The 10 best business books of 2024

It’s time for one of my favorite holiday traditions: my annual list of the best business books of the past 12 months.

As always, I looked for entertaining books that offer useful advice to help you succeed in a complex world. This makes them perfect candidates for relaxing holiday reading.

Remember, this is a list, not a ranking. All of the books I’ve included are excellent and I don’t recommend any one more than the others.

by Cass R. Sunstein — The central premise of this book is somewhat daunting. Success, the author argues, is, above all, the product of unpredictable social processes, the support of famous sponsors and perfect alignment with the zeitgeist. Talent is just the starting point! The stories Sunstein uses to convince us, however, are very entertaining. His argument 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 the history books and others are forgotten, take a look at this.

by David Spiegelhalter – Uncertainty is an important topic and this is quite a hefty book. At 512 pages, written with statistics students in mind, it requires some effort but you shouldn’t find it too overwhelming. Spiegelhalter is an excellent communicator and a mastery of basic mathematics will be sufficient. What you stand to gain is a new relationship with uncertainty. This will help you abandon an intuition-based approach (which tends to overestimate the likelihood of plane crashes, for example, and underestimate much more likely events like a car accident that lands you in the (airport) towards fact-based assessments. How you use your new knowledge will be deeply personal. As the author explains, “uncertainty is a relationship between someone (maybe you) and the outside world. … Some might experience a sense of excitement due to unpredictability, while others will experience 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 restarting in a neighboring country after its assets were seized following a military coup, and an iconic Haitian family hotel that survived an earthquake. , crime and economic collapse. If you want to inspire stories of success in the face of adversity – and the lessons we can learn from them – this is the book for you. As DeCiantis and Lansberg teach us, the rules of stable Western countries do not apply here. What looks like inefficiency to us in the West is often just a contingency and support that is vital to survival in other economies.

by Codie Sanchez—Warren Buffet’s extraordinary success was based on a simple idea: investing in undervalued companies with a history of strong, stable profits. Sanchez makes a similar proposal on a smaller scale. Forget shiny startups, e-commerce and dropshipping. Instead, invest in a plumber, construction company, cleaner, or electrician – the kind of businesses easily overlooked by white workers – to access reliable cash flow. This book is a little flamboyant but refreshing on two counts. First, it focuses on “boring” small businesses. Second, it is a recipe for circumventing a founder’s challenges by creatively financing smart deals.

by Ethan Mollick — Unsurprisingly, there are many books about AI published in 2024. If you only have time to read one this Christmas, this excellent read from Mollick is the one you should choose. The AI ​​hype has died down, but many of us have started improving our work using generative AI. Mollick’s book offers advice on how best to achieve this by turning AI into a colleague, tutor, or coach. However, it is more than just a “how to” manual. It’s deep, engaging and optimistic. And once you’ve finished the book, there’s so much more. In his blogMollick constantly updates his audiences on his experiences with emerging AI tools and their application.

by Layla McCay—This book really begins on page nine as McKay shares her journey as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. This is not a story of violent in-your-face discrimination, but a story of isolation. At every stage of her career, she was the highest-ranking openly gay person in her organization. No role models and a lingering doubt about whether being gay could hold her back. The statistics back up his story. Apple’s Tim Cook may be a notable exception, but only three other Fortune 500 CEOs have come forward. The London Stock Exchange performs even worse, with none among the 100 largest companies. This is a striking and sobering statistic.

by Ludmila Praslova: “I don’t recommend being a victim of xenophobic hate crimes as a boost to creativity, but somehow each hit made me think even more deeply about global inclusion », writes Praslova. This book offers a refreshing and pragmatic style by an autistic author who has been on the organizational front lines and in-depth in 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 walk away with new tools that you can use to create a more inclusive workplace. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it also allows you to harness the full potential of the talent at your disposal.

by Keith Ferrazzi—If you’re reading Never eat aloneyou will immediately recognize the Ferrazzi special touch. It’s not that the idea – that teams rather than leaders carry an organization – is particularly radical. The real appeal of this book is the 20 practical suggestions it offers. My favorite is radical frankness. It’s hard to do, but if it comes from the right place and with an appropriate dose of empathy, it helps organizations move forward. This can save frustrated employees from having those late-night conversations at bars with little chance of finding a solution.

by Paul Seabright—This book begins with the story of Grace, who makes her living selling water on the streets of Accra and giving 10 percent of her proceeds to a pastor who drives a flash Mercedes. Seabright assures us that Grace has a solid handle on her finances and explains that there is economic logic to this. At church, she finds community, respect, and maybe even a husband. In essence, it’s not that 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 create on their own.” He is respectful in his argument and offers a welcome analysis of a context usually ignored by economic and business studies.

by Karthik Ramanna—People are angry at the world, usually for one of three reasons. They are outraged by limited future opportunities, past injustices, or a hostile “other” who is to blame. In the past, this frustration was directed at politicians and only occasionally boiled over. But what if this happens all the time and business leaders aren’t immune? Ramanna’s book explains how to “lower the temperature” and prevent these latent emotions from erupting. The pace and tone of the book are unobtrusive. Whether deliberate or not, this is in perfect sync with a narrative that is not revolutionary but global. This seems entirely true.