This season’s standout business books offer fresh perspectives from leading academics, CEOs and industry pioneers on the future of leadership, talent and sustainable growth
If you’re looking forward to taking a well-deserved break from your desk this summer, now’s the perfect time to catch up on those must-read business books everyone’s talking about. Whether you’re looking to elevate your leadership skills, embed sustainability in your corporate strategy, or want to build a future-ready talent pipeline, the following books from business school professors, FTSE 50 leaders and global CEOs will set you up for success.
Burn Bright, Build Slow: How to build a just climate future by Sandhya Sabapathy
Corporate sustainability has perhaps never been higher on the boardroom agenda, yet meaningful progress often remains frustratingly slow. In Burn Bright, Build Slow, former FTSE 100 sustainability director Sandhya Sabapathy argues that the problem isn’t ambition – it’s the outdated systems businesses continue to operate within.
Blending research, lived experience and a compelling fictional narrative, the book challenges leaders to rethink how business, capital and policy interact, offering a hopeful vision of what a more resilient and just future could look like. Thought-provoking without being preachy, it moves beyond ESG rhetoric to explore the structural changes needed to create lasting impact, making it an essential read for leaders seeking to build organisations fit for the decades ahead.
Key areas covered:
- Why today’s sustainability challenges are rooted in outdated systems rather than a lack of ambition.
- How business leaders, investors and policymakers can create meaningful long-term change.
- A fresh perspective on moving beyond ESG commitments towards systemic transformation.
- A hopeful vision for building organisations that deliver both commercial success and societal value.
“Burn Bright, Build Slow challenges leaders to rethink how business, capital and policy interact”
Discipline Beats Vision by Dane Hudson
In Discipline Beats Vision, Dane Hudson has distilled lessons from 25 years as a global CEO into an accessible leadership framework. Tried and tested, he says the lessons in this book have helped more than 150 Founder CEOs and 900 C-level leaders scale their businesses without losing their culture, their investors, or themselves.
A practical leadership handbook for those seeking to grow alongside their businesses and expanding responsibilities, Discipline Beats Vision asserts that optimism and talent only get you so far, discipline will take you to the next level.
Key areas covered:
- A discipline-first approach, it offers the tools and frameworks that distinguish founders who scale successfully and those that stall.
- Covering everything from building trust and accountability and embedding culture, to managing boards, expanding internationally, and leading through crisis.
- Every chapter finishes with a “Monday Ready” challenge designed to move readers from insight to immediate action.
- How to solve the challenges aspiring leaders face through changing behaviours and becoming more impactful.
“Discipline Beats Vision asserts that optimism and talent only get you so far”
HumanCorps: Redesigning Organisations for the Wisdom Age by Andrew Lopianowski and Mike Pino
Too many organisations are trapped inside systems built for a very different era, stuck using management logic that no longer matches reality. HumanCorps addresses the organisational system, the people within it, and the technology that binds it, to give leaders a compelling and usable framework for change amidst complexity, uncertainty, and accelerating technological change.
HumanCorps shows that the future of organisational performance depends not on squeezing more out of outdated systems, but on redesigning those systems around human capability, collective intelligence, and thoughtful integration with AI.
Key areas covered:
- Essential reading for forward-thinking executives, senior managers, and transformation leaders.
- Insights and tools needed to navigate disruption, unlock human potential, and build a thriving organisation for the years ahead.
- Introduces the HumanCorps model: a comprehensive framework for building resilient businesses that prioritise human potential while leveraging technology.
- Thought-provoking and timely, the book combines compelling case studies, expert interviews, and actionable strategies.
“HumanCorps gives leaders a compelling and usable framework for change amidst complexity”
Navigating Your Next: Discover the Career You Want and the Path to Get There by Julian Lighton
In an era of AI disruption, restructuring and shifting career expectations, many professionals are asking themselves not just what’s next? but what do I actually want? Drawing on more than three decades advising senior leaders, hiring top talent and coaching executives, Julian Lighton provides a practical seven-step framework to help readers take control of their careers with confidence.
Rather than offering generic career advice, Navigating Your Next combines real-world leadership experience with actionable tools that help readers define their value, identify meaningful opportunities and make better career decisions. Whether you’re considering a new role, leading organisational change or simply reflecting on your future, this is an insightful guide to navigating uncertainty with purpose.
Key areas covered:
- A practical seven-step framework for making confident career decisions.
- How to identify your strengths, articulate your value and negotiate your next opportunity.
- What employers are really looking for when hiring senior talent.
- Practical tools and exercises to move from reflection to action.
“Navigating Your Next combines real-world leadership experience with actionable tools”
Ask 3 Questions: How to Live Well in a Distracted World by Rob Cross
Ask 3 Questions: How to live well in a distracted world by Rob Cross is a practical and thought-provoking guide to navigating modern life with greater clarity and intention. Blending personal insight from decades of coaching practice with existential philosophy and psychology, the book centres on three deep but essential questions that shape how we live, lead and define success:
- Who Am I?
- Why Am I Here?
- How Will I Live?
Ask 3 Questions invites us all, whether we’re successful on paper but feel life is passing us by, or perhaps just feel something in our lives is missing, to step back and reassess what really matters.
Key areas covered:
- Millions of high performers are currently living through a perpetual life crisis, where they are increasingly disconnected from feeling fulfilled, despite outward success.
- Offers a simple but powerful question-led framework that cuts through the noise and guides readers towards their true identity, purpose, and direction.
- Blends coaching, psychology and philosophy into a practical roadmap for how to live and lead well.
“Ask 3 Questions invites us all to step back and reassess what really matters”
The Difference: How to understand, measure and maximize social impact by Matt Stevenson-Dodd
In The Difference, Matt Stevenson-Dodd, founder of Trust Impact, tackles one of the most important and uncomfortable questions facing leaders today: “Are we actually making the difference we think we are?” Blending candid real-world experience with practical insight, the book cuts through jargon and theory to offer a frank conversation about impact.
With a 30+ year career helping leading charities, businesses and public sector organisations measure and maximise their social impact, Stevenson-Dodd explores why impact is so often sidelined in strategy, why openness about failure matters, and how organisations can keep meaningful impact at the heart of decision-making.
Key areas covered:
- The Difference is full of practical takeaways, real-world examples and actionable insights.
- There’s no dry methodology and formulaic case studies here, instead offering an honest, practical account of experimentation, setbacks and lessons learned.
- Includes tools leaders can implement immediately to strengthen, scale and accelerate their social impact.
“The Difference cuts through jargon and theory to offer a frank conversation about impact”
Future-Ready Talent: Building a Talent Pipeline for Sustained Business Success by Tania Lennon and Ric Roi
Talent is the second biggest disruptor after technology, according to Accenture’s Pulse of Change Survey (2025). Future-Ready Talent is a new book from experts at the IMD business school, revealing why now is such a critical time for talent – and how business leaders can prepare for the changes to come.
Written by Tania Lennon, lead of the Strategic Talent Lab at IMD business school and Ric Roi, senior business psychologist and Professor of Leadership and Organization at IMD, Future-Ready Talent helps business leaders build a workforce that is prepared for the disruption ahead.
Key areas covered:
- Combines psychology, neuroscience and new technology insights with academic research.
- Packed with global real-world examples, tools and actionable models.
- Essential reading for senior HR leaders, and executives and business partners looking to build a future-ready workforce.
“Future-Ready Talent helps business leaders build a workforce that is prepared for the disruption ahead”