Steve Chou, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
25. The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work
By Zeynep Ton
From an MIT professor and president of the Good Jobs Institute comes a leadership guide for choosing excellence and providing good jobs that offer a living wage, dignity, and opportunities for growth. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Zeynep Ton, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
24. Leading Through Disruption: A Changemaker’s Guide to Twenty-First Century Leadership
By Andrew Liveris
A former Chairman and CEO of The Dow Chemical Company presents a variety of powerful tools that will enable you to tackle any problem quickly and responsively, with an eye to creating a more equitable, sustainable future. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Andrew Liveris, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
23. The Perennials: The Megatrends Creating a Postgenerational Society
By Mauro F. Guillén
A Wharton professor explores how a new postgenerational workforce known as “perennials”—individuals who are not pitted against each other by age or experience—will level the playing field so that everyone has a chance at living a rewarding life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mauro F. Guillén, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
22. Fool Me Once: Scams, Stories, and Secrets from the Trillion-Dollar Fraud Industry
By Kelly Richmond Pope
A renowned forensic accounting expert shows fraud in action, uncovering what makes perps tick, victims so gullible, and whistleblowers so morally righteous, while also encouraging us to look at our own behaviors and motivations in the hope of protecting ourselves and our companies. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kelly Richmond Pope, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
21. Elevate Your Team: Empower Your Team to Reach Their Full Potential and Build a Business That Builds Leaders
By Robert Glazer
A serial entrepreneur applies his groundbreaking capacity-building framework to teams and organizations alike. The result is the playbook for a results-oriented, learning-driven culture that elevates its people to meet the company’s ever-changing growth needs. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Robert Glazer, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
20. Chaos Kings: How Wall Street Traders Make Billions in the New Age of Crisis
By Scott Patterson
Written by a veteran Wall Street Journal reporter, Chaos Kings is a fascinating chronicle of the billion-dollar traders and crisis predictors who strive to turn extreme events into financial windfalls. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Scott Patterson, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
19. How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything in Between
By Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner
Full of vivid examples ranging from the building of the Sydney Opera House, to the making of the latest Pixar blockbusters, to a home renovation in Brooklyn gone awry, How Big Things Get Done reveals how to get any ambitious project done—on time and on budget. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Bent Flyvbjerg, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
18. The Unsold Mindset: Redefining What It Means to Sell
By Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown
Being a good person and a good salesperson aren’t mutually exclusive. The Unsold Mindset will change the way you think about selling and the way you think about yourself. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Colin Coggins and Garrett Brown, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
17. Autonomous Transformation: Creating a More Human Future in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
By Brian Evergreen
Perfect for executives, directors, managers, and other business leaders, Autonomous Transformation will also earn a place for anyone who finds themselves doing their best to navigate an increasingly complex and nuanced digital and economic landscape. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Brian Evergreen, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
16. Optimal Illusions: The False Promise of Optimization
By Coco Krumme
Streamlined systems are less resilient and more at risk of failure. They limit our options and narrow our perspectives. The malaise of living in an optimized society can feel profoundly inhumane. Optimal Illusions exposes the sizable bargains we have made in the name of optimization and asks us to consider what comes next. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Coco Krumme, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
15. Burn the Boats: Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential
By Matt Higgins
An executive fellow at Harvard Business School and famed angel investor reveals the counterintuitive formula for a life of perpetual growth that has been practiced for thousands of years by military leaders and serial entrepreneurs alike. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Matt Higgins, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
14. Breaking Through: Communicating to Open Minds, Move Hearts, and Change the World
By Sally Susman
Pfizer’s trailblazing communications leader reveals how we can break through the noise to get our message across and make positive change. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sally Susman, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
13. The Datapreneurs: The Promise of AI and the Creators Building Our Future
By Bob Muglia, with Steve Hamm
A long-time Microsoft executive explains how humanity must create a new social contract for the artificial general intelligence (AGI)—autonomous machines intelligent as people—that he expects to arrive in less than a decade. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Bob Muglia, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
12. The Performance Paradox: Turning the Power of Mindset into Action
By Eduardo Briceño
Discover how to balance learning and performing to bolster personal and team success with this revolutionary guide from a world-renowned expert on growth mindset. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Eduardo Briceño, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
11. The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears into Your Leadership Superpower
By Morra Aarons-Mele
From an entrepreneur, mental health advocate, and top-rated podcaster comes a timely and compelling guide to managing the anxiety that comes with succeeding and leading. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Morra Aarons-Mele, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
10. The Power of Wonder: The Extraordinary Emotion That Will Change the Way You Live, Learn, and Lead
By Monica Parker
The Power of Wonder takes readers on a multidisciplinary journey through psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, literature, and business to explore the mechanics of wonder and guide readers toward bringing more of it into their lives. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Monica Parker, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
9. Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs
By Uri Levine
Through mentorship from one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution empowers you to build a successful business by identifying your consumers’ biggest problems and disrupting the inefficient markets that currently serve them. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Uri Levine, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
8. Buy Back Your Time: Get Unstuck, Reclaim Your Freedom, and Build Your Empire
By Dan Martell
Buy Back Your Time is the definitive guide for entrepreneurs at every level on how to succeed in business while enjoying more freedom than you ever imagined. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Dan Martell, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
7. Intrinsic Motivation: Learn to Love Your Work and Succeed as Never Before
By Stefan Falk
Intrinsic motivation―doing a thing for its inherent satisfaction rather than external rewards―is the key to success and satisfaction in any endeavor. A legendary performance coach shares his simple, proven, and fun methods for cultivating and keeping it. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Stefan Falk, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
6. The Power of Saying No: The New Science of How to Say No that Puts You in Charge of Your Life
By Vanessa Patrick
An award-winning professor and researcher delves into the new science of saying no. She introduces the groundbreaking concept of “empowered refusal” and reveals surprising secrets about the power of the word no. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Vanessa Patrick, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
5. The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World’s Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems
By Paulo Savaget
For ages, global corporations have been lecturing small organizations and not-for-profits on how to get things done. As it turns out, it should have been the other way around. In this groundbreaking book, an award-winning researcher shows how the most valuable lessons about problem-solving can be learned from the scrappiest groups. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Paulo Savaget, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
4. Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Biggest Decisions
By Myra Strober and Abby Davisson
At a time when we are experiencing the most significant shift in work-life balance in decades, this framework offers simple and effective steps to empower readers to make the best strategic decisions—without having to sacrifice their careers or personal lives. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Myra Strober and Abby Davisson, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
3. Awaken Your Genius: Escape Conformity, Ignite Creativity, and Become Extraordinary
By Ozan Varol
Extraordinary people carve their own paths as leaders and creators. They stand out from the crowd because they embody their own shape and color. We call these people geniuses—as if they’re another breed. But genius isn’t for a special few. It can be cultivated. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Ozan Varol, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
2. Hidden Genius: The Secret Ways of Thinking that Power the World’s Most Successful People
By Polina Marinova Pompliano
After learning from the world’s most successful people featured in this book, you will have a mental toolkit to help you tackle thorny problems, navigate relationships, and use creativity and resilience in times of uncertainty. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Polina Marinova Pompliano, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
1. Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
By Adam Alter
Whether you’re muddling through a midlife crisis, wrestling writer’s block, trapped in a thankless job, or trying to remedy a fraying friendship, Anatomy of a Breakthrough is the roadmap we all need to escape our inertia and flourish in the face of friction. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Adam Alter, 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 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.
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