6 New and Upcoming Business Books to Read in 2022
A great CEO never passes up a chance to learn. Here are six new books to consider reading as you develop into a highly skilled executive leader.
Being Essential: Seven Questions for Leading with Radical Self-Awareness
Dain Dunston
February 2022
Disruption Books
[TEXAS AUTHOR]
Dain Dunston, a Wimberley-based executive coach and communications strategist, wants to help leaders understand who they are at their core. To that end, his new book encourages you to ask and answer seven essential questions that uncover who you really are—including the core purpose that guides you. Each chapter is backed with colorful examples from the worlds of neuroscience, philosophy, religion, and pop culture.
When Jeff Immelt took over leadership of General Electric, he was stepping into the shoes of one of the most iconic CEOs in US history: Jack Welch. Then, mere days into his tenure, the 9/11 attacks happened, plunging America into chaos and confusion. It was the first of many crises Immelt would lead GE through. Those crucibles form the backbone of Hot Seat, a memoir full of CEO lessons wrung from deeply challenging times. General Stanley McChrystal calls it “an extraordinary combination of insights and candor.”
Making It Happen: Lessons from the Frontline of Strategy Execution
Rebecca Stephens MBE
November 2021
Bloomsbury Business
Numerous studies over decades tell us the same thing: the majority of organizational change initiatives fail. In Making It Happen, Rebecca Stephens, a writer for the Financial Times and the first British woman to summit Mount Everest, seeks out the rare change-makers and execution-enablers to understand how to get meaningful things done. Uniquely, her focus is on the individual figures behind successful strategy execution, particularly those working in larger, inertia-ridden organizations like long-established multinational companies, the United Nations, and England’s National Health Service.
Top CEO advisor Ram Charan has teamed up with Anish Batlaw, Operating Partner at General Atlantic, for this look at how six real leadership teams grew their companies through focus on talent. We all know—especially in this age of the so-called “Great Resignation”—that getting the right talent in place is fundamental to business success. Charan and Batlaw offer models from their work that show how and why CEOs should make talent acquisition and enablement a true priority.
How to F*ck Up Your Startup: The Science Behind Why 90% of Companies Fail—and How You Can Avoid It
Kim Hvidkjaer
February 2022
Matt Holt
At 29, entrepreneur Kim Hvidkjaer was a millionaire. At 31, he was nearly broke. He’s now rebuilt his wealth through a series of successful businesses, but along the way he learned a thing or two about failing—and how to avoid it. Every entrepreneur knows that nine out ten startups fail, but with Hvidkjaer’s advice—on pitfalls around business models, fundraising campaigns, product development, sales, and much more—you’ll be much more likely to be the one in ten that lives on.
Being Present: Commanding Attention at Work (and at Home) by Managing Your Social Presence
Jeanine W. Turner
January 2022
Georgetown University Press
Georgetown University professor Jeanine Turner wants your communication to come through in a world driven mad by digital distraction and near-constant multitasking. Being Present offers a practical, well-researched look at “social presence,” our sense of being together in the moment, of hearing and understanding each other. Whether communicating to your executive team or your children, Turner’s guidance will help you pay more attention to the people around you—and hold their attention as well.
