Unmissable reads from the Business Book Awards 2025

The winner of the overall Business Book of the Year 2025, as well as the Wellness & Wellbeing category was Hyperefficient, a science-backed guide to get your brain working at peak efficiency.

Dr. Mithu Storoni says we need a new, hyperefficient way of working: rather than imposing the rhythms of work on our brains, and proposes we ‘impose the rhythm of our brains on our work’. Storoni explains that our brains function like a car’s engine, with multiple gears that put our brains in optimal mode for different mental challenges. Drawing on the latest research, she shows us how to seamlessly shift our brains into the best gear for the tasks we need to be doing, so we can perform at our best throughout the day, every day.

KIND was the winner of the people, culture and management category, and in the book, Graham Allcott explores how we can create work cultures that encourage kindness.

He argues that, far from being a ‘fluffy’ or nebulous idea, kindness and empathy are 21st century superpowers, which can transform any organization into a dynamic environment where people want to work. The author aims to convince the doubters, as well as helping already ‘kindful’ people, to articulate the power of kindness and make a stronger case for its greater profile in their working environments.

Drawing on psychology and neuroscience as well as management theory and business research, he shows how kindness helps encourage productive and positive work cultures. From busting three important myths that need to be addressed to engage the more cynical reader – or the reader’s more cynical colleagues – to covering ‘The Eight Principles of Kindfulness at Work’, Graham Allcott offers practical advice on how to make kindfulness part of the fabric of your working life so both you and your team can thrive.

In Coach Yourself Confident, executive coach Julie Smith shares insights and the practical tools and impactful activities she uses to help her high-profile corporate clients ditch the self-doubt tax and unlock what she has coined – humble confidence.

So many of us experience the cost of a lack of confidence. ‘Self-doubt tax’ is the way that Julie Smith describes the impact of carrying heavy, over-sized self-doubt. Those whose lack of confidence leads them to hold back and stay small pay the tax in the form of missed opportunities and unfulfilled potential.

Those who push themselves to achieve impressive results despite a nagging self-doubt pay the tax in the form of overwork and exhaustion. Whether just starting out or an established leader who has paid the self-doubt tax for years, Julie’s wisdom and real-life insights are fresh and easy to action. Each page offers her compassionate, curious style of coaching that gets right to the heart of what’s needed.

In The Upside of Disruption, renowned disruption thinker and best-selling author, Terence Mauri delivers a compelling set of mindset shifts for today’s unique leadership challenges.

Terence shares future-ready insights and tools for leaders to get started with today and prepare their organisations for tomorrow. He explains why so many of us continually overestimate the risks of bold decisions while underestimating the downsides of standing still for too long in an increasingly complex and volatile world.

Readers will learn about the upside of disruption and how to turn it into a tailwind for laser-like focus and strategic courage; why good leaders learn but great leaders unlearn, the key to unlocking cultures of courage over conformity and strategies to sharpen the future readiness muscle and find the upside in disruption.

In an era of performance marketing obsession, many brands have lost sight of the art of long-term brand building. Brand Momentum presents a new scientific and transformative growth system that harnesses the principles of physics to create a force more important than sales or profits: momentum.

Tony Lewis, a veteran market researcher and CEO, draws on the latest research, case studies, and the laws of physics to unravel the secrets of brand momentum. This accessible yet evidence-based book introduces the Brand Velocity Score (BVS), a single metric that reveals whether a brand is thriving or merely surviving. BVS not only reflects the ultimate measure of brand health but also predicts future trajectory.

Brand Momentum is a must-read for CMOs, strategists, and everyone looking to grow their brands, helping readers to discover the simplest, most effective strategy for building unstoppable brands, learn how to align your efforts around a proven strategy that amplifies your brand’s reach, reputation, and results and harness the power of momentum.

Startup Different offers a refreshingly honest blueprint for building a successful business – without losing yourself to Silicon Valley stereotypes. Brothers David and Chris Sinkinson, successful SaaS entrepreneurs who bootstrapped their company AppArmor to a multi-million-dollar exit, as they share their journey of doing things differently.

It has earned acclaim from both academic scholars and business leaders for its fresh approach to entrepreneurship, combining scholarly research with actionable insights.Whether you’re contemplating your first venture or scaling an existing company, this comprehensive guide equips you with the tools, strategies, and courage needed to build a successful business – your way. Join the movement to redefine startup success without compromising your integrity.