Here are 99 books that Better Business fans have personally recommended if you like
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I’ve been obsessed with making the future a better place since I was 8 years old and spent my evenings hanging out in a local community center. I realized that things got better when people who cared showed up for each other. I am now a philanthropic futurist and have spent my career dedicated to helping visionary leaders build a more beautiful and equitable future. All of the books on this list have inspired me, and I hope they inspire you, too. If we all do our small part, we can ensure we have a Star Trek future and not a Hunger Games future.
I don’t usually read science fiction, but this book completely changed my perspective. It was an eye-opening experience, vividly illustrating what the climate crisis could look like if we don’t take significant action now. I was hooked by how realistic the scenarios felt, even though the story is fiction.
I found myself thinking deeply about the potential consequences of inaction and how urgent it is to address the climate crisis. The fictional eyewitness accounts made it even more impactful, giving me a sense of immediacy and personal connection to the issue. I didn’t expect a science fiction novel to be so relevant to our current world, but this one is a must-read for everyone.
“The best science-fiction nonfiction novel I’ve ever read.” —Jonathan Lethem
"If I could get policymakers, and citizens, everywhere to read just one book this year, it would be Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future." —Ezra Klein (Vox)
The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us. Chosen by Barack Obama as one of his favorite…
As a journalist covering the Future of Work and Silicon Valley in the 2010s, I encountered pioneering social entrepreneurs and newly minted tech billionaires whose ideologies attracted millions and have since shaped our culture, economy, and society. I've curated some of the most impactful books that informed my understanding of their ambitions and how work is evolving, as well as the thought leaders who inspired them. Engaging with this content and integrating it over the last decade has transformed my worldview, leading me to a more fulfilling, peaceful, and creative life—but it’s been quite the journey!
I recently attended the 10-year Reinventing Organizations anniversary party over Zoom, which attracted hundreds of people from around the world. Many quit their jobs after reading Frederic Laloux’s book to help build a new market for a radically different approach to management consulting.
The unassuming former McKinsey consultant became a household name in business circles when his surprise bestseller challenged conventional ways of working. His premise is bold: we are entering a new stage of human consciousness that demands a rethink of how we organize work. Moving away from traditional command-and-control hierarchies formed during the Industrial Revolution, Laloux showcases case studies of organizations where everyone is encouraged to operate like an entrepreneur and contribute meaningfully.
In this engaging read, Laloux distills complex ideas effortlessly, inspiring readers to reimagine what’s possible for themselves and their teams. Reinventing Organizations is not your typical business book. A decade later, its insights remain fresh,…
The way we manage organizations seems increasingly out of date. Survey after survey shows that a majority of employees feel disengaged from their companies. The epidemic of organizational disillusionment goes way beyond Corporate America-teachers, doctors, and nurses are leaving their professions in record numbers because the way we run schools and hospitals kills their vocation. Government agencies and nonprofits have a noble purpose, but working for these entities often feels soulless and lifeless just the same. All these organizations suffer from power games played at the top and powerlessness at lower levels, from infighting and bureaucracy, from endless meetings and…
We are the academic and creative directors at the Stanford d.school. Our students study design, but they really hope to navigate a world of unknowns and make their way to a better future. We believe the best way to do that is not to limit yourself to a single domain or area but to find new possibilities in the overlaps, patterns, and discoveries that linger between ideas. We love books that stretch us beyond the design domain and into new places of inspiration and investigation. The ones on our list have all delighted us with their ability to reframe our thinking about design, even though none are squarely about the topic.
Kate Rayworth speaks our language. This book explains how to develop an economy that takes human and planetary flourishing into account and, most importantly, explains how we might think differently to get there.
This is a 300-plus-page book about economics—to be honest, even we haven't finished it cover to cover—but we feel a little bit wiser and more hopeful every time we crack it open!
800-CEO-Read "Best Business Book of 2017: Current Events & Public Affairs"
Economics is the mother tongue of public policy. It dominates our decision-making for the future, guides multi-billion-dollar investments, and shapes our responses to climate change, inequality, and other environmental and social challenges that define our times.
Pity then, or more like disaster, that its fundamental ideas are centuries out of date yet are still taught in college courses worldwide and still used to address critical issues in government and business alike.
