17 Must-Read Business Books Coming Soon in 2016

17 Must-Read Business Books Coming Soon in 2016

If your list of New Year’s resolutions includes reading more books, improving your business skills, refining your public speaking techniques, or growing your company, you will be pleased to know that fresh insight and inspiration from some of the world’s greatest thought leaders will be available for you to purchase soon; 2016 is shaping up to be a great year for business books.

Included below, in no particular order, are some of the books I am enthusiastically awaiting. Hopefully some or all of these books are also exciting and inspirational for you:

1. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Summary:

The New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take examines how people can champion new ideas—and how leaders can encourage originality in their organizations

With Give and Take, Adam Grant not only introduced a landmark new paradigm for success but also established himself as one of his generation’s most compelling and provocative thought leaders. In Originals he again addresses the challenge of improving the world, but now from the perspective of becoming original: choosing to champion novel ideas and values that go against the grain, battle conformity, and buck outdated traditions. How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all?

Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World

Available: February 2, 2016

2. Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

Summary:

From three partners at Google Ventures, a unique five-day process for solving tough problems, proven at more than a hundred companies.

Entrepreneurs and leaders face big questions every day: What’s the most important place to focus your effort, and how do you start? What will your idea look like in real life? How many meetings and discussions does it take before you can be sure you have the right solution?

Now there’s a surefire way to answer these important questions: the sprint. Designer Jake Knapp created the five-day process at Google, where sprints were used on everything from Google Search to Google X. He joined Braden Kowitz and John Zeratsky at Google Ventures, and together they have completed more than a hundred sprints with companies in mobile, e-commerce, healthcare, finance, and more.

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days

Available: March 8, 2016

3. Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges

Summary:

By accessing our personal power, we can achieve “presence,” the state in which we stop worrying about the impression we’re making on others and instead adjust the impression we’ve been making on ourselves. As Harvard professor Amy Cuddy’s revolutionary book reveals, we don’t need to embark on a grand spiritual quest or complete an inner transformation to harness the power of presence. Instead, we need to nudge ourselves, moment by moment, by tweaking our body language, behavior, and mind-set in our day-to-day lives.

Amy Cuddy has galvanized tens of millions of viewers around the world with her TED talk about “power poses.” Now she presents the enthralling science underlying these and many other fascinating body-mind effects, and teaches us how to use simple techniques to liberate ourselves from fear in high-pressure moments, perform at our best, and connect with and empower others to do the same.

Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges

Available: December 22, 2015 (Even though this book was released in late 2015, it is too good to leave off this list!)

4. Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent

Summary: 

After ten years of research and more than two hundred interviews, Finkelstein has concluded that superbosses exist in nearly every industry, from the glamorous to the mundane. If you study the top fifty leaders in any field, as many as one-third will have once worked for a superboss.

While superbosses differ in their personal styles, they all focus on identifying promising newcomers, inspiring their best work, and launching them into highly successful careers—while also expanding their own networks and building stronger companies. Among the practices that distinguish superbosses:

–     They Create Master-Apprentice Relationships

–     They Rely on the Cohort Effect

–     They Say Good-Bye on Good Terms

By sharing the fascinating stories of superbosses and their protégés, Finkelstein explores a phenomenon that never had a name before. And he shows how each of us can emulate the best tactics of superbosses to create our own powerful networks of extraordinary talent.

Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent

Available: February 9, 2016

5. From Impossible To Inevitable: How Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue

Summary:

From Impossible to Inevitable details the hypergrowth playbook of companies like the record-breaking Zenefits (which skyrocketed from $1 million to $100 million in two years), Salesforce.com (the fastest growing multibillion dollar software company), and EchoSign—aka Adobe Document Services—(which catapulted from $0 to $144 million in seven years). Whether you have a $1 billion or a $100,000 business, you can use the same insights as these notable companies to learn what it really takes to break your own revenue records. For instance, one of the authors shows how he grew his income from $67,000 to $720,000 in four years while maintaining a 20-30 hour work week and welcoming a new child—nine times.

This book shows you how to surpass plateaus and get off of the up-and-down revenue rollercoaster by answering three questions about growing revenue to tens times its size:

–     Why aren’t you growing faster?
–     What does it take to get to hypergrowth?
–     How do you sustain growth?

This powerful, effective book provides a template for you to kick off your biggest growth spurt yet.

From Impossible To Inevitable: How Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue

Available: February 8, 2016

6. The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success

Summary:

In The Happiness Track, Emma Seppala, the science director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, explains that our inability to achieve sustainable fulfillment is tied to common but outdated notions about success. We are taught that getting ahead means doing everything that’s thrown at us (and then some) with razor-sharp focus and iron discipline; that success depends on our drive and talents; and that achievement cannot happen without stress.

The Happiness Track demolishes these counter-productive theories. Drawing on the latest findings from the fields of cognitive psychology and neuroscience—research on happiness, resilience, willpower, compassion, positive stress, creativity, mindfulness—Seppala shows that finding happiness and fulfillment may, in fact, be the most productive thing we can do to thrive professionally. Filled with practical advice on how to apply these scientific findings to our daily lives,The Happiness Track is a life-changing guide to fast tracking our success and creating the anxiety-free life we want.

The Happiness Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your Success

Available: January 26, 2016

7. Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business as Usual

Summary:

Dr. David Burkus is a highly regarded and increasingly influential business school professor who challenges many of the established principles of business management. Drawing on decades of research, Burkus has found that not only are many of our fundamental management practices wrong and misguided, but they can be downright counterproductive.

These days, the best companies are breaking the old rules. At some companies, e-mail is now restricted to certain hours, so that employees can work without distraction. Netflix no longer has a standard vacation policy of two to three weeks, but instructs employees to take time off when they feel they need it. And at Valve Software, there are no managers; the employees govern themselves.

The revolutionary insights Burkus reveals here will convince companies to leave behind decades-old management practices and implement new ways to enhance productivity and morale.

Under New Management: How Leading Organizations Are Upending Business as Usual

Available: March 15, 2016

8. The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness

Summary:

In The End of Average, Todd Rose, a rising star in the new field of the science of the individual shows that no one is average. Not you. Not your kids. Not your employees. This isn’t hollow sloganeering—it’s a mathematical fact with enormous practical consequences. But while we know people learn and develop in distinctive ways, these unique patterns of behaviors are lost in our schools and businesses which have been designed around the mythical “average person.” This average-size-fits-all model ignores our differences and fails at recognizing talent. It’s time to change it.

Weaving science, history, and his personal experiences as a high school dropout, Rose offers a powerful alternative to understanding individuals through averages: the three principles of individuality. The jaggedness principle (talent is always jagged), the context principle (traits are a myth), and the pathways principle (we all walk the road less traveled) help us understand our true uniqueness—and that of others—and how to take full advantage of individuality to gain an edge in life.

Read this powerful manifesto in the ranks of Drive, Quiet, and Mindset—and you won’t see averages or talent in the same way again.

The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness

Available: January 19, 2016

9. Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business

Summary:

At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key concepts—from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making—that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics—as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters—this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don’t merely act differently.

They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways.

In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Charles Duhigg explained why we do what we do. InSmarter Faster Better, he applies the same relentless curiosity, deep reporting, and rich storytelling to explain how we can improve at the things we do. It’s a groundbreaking exploration of the science of productivity, one that can help anyone learn to succeed with less stress and struggle, and to get more done without sacrificing what we care about most—to become smarter, faster, and better at everything we do.

Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business

Available: March 8, 2016

10. Stretch: How to Future-Proof Yourself for Tomorrow’s Workplace

Summary:

You know you can do more with your career. And the future is going to demand more of you. The problem is you are so busy keeping up with the day-to-day that you can’t prepare for tomorrow. Stretch: How to Future Proof Yourself for Tomorrow’s Workplace gives you the confidence and knowledge you need to achieve your goals in an ever-changing world. Karie Willyerd and Barbara Mistick—established experts and the collective winners of dozens of awards in the field of personal development and learning—offer evidence-based guidance on obtaining the skills you will need to thrive in tomorrow’s workplace. Built on solid, global research and dozens of personal interviews with people who have achieved new and inspiring goals, Stretch offers advice, valuable insights, anecdotes, and recommendations to make achieving your goals practical and within reach.

Stretch: How to Future-Proof Yourself for Tomorrow’s Workplace

Available: February 1, 2016

11. The Sustainable Edge: 15 Minutes a Week to a Richer Entrepreneurial Life

Summary:

The Sustainable Edge: Fifteen Minutes a Week to a Richer Entrepreneurial Life was written for business owners who are seeking a fuller, more rewarding work-life balance. In this easy-to-reference, practical guide authors and entrepreneurs Ron Carson and Scott Ford share personal anecdotes to their own career successes. Each chapter is designed to inspire entrepreneurs to define and sustain a competitive edge in the complex, fast-changing world of business.

Relying on insights and proprietary tools based on decades of experience, the authors teach you how to achieve your goals across four key areas: your business, your teams, your clients, and your personal lives. In this book you will learn the authors’ trademarked Business Implementation Quotient (IQ) Grower process that appears in the form of end-of-chapter exercises. These easy-to-perform exercises can be completed in as little as 15 minutes per week to help your company boost its own Business IQ. This work is an important read for entrepreneurs in search of achieving the sustainable edge in their careers and their lives.

The Sustainable Edge: 15 Minutes a Week to a Richer Entrepreneurial Life

Available: January 19, 2016

12. TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

Summary:

Since taking over TED in the early 2000s, Chris Anderson has shown how carefully crafted short talks can be the key to unlocking empathy, stirring excitement, spreading knowledge, and promoting a shared dream. Done right, a talk can electrify a room and transform an audience’s worldview. Done right, a talk is more powerful than anything in written form.

This book explains how the miracle of powerful public speaking is achieved, and equips you to give it your best shot. There is no set formula; no two talks should be the same. The goal is for you to give the talk that only you can give. But don’t be intimidated. You may find it more natural than you think.

Chris Anderson has worked behind the scenes with all the TED speakers who have inspired us the most, and here he shares insights from such favorites as Sir Ken Robinson, Amy Cuddy, Bill Gates, Elizabeth Gilbert, Salman Khan, Dan Gilbert, Mary Roach, Matt Ridley, and dozens more — everything from how to craft your talk’s content to how you can be most effective on stage. This is the 21st-century’s new manual for truly effective communication and it is a must-read for anyone who is ready to create impact with their ideas.

TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

Available: May 3, 2016

13. The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don’t

Summary:

In The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch on and Others Don’t, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and communication expert Carmine Gallo reveals the keys to telling powerful stories that inspire, motivate, educate, build brands, launch movements, and change lives. The New York Times has called a well-told story “a strategic tool with irresistible power” – the proof lies in the success stories of 50 icons, leaders, and legends featured in The Storyteller’s Secret: entrepreneurs like Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Sheryl Sandberg; spellbinding speakers like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bryan Stevenson, and Malala Yousafzai; and business leaders behind famous brands such as Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Wynn Resorts, Whole Foods, and Pixar. Whether your goal is to educate, fundraise, inspire teams, build an award-winning culture, or to deliver memorable presentations, a story is your most valuable asset and your competitive advantage.

In The Storyteller’s Secret, Gallo explains why the brain is hardwired to love stories – especially rags-to-riches stories – and how the latest science can help you craft a persuasive narrative that wins hearts and minds. “The art of storytelling can be used to drive change,” says billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson. And since the next decade will see the most change our civilization has ever known, your story will radically transform your business, your life, and the lives of those you touch. Ideas that catch on are wrapped in story. Your story can change the world. Isn’t it time you shared yours?

