96 Books Like The Business of We

I love this book and recommend it often because of its exceptional forecasting ability. Author George Friedman can’t guarantee the future, but his arguments for likely outcomes are exceptionally cogent and well thought through. The book was written in 2009 and well before the COVID-19 pandemic, which changed things considerably in terms of economic impact, labor scarcity, global migration patterns, and so much more.

Still, its findings are more than insightful and combine a well-honed imagination with historical expertise to forecast the 21st century’s likely trajectory by decade, including the United States, Russia, China, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. It provides a healthy perspective and a 30,000-foot view of what we may likely experience as a planet, especially in geopolitical, technical, and cultural terms. 

This was the best book I’ve read for new managers because of its broad coverage of key areas of responsibility and its practical application and wisdom for newly minted leaders to build their self-confidence and transition effectively into their new roles and responsibilities.

New managers are the base of the leadership pyramid—the foundational structure of what makes businesses work. They set the tone, serve as role models, and literally create each organization’s unique culture. And they need training—lots of it—to master their craft and forge strong relationships (sometimes with people who, until recently, were their peers).

This book gets them off on the right foot and helps them build critical muscle around effective leadership principles, legal awareness, self-care, emotional intelligence, remote team management, and so much more. 

Women in leadership are our nation’s superpower...the growth and development of our economy hinges on placing more female leaders into senior corporate executive and board roles to meet the talent shortage and inject a high level of emotional intelligence into corporate America. But we’ve experienced centuries of destructive cultural conditioning, messaging, and reinforcement.

This book helped me see through the assumptions we’ve created and move beyond them. In the United States, more bachelor's, law, and medical degrees are now going to females. Yet, 80% of CEOs are male, corporate boards are more than 80% male, and women still make roughly $.80 to a male’s dollar in similarly situated roles. This book opens the door to the clarity we need to leverage our most important asset. 

I value this book because of its timeliness and relevance in today’s changing world. W-2 “employee” incomes are quickly being replaced by 1099 “independent contractor” incomes, despite the federal government’s attempts at slowing down the trend.

Workers across all fields need to begin thinking more about “income security” than “job security,” especially those in dwindling industries that could be impacted by AI, outsourcing, offshoring, or digitization. If nothing else, it raises the reader’s awareness of vulnerabilities that can derail otherwise successful careers and preaches the importance of “living lightly” and “doing more with less” (think renting versus ownership and multiple versus single income streams). 

This book doesn’t recommend quitting your day job, but it provides meaningful insight into considerations to remain agile, flexible, and ready for significant, disruptive career change. 

In reading this book, I found a dynamic guide to revolutionising organisational culture, something I am very passionate about.

Drawing on his extensive experience, Colin Ellis provides a compelling blueprint for crafting positive workplace environments. Departing from conventional management literature, the book combines humor with practical insights. It underscores the significance of leadership, communication, and collaboration in nurturing a thriving culture.

Through engaging anecdotes and real-world examples, he demystifies the process of cultural change, catering to leaders at all levels. Culture Fix provided invaluable takeaways and actionable strategies to foster a workplace where innovation and collaboration thrive.

Colin's passionate and personable writing style transforms this book into an enjoyable and informative read.

I’ve never had the words to describe why I knew culture was important to success or why I thought the best way to succeed in the long term was to help others succeed.

This book helped me have the words, examples, and stories to be able to communicate that. One of my most recommended books.

Sara Ahmed publicly resigned from her professorship at Goldsmiths in 2016 as a direct protest against the institution's failure to address sexual harassment.

This book was an outgrowth of all the letters she received from other victims, sharing how their universities also failed them during their complaints. Ahmed exposes the commonalities among the letters, unveiling how universities weaponize "shadow policies" to bury complaints and complainants' careers.

This book became my bible when I filed my first formal complaint and began experiencing the same systemic cover-up and retaliation she documents. Seeing every university trick in her book play out in real time in my case, at the very least, empowered me with a sense of solidarity.

I love this book because of its very specific tips and useful strategies for working with people from countries different than my own. I was able to better understand the culture of each country through concise descriptions of their history, language, educational system, religions, and demographics.

I appreciate that it’s organized in a methodical and consistent fashion that helped me skip to my areas of interest without having to use the table of contents or index to find what I was looking for. I also found this book a ‘must-have’ for my work in leading cross-cultural teams because it helped me to understand and appreciate different cognitive styles, negotiation strategies, value systems, and business practices. Whether you travel globally on business or for pleasure this is a wonderful resource guide.

This is the book that changed my world. I’d never felt like I really fit in at work or, frankly, in many of the communities that I lived in. As much as I contorted myself or took people’s feedback, something always felt off. I worked hard. I learned to talk like the successful leaders around me. I played by the rules. But I was still always second string. I thought I was the problem.

From the first time I came across this title to reading it through with tears in my eyes—it finally clicked. All along, it wasn’t because I wasn’t smart, kind, hard-working, thoughtful, or likable enough. It was that the workplaces I was in all centered on Whiteness, to the detriment of everyone who wasn’t White. 

This book is fascinating because it shows how underlying informal political structures remained the same even after empires and political regimes collapsed.

Ledeneva explores the nature of the informal patronal networks connecting Russian elites and how that explains the persistent non-democratic dynamic over time and under various contexts. This book sheds light on the informal nature of Russian politics.