Essential business books to help build towards a strong year end

Purposeful Luxury: The Strategic Playbook for Sustainability in Luxury Industries by Stéphane J.G. Girod

As leaders head into year-end planning, Purposeful Luxury ask businesses if they are preparing for the world they are heading into, or simply optimising for the one they know?

IMD Business School Professor, Stéphane J.G. Girod, argues that sustainability should no longer be treated as a reputational exercise, compliance burden or cost to minimise, but as a strategic lever for protecting long-term competitiveness, customer trust and profitability. Drawing on interviews with executives and managers at some of the world’s best-known luxury brands, alongside analysis of more than 1,000 sustainability and annual reports from 98 companies, Girod examines how businesses can turn environmental and societal pressures into opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage. 

From product development and supply chains to brand positioning and customer engagement, the book provides a practical framework for leaders considering what needs to change and how their organisation can remain relevant in a more turbulent future. 

Purposeful Luxury encourages leaders to look beyond next year’s targets and ask a harder question: is the business model they are taking into 2027 built to succeed over the next two decades?

Unscript: The Radical Act of Being Yourself by Christian O’Connell 

Christian O’Connell has connected with millions of people live on air by embracing the unscripted moments that make us human. His whole career proves a single idea: authentic connection, not polished perfection, is what makes people feel seen.

In his new book, Unscript, Christian O’Connell argues that in a world flooded with fake content, influencers, and AI, the most radical act is showing up authentically. After decades on the radio speaking with everyone from celebrities to callers, he realised he had often presented a curated, inauthentic version of himself. Embracing authenticity transformed everything. “The online version of us is curated and fake. When we talk, we aim for perfection. But after 30 years in radio, I’ve learned people don’t want perfection – they want connection,” he explains.

Unscript offers relief for those exhausted from performing. When you stop trying to be who you think you should be, you open space for deeper connections, self-acceptance, and the freedom to be fully yourself.

Negotiate with Style: 17 True Stories of Negotiation from Inside the World of Luxury by Carlo Pignataro 

Negotiation is often seen as a competition, two parties with opposing interests with a winner and a loser. But what if the key to a successful negotiation isn’t about arguing harder or getting the upper hand, but seeing the situation more clearly?

In his new book, Negotiate With Style, author and international business consultant, Carlo Pignataro offers a different perspective. Drawing on 17 true stories from the high-stakes world of luxury, he explores how successful negotiation is often less about the argument and more about the ability to understand the wider situation: what matters, where the real power lies, what should not be traded and what the person across the table actually wants.

Part narrative business book, part exploration of human behaviour, Negotiate With Style offers a distinctive perspective on one of the most important and misunderstood skills in professional life. It is written for people who negotiate for a living, people who want to become better at it and anyone interested in the hidden human dynamics that shape decisions.

The Business of Storytelling: Inspire Action, Build Trust, and Drive Results Through Story by Don Yaeger 

“Storytelling is not a soft skill,” Don Yaeger writes. “It is one of the most practical, high-leverage leadership tools available today.” 

In The Business of Storytelling thirteen-time New York Times bestselling author, Hall of Fame keynote speaker, and longtime storyteller Don Yaeger offers a timely guide to one of the most essential business skills of the modern era. 

Yaeger reframes storytelling as a practical leadership discipline that helps people persuade, inspire, teach, sell, and lead with greater impact. Drawing on decades of experience as a journalist, author, speaker, and student of elite communicators, he shows readers how to use story to make ideas memorable, decisions clearer, and messages more meaningful.

Whether readers are closing a deal, rallying a team, leading through change, building a brand, or trying to make data more meaningful, Yaeger gives them a framework for communicating with clarity, humanity, and impact.

The AI Strategy Playbook by Rene Bohnsack 

The AI Strategy Playbook tackles the biggest paradox of our time: while AI grows exponentially more powerful and affordable, most organisations remain stuck in pilots that never scale. The result is frustration, “AI fatigue,” and missed opportunities. This book delivers a practical, structured roadmap that has already guided thousands of executives on how to embed AI into strategy, operations, and business models.

Combining academic rigour with hands-on frameworks, global strategy expert René Bohnsack introduces four AI Stacks that every leader needs: the Skill Stack, the Transformation Stack, the Strategy Stack, and the Governance and Control Stack. Together, they help executives move step by step from isolated experimentation to full integration of AI into organisations. The playbook is a practical guide for leaders determined to move past hype, avoid paralysis, and create lasting advantage in the age of AI.

Information Security Culture: The Missing Layer of Cyber Defence
by Tobias Ander

Organisations invest millions in firewalls, encryption, security systems and compliance frameworks, yet still leave themselves vulnerable to cyberattacks.

According to author Tobias Ander, former Swedish armed forces and transport agency CISO, the problem isn’t necessarily a lack of technology or information. It is the human behaviour and organisational culture surrounding cybersecurity.

Ander argues that whilst technology can be upgraded and systems can be patched, culture is something that must be deliberately designed. He provides a practical roadmap for creating a resilient, human-centric security culture that makes security part of everyday organisational behaviour. The book explores how organisations can move beyond compliance and awareness alone towards behavioural change, make security a leadership responsibility, turn mistakes into intelligence and align culture with regulation. 

This book gives organisations the strategic insight and practical tools they need to design, measure and sustain a security culture that strengthens cyber defence from the inside out. 

The Archer’s Edge by Michael Watkins  

“I knew what to do. I just couldn’t do it” is a phrase commonly heard among business leaders. The gap between knowing and performing is the biggest unaddressed problem in leadership development.

A revolutionary new book from Michael Watkins, the author of The First 90 Days and Olympic gold medallist Juan Carlos Holgado, says focus and composure under pressure can be trained.

In archery, the arrow finds the centre or it doesn’t. There is also a paradox that underpins the book: the harder you try to hit the target, the more likely you miss, because striving creates tension and tension degrades control. The same paradox governs leadership.

The Archer’s Edge is must-read for any modern business leader. Using ancient archery practice and modern leadership theory, the authors identify six capabilities that enable leaders to perform under pressure: developmental agility, purposeful practice, focus, mental toughness, adaptability, and team excellence.