The Storyteller’s Secret: From TED Speakers to Business Legends, Why Some Ideas Catch On and Others Don’t

Available: February 23, 2016

14. Decision Quality: Value Creation from Better Business Decisions

Summary:

Few things are as valuable in business, and in life, as the ability to make good decisions. Can you imagine how much more rewarding your life and your business would be if every decision you made were the best it could be? Decision Quality empowers you to make the best possible choice and get more of what you truly want from every decision.

Dr. Carl Spetzler is a leader in the field of decision science and has worked with organizations across industries to improve their decision-making capabilities. He and his co-authors, all experienced consultants and educators in this field, show you how to frame a problem or opportunity, create a set of attractive alternatives, identify relevant uncertain information, clarify the values that are important in the decision, apply tools of analysis, and develop buy-in among stakeholders. Their straightforward approach is elegantly simple, yet practical and powerful. It can be applied to all types of decisions.

Our business and our personal lives are marked by a stream of decisions. Some are small. Some are large. Some are life-altering or strategic. How well we make those decisions truly matters. This book gives you a framework and thinking tools that will help you to improve the odds of getting more of what you value from every choice.

Decision Quality: Value Creation from Better Business Decisions

Available: March 7, 2016

15. An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization

Summary:

Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey (and their collaborators) have found and studied such companies—Deliberately Developmental Organizations. A DDO is organized around the simple but radical conviction that organizations will best prosper when they are more deeply aligned with people’s strongest motive, which is to grow. This means going beyond consigning “people development” to high-potential programs, executive coaching, or once-a-year off-sites. It means fashioning an organizational culture in which support of people’s development is woven into the daily fabric of working life and the company’s regular operations, daily routines, and conversations.

An Everyone Culture dives deep into the worlds of three leading companies that embody this breakthrough approach. It reveals the design principles, concrete practices, and underlying science at the heart of DDOs—from their disciplined approach to giving feedback, to how they use meetings, to the distinctive way that managers and leaders define their roles. The authors then show readers how to build this developmental culture in their own organizations.

This book demonstrates a whole new way of being at work. It suggests that the culture you create is your strategy—and that the key to success is developing everyone.

An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization

Available: March 22, 2016

16. The Conversion Code: Capture Internet Leads, Create Quality Appointments, Close More Sales

Summary:

The Conversion Code provides a step-by-step blueprint for increasing sales in the modern, Internet-driven era. Today’s consumers are savvy, and they have more options than ever before. Capturing their attention and turning it into revenue requires a whole new approach to marketing and sales. This book provides clear guidance toward conquering the new paradigm shift towards online lead generation and inside sales. You’ll learn how to capture those invaluable Internet leads, convert them into appointments, and close more deals. Regardless of product or industry, this proven process will increase both the quantity and quality of leads and put your sales figures on the rise.

Traditional sales and marketing advice is becoming less and less relevant as today’s consumers are spending much more time online, and salespeople are calling, emailing, and texting leads instead of meeting them in person. This book shows you where to find them, how to engage them, and how to position your company as the ideal solution to their needs.

The Conversion Code: Capture Internet Leads, Create Quality Appointments, Close More Sales

Available: March 7, 2016

17. Lawyers, Liars, and the Art of Storytelling: Using Stories to Advocate, Influence, and Persuade

Summary:

Using famous real-life court transcripts, television scripts, and story after story, Lawyers, Liars, and the Art of Storytelling shows the reader how to get their message across and the result they want using the time-tested elements and basic structure of great stories. Part how-to manual, part memoir, always entertaining and never lecture, this book provides storytelling lessons gleaned from years of trial practice and television writing, wrapped in—what else?—great stories.

Lawyers, Liars, and the Art of Storytelling: Using Stories to Advocate, Influence, and Persuade

Available: February 7, 2016

Additional Resources:

9 Books To Help You Improve Your Presentations

15 Blogs and Resources For Creative Business Leaders

7 Great Business Books To Inspire You In 2015





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