That's why it is time, says renegade economist Kate Raworth,…
As a corporate lawyer, I saw first-hand that corporations lack a comprehensive social and environmental conscience. I had begun to experiment with articles and bylaws when I met one of the founders of B-Lab, the creator of the B-Corp and architect behind the benefit corporation, in 2008. I have been working to upgrade the operating principles of the economy ever since. I was the co-chair of the legal working group for California’s benefit corporation legislation and my former law firm was one of the first law firms to become a B Corp. I’m highly motivated to leave a habitable planet to our children and grandchildren.
I was skeptical that a book about accounting could be entertaining.
Jane Gleason-White not only brings the history of double book entry accounting alive but also tells the story of how accountants are quietly leading the transformation to a sustainable economy. This transformation demands that we upgrade traditional accounting that only accounts for financial and industrial capital to account for benefits and detriments to the natural world and society.
To support a sustainable economy, accounting systems must include four additional categories of capital: intellectual, human, social, and relationship. A sustainable economy not only requires new economic principles and new corporate forms, but new accounting systems that account for all six capitals.
This is the story of a twenty-first-century revolution being led by the most unlikely of rebels: accountants. Only the second revolution in accounting since double-entry bookkeeping began, it is of seismic proportions, driven by the 2008 financial crash and our ongoing environmental crisis. The changes it will wreak are profound and far-reaching and not only will transform the way the world does business but also will alter the nature of capitalism.
While the wealth of nations and corporations has been vital to the global economy, increasingly the world is coming to realize that such endless growth is limited by the…
Alex Counts founded Grameen Foundation and became its President and CEO in 1997. A Cornell University graduate, Counts’s commitment to poverty eradication deepened as a Fulbright scholar in Bangladesh, where he trained under Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, and co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Since its modest beginnings, Grameen Foundation has grown to become a leading international humanitarian organization. Today he is an independent consultant to mission-driven organizations, a prolific writer, and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maryland who loves to teach nonprofit leadership and related subjects.
This guidebook in the form of a memoir, or memoir in the form of a guidebook, is both highly entertaining and profoundly useful. Through brutally honest stories from his years leading FINCA, the global microfinance network, Scofield shows how social change happens: one mistake, one insight, and one breakthrough at a time. By laying them out so clearly and in such a reader-friendly format, he has provided a valuable gift to a new generation of changemakers.
"The reader gains an insightful view of the author's personal journey and the processes involved when setting up a social enterprise. Its distinctive style makes it useful for readers who are looking for a thorough account of setting up a not-for-profit organisation or social enterprise" Phoenix, Jan 2012
When I was eight years old, my family went for a hike on Mount Mitchell, the tallest peak in my home state of North Carolina. We stumbled on a horror scene: most of the trees on the mountain were scarred skeletons; we were witnesses to mass death from acid rain. Since then, I’ve devoted myself to trying to nudge human action towards good. At Greenpeace I chained myself to fences, at the Hewlett Foundation I oversaw millions of dollars in grants, as GuideStar CEO I helped lead a technology platform used by millions of donors and do-gooders. I’ve been blessed to work with some of the best thinkers and doers in business, philanthropy, and government.
In social change, it’s easy enough to think you can look at a problem, map out a plan, and execute it. But reality always gets in the way.
In Lean Impact, Ann Mei Chang Shows how to bring an iterative approach to doing good in the world. Translating the “Lean Startup” methodology to social change, Chang shows that it is possible to listen, to learn, and to get results.
Despite enormous investments of time and money, are we making a dent on the social and environmental challenges of our time? What if we could exponentially increase our impact?
Around the world, a new generation is looking beyond greater profits, for meaningful purpose. But, unlike business, few social interventions have achieved significant impact at scale. Inspired by the modern innovation practices, popularized by bestseller The Lean Startup, that have fueled technology breakthroughs touching every aspect of our lives, Lean Impact turns our attention to a new goal - radically greater social good.
Social change is far more complicated than building…
I’ve worked in and around the tech, science and startup world for the past 10 years, and hype has played various roles in my work and life. From working in advertising where my job was to build narratives around ideas and products, then in journalism where I was tasked with sorting hype from reality when deciding who and what to write about, to now being a researcher who looks into the very nature and power of narratives, ideologies, political economies and cultures around science and technology – hype has been a recurring topic which is so important in understanding and navigating the tech industry. I hope you find these books as enlightening as I have!
I loved this book because it not only picks apart the concept of "innovation" and helps you approach its usage across work, media, and everyday life but it also goes into exploring an alternative view – that of "maintenance."
It’s packed full of great examples, provides much-needed clear analysis of things we take for granted (like bridges!), and gives me hope for different ways of approaching how to talk about technology, innovation, and the future.
“Innovation” is the hottest buzzword in business. But what if our obsession with finding the next big thing has distracted us from the work that matters most?
“The most important book I’ve read in a long time . . . It explains so much about what is wrong with our technology, our economy, and the world, and gives a simple recipe for how to fix it: Focus on understanding what it takes for your products and services to last.”—Tim O’Reilly, founder of O’Reilly Media
It’s hard to avoid innovation these days. Nearly every product gets marketed as being disruptive, whether…
I pivoted into brand consulting after working in banking, because I saw a need to align organizational behaviors and actions with purpose and values. So naturally, as a strategist my work has always informally included an element of coaching brands and people to have the courage and confidence to be their best, true selves. To have a broader societal vision and positive social impact. Since the Me-to-We continuum of Brand Citizenship emerged unsolicited in research, I also have been on a larger mission to help business balance how it earns a profit with how it serves individual people, betters society, and regenerates the planet.
I strongly believe business leaders and brands must engage with all stakeholders (including society and the planet) to thrive – and this is the essence of John Browne’s message in Connect.
Browne, a former CEO of BP, contrasts positive engagement with traditional corporate social responsibility, which he contends is often more about complying with laws and regulations and looking good rather than doing good.
The first half of the book provides real world examples of how corporate success is dependent on greater engagement with society.
And the second examines Browne’s four tenets of connected leadership – map your world, define your contribution, apply world class management, engage radically – and how companies can exemplify them going forward and profitably place society at the heart of business.
Why being radically connected with society is not just the right thing to do, it is an imperative for a company's bottom line Based on John Browne's decades of experience as one of the world's most successful and innovative CEOs, with research by McKinsey & Company, Connect is a practical manifesto that redefines the role of business in society. Through insightful analysis and vivid storytelling--ranging from ancient China, Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike of the late nineteenth century, to oil spills and privacy issues emanating from the technology of the twenty--first--Connect explores the recurring rift between business and society…
I’ve experienced good organisations and less so in my working life. Likewise, I've experienced the good and less so of leadership. In leading teams and organisations during my career, I, too, have been an example of both, so I’m passionate about helping leaders grow their capability to ‘avoid the less so’ and lead well, with humanity and greater consciousness, to create workplaces where people flourish and organisations that contribute positively to the future of our world.
Power has gotten a bad rap over the years due to its selfish/self-interested misuse in all walks of life. For me, Rometty’s book resets the dial with its refreshing focus on using power for the greater good and creating positive change in organisations and wider society.
I really liked the book's blend of memoir, practical advice and tools, and the core concept of good power—shifting from the traditional notion of leadership as control and power to a practice that puts empathy, inclusion, and service at heart. Ultimately, the book is about meaningful, positive change…something we can surely all get behind.
Former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty delivers a powerful combination of memoir, leadership lessons, and big ideas on how we can all drive meaningful change.
Ginni Rometty led one of the world's most iconic companies, and in Good Power she recounts her groundbreaking path from a challenging childhood to becoming the CEO of IBM and one of the world's most influential business leaders. With candor and depth, Rometty shares milestones from her life and career while redefining power as a way to drive meaningful change in positive ways for ourselves, our organizations, and for the many,…
I am passionate about looking for new ways to see our future. As a futurist and trend researcher for over 30 years, I am drawn to books, ideas, and people that lead us away from narrow black-and-white thinking. With the help of these mavericks, outliers, and new systemic thinking, we can shift from a naive, optimistic, or miserable pessimistic mindset to what I call a “possibilistic” outlook on society and business. We all need purpose, and mine is to show that more things are possible than we think; sometimes, we just need to look in unusual places and into unusual minds and books to find new solutions for a better future.
This book was a revelation. It gives positive examples of why we can be optimistic about the future while not shying away from uncomfortable truths about business and consumerism.
Her enthusiasm for a kinder economy and her personal stories and journey are inspiring and provide great lessons about change in society and business.
As seen on THE ONE SHOW, and heard on WOMAN'S HOUR and THE ZOE BALL BREAKFAST SHOW on Radio 2
'Challenges all the things we thought we knew about business.' Sam Baker __________
How we live, buy and sell is changing, and it's changing for good. Rebuild is a vital guide to how we reset post-pandemic and build back better.
Retail and brand expert Mary Portas argues that over the past thirty years the business of what we buy has been dominated by the biggest, fastest and cheapest. But those values no longer resonate. We've come to realize that more…
