The Top 24 Business Books of 2024

Read to succeed in the new year.

So, you want to be a better businessperson. An MBA program could certainly help—but not everyone has multiple years and tens of thousands of dollars to spare. And even if you have an MBA, much of what you learned will inevitably need an update. Where else can you acquire expert advice and discover the latest best practices?

The world of business books offers an excellent alternative for our community. Every season, our curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Daniel Pink, and Adam Grant pick two exciting reads to share with Next Big Idea Club members. The rankings below, however, are based on the popularity of “Book Bite” audio summaries in the Next Big Idea App. In other words, they are among 2024’s best business books, according to our thousands of app users. Read on to discover the secrets of today’s brightest business minds.

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24. Open Talent: Leveraging the Global Workforce to Solve Your Biggest Challenges

By John Winsor and Jin H. Paik

With rich stories, keen insights, and an abundance of practical advice, Open Talent provides a new framework and operating model for transforming your organization into a talent-orchestrating, problem-solving machine. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author John Winsor, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

23. The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profits and Socializes Costs

By Christopher Marquis

An exposé of how society pays for corporations’ “free lunch” and the cost of environmental damage, low wages, systemic discrimination, and cheap goods. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Christopher Marquis, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

22. Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption

By Steve Dennis

Leaders Leap goes beyond the standard business playbook and teaches you the secrets to creating the bolder, faster, and essential transformation needed to avoid becoming irrelevant in an era of profound and accelerating change. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Steve Dennis, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

21. The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism

By John Mackey

Whole Foods Market’s co-founder and CEO for 44 years offers an intimate and provocative account of the rise of this iconic company—and the personal and spiritual journey that inspired its remarkable impact. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author John Mackey, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

20. Build Like a Woman: The Blueprint for Creating a Business and Life You Love

By Kathleen Griffith

From the self-made businesswoman and founder of the global platform Build Like A Woman comes the essential resource to unleash your business, take up space, and create your dream life. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kathleen Griffith, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

19. The Power of Instinct: The New Rules of Persuasion in Business and Life

By Leslie Zane

An award-winning Fortune 500 brand consultant and behavioral expert shatters conventional marketing wisdom, showing readers how to tap into the hidden brain where instinct prevails, creating a powerful network of connections that drive people to buy your product, company, or vision. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Leslie Zane, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

18. Red Helicopter―A Parable for Our Times: Lead Change with Kindness (Plus a Little Math)

By James Rhee

A poignant and uplifting celebration of humanity, red helicopter—a parable for our times is a tale of struggle and triumph, compelling for its honesty and relatability as much as for the instructions we can all use to balance the books of our lives. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author James Rhee, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

17. 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: …And the Truth We Need to Succeed

By Bonnie Hammer

Written with humor and heart, and full of insights and research, 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work doesn’t just explain one woman’s rise to the top in a tough industry; it shows how any woman can rise as high as she wants in her own work world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Bonnie Hammer, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

16. Beyond Discomfort: Why Inclusive Leadership Is So Hard

By Nadia Nagamootoo

An acclaimed chartered psychologist reveals a new model of inclusive leadership, describing four belief systems and associated emotional responses to DEI. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nadia Nagamootoo, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

15. The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World

By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

Borders draw one map of the world; money draws another. A journalist’s riveting account exposes a parallel universe that has become a haven for the rich and powerful. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Atossa Araxia Abrahamian, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

14. Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It

By Malissa Clark

A preeminent researcher on the culture of overwork delivers a comprehensive, nuanced definition of workaholism, busting myths along the way. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Malissa Clark, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

13. Lead Bigger: The Transformative Power of Inclusion

By Anne Chow

Drawing from over three decades of experience, a former CEO of AT&T Business shares how to lead bigger by leveraging inclusion beyond DEI, to elevate your work, workforce, and workplace. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Anne Chow, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

12. Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places that Bring People Together

By Kevin Ervin Kelley

Irreplaceable provides a comprehensive roadmap for creating human experiences that have the power to convene and bring friends, neighbors, and strangers together in prosocial environments in ways the digital replacements can’t replicate. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Kevin Ervin Kelley, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

11. Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life

By Robert C. Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff

This book places rapidly advancing technologies―from generative AI and 3D printing to lab-grown meats, renewable energy, and virtual reality―in context and explores the factors accelerating the transformation. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by authors Robert C. Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

10. Cultures of Growth: How the New Science of Mindset Can Transform Individuals, Teams, and Organizations

By Mary Murphy

An award-winning social psychologist offers a groundbreaking reconsideration of individual and team success—showing how to create and sustain a growth mindset in any organization’s culture. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mary Murphy, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

9. Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing

By Laura Mae Martin

Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor offers insights on how to make the new way of work work for you, providing actionable steps to optimize your productivity, accomplish more, prevent burnout, and cultivate a harmonious work-life balance. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Laura Mae Martin, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

8. Good Judgment: Making Better Business Decisions with the Science of Human Personality

By Richard Davis

From an experienced organizational psychologist comes a unique guide to learning how to better read and understand people and make improved, more informed business decisions about them. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Richard Davis, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

7. Make Your Own Rules: Stories and Hard-Earned Advice from a Creator in the Digital Age

By Andrew Huang

A YouTube sensation shares stories from his two decades as a music industry misfit and offers advice on both the artistic and business sides of working as a creator in our digital era. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Andrew Huang, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

6. Sell Like a Spy: The Art of Persuasion from the World of Espionage

By Jeremy Hurewitz

An expert in sales and corporate espionage taps into the history of intelligence-gathering and his own relationships with former agents of the CIA, FBI, and counterterrorism in this handbook of field-tested spycraft strategies and government agency tactics to build relationships, persuade, and sell anything. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Jeremy Hurewitz, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

5. Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World

By Parmy Olson

A Bloomberg tech writer tells the astonishing story of the battle between two AI firms, their struggles to use their tech for good, and the hazardous direction they could go as they serve two powerful tech monopolies. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Parmy Olson, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

4. All In: How Great Leaders Build Unstoppable Teams

By Mike Michalowicz

An acclaimed entrepreneur shows readers how to recruit the right talent, transform struggling employees into superstars, match individual abilities to client and company needs, and motivate every employee to care as much as an owner. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mike Michalowicz, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

3. The AI Playbook: Mastering the Rare Art of Machine Learning Deployment

By Eric Siegel

A bestselling author presents the gold-standard, six-step practice for ushering machine learning projects from conception to deployment, illustrating the practice with stories of success and of failure from UPS, FICO, and prominent dot-coms. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Eric Siegel, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

2. Glad We Met: The Art and Science of 1:1 Meetings

By Steven Rogelberg

There are an estimated 200-500 million 1:1 meetings held each day around the world, but are they run as transformatively as they could be? Or are they just talk? Glad We Met helps us maximize the potential of these crucial conversations. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Steven Rogelberg, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon

1. The Six Disciplines of Strategic Thinking: Leading Your Organization into the Future

By Michael Watkins

The international bestselling author of The First 90 Days presents an actionable new framework to help aspiring leaders learn to think strategically—a set of skills more necessary than ever in a world of constant change. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Michael Watkins, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon