It’s time for one of my favorite festive traditions—my annual list of the best business books from the last 12 months.
As always, I have looked for entertaining books that offer useful guidance to help you succeed in a complex world. This makes them perfect candidates for some restful reading over the holidays.
Remember that this is a list, not a ranking. All the books I have included are excellent and I do not recommend any of them more highly than the others.
by Cass R. Sunstein—The main hypothesis of this book is somewhat discouraging. Success, the author argues, is primarily the product of unpredictable social processes, support from famous sponsors, and a perfect match with the zeitgeist. Talent, is merely a starting point! The stories Sunstein uses to convince us, however, are highly entertaining. His case is also supported by recent research on informational cascades, network effects, and group polarization. If you want to know why some people end up in history books and others are forgotten, check this out.
by David Spiegelhalter—Uncertainty is a big topic and this is an appropriately big book. With 512 pages, written with students of statistics in mind, it requires some effort but you shouldn’t find it too overwhelming. Spiegelhalter is a great communicator and a grasp of basic math will suffice. What you stand to gain is a new relationship with uncertainty. This will help you to move away from an intuition driven approach (which tends to over-estimate the likelihood of say plane crashes and underestimate the much more likely events like an accident of the car driving you to the airport) towards fact-based assessments. How you use your new-found insight will be deeply personal. As the author explains, “uncertainty is a relationship between someone (perhaps you) and the outside world. … Some might get a sense of excitement from unpredictability, while others feel chronic anxiety.”
by Devin DeCiantis and Ivan Lansberg—A Peruvian family building a soft drink giant during an active terrorist conflict, a Syrian family business starting afresh in a neighboring country after their assets were seized following a military coup, and an iconic Haitian family hotel prevailing through earthquake, crime, and economic collapse. If you are interested in inspiring stories of success in the face of adversity—and the lessons we can learn from them—this is a book for you. As DeCiantis and Lansberg teach us, the rules of stable Western countries do not apply here. What looks like inefficiency to those of us in the West is often contingency and back-up that is vital to survival in other economies.
by Codie Sanchez—Warren Buffet’s extraordinary success relied on a simple idea: invest in undervalued businesses with a history of strong and stable earnings. Sanchez makes a similar proposition on a smaller scale. Forget about shiny startups, ecommerce, and drop-shipping. Instead, invest in a plumber, construction firm, cleaner, or electrician—the kind of businesses that are easily overlooked by white color workers—to access reliable cash-flow. This book is a little flamboyant but refreshing in two ways. First, it concentrates on small ‘boring’ businesses. Second, it serves up a recipe to bypass the challenges of a founder by creatively financing smart deals.
by Ethan Mollick—Unsurprisingly, lots of books on AI were released in 2024. If you only have time for one of them over Christmas, this excellent read by Mollick is the one you should pick. The AI hype has died down but many of us started to enhance our work by using generative AI. Mollick’s book offers guidance on how best to do this by turning AI into co-worker, tutor, or coach. It is more than a simple “how-to” manual though. It is profound, engaging, and optimistic. And once you are done with the book there is more. In his blog, Mollick constantly updates his audience about his experiences with emerging AI tools and their application.
by Layla McCay—This book really gets going on page nine as McKay shares her journey as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. It’s not a story of violent in-your face discrimination, but one of isolation. At every step of her career, she was the most senior openly gay person in her organization. No role model and a lingering doubt about whether being gay could hold her back. Stats back up her story. Apple’s Tim Cook may be a notable exception, but only three other Fortune 500 CEOs have come out. The London Stock Exchange performs even worse, with none among the 100 largest companies. That is a stark and thought-provoking statistic.
by Ludmila Praslova—“I don’t recommend experiencing xenophobic hate crime as a creativity booster, but somehow every knock made me think ever deeper about comprehensive inclusion,” writes Praslova. This book offers a refreshing, no-nonsense style by an autistic author who has been on the organizational frontline and in the depth of academic research. It offers the reader a unique opportunity to experience corporate life through the eyes of a neuro-divergent individual. As a leader, you will go away with new tools you can use to build a more inclusive workplace. Not only is it the right thing to do, it also allows you to leverage the full potential of the talent at your disposal.
by Keith Ferrazzi—If you read Never Eat Alone, you will immediately recognize the special Ferrazzi touch. It’s not that the idea—that teams rather than leaders carry an organization—is particularly radical. The real appeal of this book lies in the 20 hands-on suggestions it offers. My favorite is radical candor. It’s hard to do, but if it comes from the right place and with an appropriate does of empathy, it helps organizations to move forward. That can prevent frustrated employees having these late night conversations in bars with little chance of finding a solution.
by Paul Seabright—This book starts with the story of Grace, who makes a living from selling water in the streets of Accra and giving 10 percent of her takings to a pastor who drives a flash Mercedes. Seabright assures us that Grace has a solid grasp of her finances and explains that there is an economic logic to this. At church she finds community, respect, and maybe even a husband. That’s in essence not so different from paying for a subscription. Seabright’s central argument is that religious movements are platforms “that bring individuals together in mutually beneficial relationships that those individuals cannot bring about on their own.” He is respectful in his argument and offers a welcome analysis of a context usually ignored by economics and business studies.
by Karthik Ramanna—People are angry with the world, usually for one of three reasons. They are outraged about limited future opportunities, past injustices, or some hostile “other” who is to blame. In the past this frustration was directed at politicians and only boiled over occasionally. But what if this happens all the time and corporate leaders are not immune? Ramanna’s book explains how to “turn down the temperature” and prevent those simmering emotions from erupting. The pace and tone of the book are low-key. Whether deliberate or not, this is in perfect sync with a narrative that is not revolutionary but comprehensive. This feels exactly right.