From roadmaps for CEOs and directors, to transformative leadership guides, enter 2026 with renewed confidence with these cutting-edge reads from brilliant business minds
In our continuing bid to help senior executives and top-tier management navigate today’s rapidly shifting industry landscape, Business 4.0 has curated six essential reads from authors with deep, practical experience in commerce. We hope you enjoy exploring the list and gain fresh insights for a stronger, more successful 2026.
Cut-Through: The pitch and presentation playbook by Dominic Colenso.
In a business climate where attention is fleeting and competition for influence is fierce, Cut-Through offers leaders a fresh, highly practical roadmap for communicating with clarity and impact. Drawing on Dominic Colenso’s transition from Hollywood actor to FTSE 100 communication coach, the book reframes pitching and presenting as a repeatable performance skill rather than a talent some are simply born with.
Complete with downloadable resources including diagnostic scorecards, cheat sheets and exercises, Cut-Through is a must-read for leaders, founders and sales teams who need their message to land with impact.
“Dominic Colenso reframes pitching and presenting as a repeatable performance skill rather than a talent”
Key areas covered:
- The AHA world – why AI-powered, hyperconnected, always-on audiences are harder to engage and how to reach them.
- A six-step practical methodology (Discover, Distil, Design, Drill, Deliver and Debrief) that’s easy to follow and transferable.
- Memorable techniques like the S.T.A.R Opening – a technique for grabbing attention from the first line, and the 20:70:10 rule – how to structure your presentation like a pro.
- Short, actionable exercises that help readers turn ideas into ‘sticky messages’ delivered with confidence and presence.
The Next Board: Delivering Value Today while Making the Board Fit for Tomorrow by Thomas Keil and Marianna Zangrillo (Routledge)
In an era of digital transformation, political volatility and social change, many boards are struggling to keep pace. Today’s boards are expected not only to provide oversight, but to shape strategy, manage risk, drive sustainability and create long-term value.
The Next Board offers a practical roadmap for board chairs, directors, CEOs and aspiring board members who need to govern effectively today while preparing for tomorrow. Based on global research and interviews with more than 100 board leaders from companies including ABB, IBM, Inditex, Nestlé and Novartis, the book introduces the Board Diamond – a framework for building agile, high-performing boards. With real-world examples and future-focused strategies, it shows how boards can shift from passive oversight to strategic leadership that drives innovation, resilience and long-term value.
“The book introduces The Board Diamond – a framework for building agile, high-performing boards”
Key areas covered:
- The Board Diamond: five dimensions of effective boards.
- Balancing current governance with future readiness.
- Insights from public, private and family-owned companies.
- Practical guidance for strengthening governance, strategy and resilience.
The Confidence Myth: How Women Leaders Can Break Free from Gendered Perceptions by Ginka’ Toegel (Palgrave Macmillan)
The Confidence Myth challenges the long-held belief that women lack confidence. Drawing on three decades of global leadership teaching, research and her background in psychotherapy, IMD Professor Ginka Toegel reveals how this myth not only misrepresents women but actively limits their potential. She demonstrates how women’s confidence is often misread through biased expectations and traces how the confidence gap narrative became embedded in workplaces and culture.
Blending powerful stories from women executives with self-reflection tools and evidence-based insights, Toegel equips readers to unlearn limiting narratives and build authentic leadership on their own terms. Essential reading for women who want to succeed, and the men who want to support them.
“This is essential reading for women who want to succeed, and the men who want to support them”
Key areas covered:
- Confidence myths and how they form.
- Double binds and biased performance feedback.
- Microaggressions, gaslighting, psychological safety.
- Authentic leadership vs. gendered expectations.
- Practical tools for career-long success.
Be More Strategic: 12 Essential Practices to Build the Life and Career you Want by Charlie Curson (Rethink Press)
Be More Strategic, authored by strategic leadership coach Charlie Curson, finally lifts the lid on what good strategy really is, and reveals how anybody willing to learn can become a world-class strategist in both life and work. The book brings the previously elitist art of strategy out of the upper echelons of global corporations and business schools, and offers a clear framework anyone can implement to become an accomplished strategist.
The book is built upon a powerful development framework – the four pillars of strategic mastery – broken down into 12 clearly-defined practices, tools and areas of study, such as creativity, decisiveness and critical thinking. Through this, the book removes the guesswork from strategic thinking and guides readers through their own journey towards strategic mastery.
“The book offers a clear framework anyone can implement to become an accomplished strategist”
Key areas covered:
- Master intentional leadership – so you stop running on autopilot.
- Tap into curiosity and creativity – to solve challenges with fresh perspectives.
- Focus on what truly moves the needle – instead of getting lost in busywork.
- Make bold, strategic decisions – without second guessing yourself.
- Lead with confidence and clarity – both in business and life.
Future-Fit Innovation by Barbara Salopek (Practical Inspiration Publishing)
Future-Fit Innovation, authored by leading innovation strategist and academic Barbara Salopek, reveals exactly how companies can instil the culture of innovation necessary to create change and growth that lasts. Readers will gain deep, experience-backed insight, drawn from decades of practical experience, into what innovation really is, as well as how exactly to embed innovation into their organisational culture and wider strategy.
By breaking innovation down across individual, team, and organisation-wide levels, Future-Fit Innovation transforms innovation from an intangible buzzword into a powerful holistic framework, empowering leaders to build work cultures where creativity, collaboration, and experimentation thrive.
Whether you’re leading a team, transforming your organisation, or seeking to align innovation with sustainability and technological advancements, the book provides the knowledge needed to unlock innovation at every level and create meaningful, lasting change.
“Barbara Salopek reveals exactly how companies can instil the culture of innovation necessary to create change and growth that lasts”
Key areas covered:
- What “innovation” really means, and how to nurture a culture of innovation in your own organisation.
- Creativity vs innovation – what’s the difference?
- Fostering innovation at the individual, team and organisational level.
- Why psychological safety is the oxygen of innovation.
- Why sustainability and innovation are inextricably linked.
The Answer is a Question: The Missing Superpower that Changes Everything and Will Transform Your Impact as a Manager and Leader by Laura Ashley-Timms and Dominic Ashley-Timms
The Answer is a Question is a genuinely transformative guide for any manager or leader struggling to lead teams amidst rock bottom employee engagement levels and the ‘accidental manager’ crises. Drawing on groundbreaking LSE research, management experts Laura and Dominic Ashley-Timms make a compelling case for Operational Coaching® – coaching in the flow of work – as the missing leadership superpower.
Now both a print and newly released audiobook, it brings an evidence-backed framework to an even wider range of managers looking to ask more powerful questions for happier, more productive teams.
“The authors make a compelling case for coaching in the flow of work as the missing leadership superpower”
Key areas covered:
- The STAR® model: a simple, four-step system used by FTSE and Fortune 500 companies to replace command-and-control with an enquiry-led style.
- Operational Coaching® behaviours: how to ask smarter questions that drive engagement, autonomy and problem-solving.
- Productivity relevance – why better management could unlock billions in UK economic value.
- Support for hybrid leadership in the modern workplace, incl. tools for managers navigating fragmented, multi-generational teams.
- Techniques and habits that help managers stop firefighting and start genuinely developing people.