“Lincoln, FDR, LBJ, Teddy Roosevelt. Four leaders, four crises, zero playbooks. Goodwin shows that these leaders grew most not during their wins but during their worst moments. The lesson: The best leaders don’t wait for clarity. They adapt faster than the moment demands. Plus, Goodwin is amazing.”

Recommended by David Rogier, founder and CEO, MasterClass

“As a CEO, I know the cost of silence—concerns left unspoken, bad news relayed too late. Amy C. Edmondson’s book delivers the answer: psychological safety as a hard prerequisite for speed, innovation, and quality decision-making. Genuinely actionable. A must read.”

Recommended by Stephan Seifert, CEO, Körber

“This book has never mattered more. Each tech wave accelerating around us is an act of creative destruction, compounding. The most valuable leaders in the convergence era won’t be the ones who built empires but the ones willing to burn them down at the right moment and build again.”

Recommended by Amy Webb, CEO, FTSG

“AI is reshaping every job and skill set. Adam Grant’s argument has never been more urgent: Potential is less about where you start and more about how you grow. A skills-first mindset is the only way to lead right now.”

Recommended by Ginni Rometty, cochair, SkillsRight; former chair and CEO, IBM

“Arthur Brooks diagnoses something I see in every workforce conversation: people who have built impressive careers but feel hollow inside. His framework of coherence, purpose, and significance maps closely to what mission-driven work actually provides.”

Recommended by Arun Gupta, CEO, NobleReach Foundation

“This one is next, and I can’t wait to read it. Ardern leads through a terror attack and a pandemic with empathy as her strategy—not a soft option, but a deliberate one. Ardern embodies everything most leadership books talk about but rarely show in practice.”

Recommended by Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO, Gulf International Bank Asset Management