Innovation

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Twelve Business Books to Consider Reading in 2026

Here are twelve business books I recommend you consider for your reading list in 2026 – click below to see the list.  You’ll see that my list this year is centered around AI and change leadership -I guess that’s no surprise in these times!

Please share your thoughts on the list, any other suggestions, and your personal reviews or commentaries on any of these books that you have read in the comments below.

Wishing you every success in 2026!

Heather

(Note, I haven’t included any links to online booksellers for these books – please consider supporting small independent booksellers near you, they would appreciate your business. 😊 📖 )

1. The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the Rise of AI by Stephen Witt The story of how Jensen Huang transformed Nvidia into the dominant force powering the AI revolution.

2. Red Helicopter – A Parable for Our Times: Lead Change with Kindness (Plus a Little Math) by James Rhee  This bestseller uses a parable format to showcase how to lead change through kindness and strategic thinking. 

3. The Experience Mindset by Tiffani Bova  Bova outlines how  to enhance customer experience and employee experience simultaneously for unprecedented revenue growth – one of my favourite themes!

4. Influence at Work by Steve J. Martin A guide for how to master workplace influence through understanding both spoken and unspoken communication. Wish I had this book 30 years ago!

5. There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift by Kevin Evers This book explores  the business dynasty that is Taylor Swift. It explores the elements of her success that can transform businesses far beyond the music industry. I think Taylor is the whole package so this is a great one!

6. The AI Driven Leader by Geoff Woods Woods exploreshow to navigate AI without losing sight of core leadership principles. Great book if you’re interested in how to harness AI as a tool to grow business and increase velocity of results.

7. Blindspotting: How to See What Others Miss by Kirstin Ferguson Ferguson uncovers the hidden forces underlying our decisions and how we can identify and overcome cognitive blind spots. Thought Provoking.

8. Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick Mollick provides a guide to engage with AI as co-worker, co-teacher, and coach – necessary skills for everyone in today’s world of work.

9. The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions – and How the World Lost Its Mind by Dan Davies An interesting exploration of how decision-making can fail in the current business environment. I found it a bit of a slog to get through – but very interesting concepts.

10. Competing in the Age of AI: Strategy and Leadership When Algorithms and Networks Run the World by Marco Iansiti and Karim Lakhani An exploration of how AI-centric organizations are leading a wave of business model change. And how algorithms and networks are changing strategy and leadership – necessary concepts for us all to think through.

11. Leading Through Disruption: A Changemakers Guide to Twenty-First Century Leadership by Andrew N. Liveris Former Dow CEO Andrew Liveris offers practical solutions for navigating disruption. Easy read and some great thoughts – I think everyone could take a couple of takeaways (at least) from this one.

12. Adapt: Mastering Change in Four Steps by Andrea Clarke A practical four-step framework for leading change—Engage, Accept, Activate, Release. Who doesn’t need more tools to help with change these days?

Leadership Meditations for 2018
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Leadership Meditations for 2018

Here are twelve leadership meditations for 2018.  I coupled them with photographs of scenes in my favourite place, Newfoundland and Labrador.  Most of these meditations I have created or amassed over the years, some I know I heard elsewhere but can’t remember the source.. I apologize in advance if you have heard any of them before, but I truly believe they are all worth sharing and reflecting on.  I hope that you enjoy these meditations, and that they help you have a successful chapter on your leadership journey in 2018.  I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018!

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Remarks to Atlantic Director Education Event November 2, 2017
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Remarks to Atlantic Director Education Event November 2, 2017

Last week I had the great pleasure of speaking to a conference at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax.  The event was for Atlantic Canadian Alumni of the Directors Education Program from the Institute of Corporate Directors, and was on the topic of Governance and Disruption.

There were a lot of ‘big questions’ being debated in the room, particularly around the paradoxes that are arising in being a Director in times of such uncertainty and change.   The role of management and of Directors is changing, and every firm needs to think about how they are managing the interrelated areas of Innovation, Disruption, Customer Behaviour Change, and Technology Evolution – and the impacts of all of these on both the strategy and risk profile of a firm.

It was extremely refreshing to see such energy around the evolution of good governance! Bravo to the Institute of Corporate Directors, The Sobey School of Business, and the Atlantic Canada Directors Education Alumni for putting together such a great event!

My session in particular was around the steps that Directors need to take to ensure good  strategy and good governance in these times of disruption.   I thought I’d share my slides from the event here…obviously there was a lot of dialogue that went with the slides – so feel free to ask me any questions that you may have…

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Are you “Open for Innovation”?
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Are you “Open for Innovation”?

I get asked a lot about innovation. When people are asking me about it they are usually asking in the context of technology innovation, but that is not what first comes first for me when thinking of innovation.

In thinking of true innovation in business I think of the times that I have been part of reimagining a way of serving the customer, reinventing new approaches to the conduct of business, or instilling new team practices.   For sure many of these had a technology component, but it wasn’t the technology that came first. Rather, the technology was a tool to solve a business problem or to capture an opportunity we saw emerging.

These days I spend a lot of time discussing with people the use of emerging digital platforms in their business. Often the discussion begins with someone asking me about these emerging “platforms”: Cloud, Internet of Things, Location-Based Services, AI, Big Data, Social Media, Mobile Payments, Programmatic Marketing, Digital Analytics, Content Management Systems, the list goes on… and on…and on! But these platforms are not where you start if you want true innovation in your business.

If you want true innovation in your business you have to start with what I call a mindset that is “Open for Innovation”.   This Open for Innovation mindset is a fundamental culture that you need throughout your business. From the front-line to the C-Suite your culture needs to encourage people to be always looking at the business from new angles, and constantly asking “how do we make this better”?

Once you have this mindset flourishing in your business, you will find that, rather than drowning in a sea of technology or innovation buzzwords, you will be able to see more clearly what your true business requirements are and make clearer requests of your product, IT and support teams to help you deliver innovation into action.

A key aspect of your leadership approach should be thinking through how you are creating this Open for Innovation mindset. And I think one of the best ways is through the questions you ask.

Here are some questions that you can regularly ask yourself, and your team. As you and your team get comfortable openly answering questions like these, I think you will find that creativity increases, and innovation breeds.

  1. Even if this aspect of our business is already perfect, how can we make it better?
  2. If you were starting a new business to compete with us, what would your strategy be?
  3. How would we do this differently if this was our one and only chance to Wow our customer, and our very survival depended on it?
  4. What is the number one thing our customers want from us that we don’t do? (and the only rule on this one is the answer is not allowed to be “lower prices”)
  5. What part of our business processes should we have stopped 5 years ago?
  6. What are the things our customers rate us worst on, and what would it take to fix it?
  7. What is the process in our company that frustrates our employees the most?
  8. If someone wanted to completely replace our core product or service, how would they do it?
  9. What skills, personalities or knowledge are missing on our team?
  10. Would you encourage your children to work at this company?

Try some of these out and listen carefully to the answers.. I think you’ll see some new angles on how you can apply innovation to make your business better.   Let me know how it works for you.