Top 10 Business Books of 2026 – Leadership, Strategy & Innovation

1. HBR’s 10 Must Reads 2026: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year

Editor: Harvard Business Review Press
A curated anthology of leadership, innovation, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking drawn from the year’s most influential HBR articles. Ideal for staying current with emerging management trends.

2. The Year in Tech, 2026: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

Editor: Harvard Business Review
A timely guide to new technologies—gen‑AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, EVs—and how they reshape business strategy, organizational design, and competitive positioning.

3. All In on AI: How Smart Companies Win Big with Artificial Intelligence

Author: Thomas H. Davenport & Nitin Mittal
A practical exploration of how leading firms integrate AI strategically, with a playbook for adoption, governance, and building human-machine collaboration.

4. The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses…

Authors: Mariana Mazzucato & Rosie Collington
A critical investigation into the consulting sector, uncovering how over‑reliance on external advisors may hollow organizational capacity—and how to build internal capability.

5. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don’t

Author: Jim C. Collins
A modern classic analyzing why a select group of firms achieve sustained greatness—featuring research-backed concepts like Level 5 Leadership and the Hedgehog Concept.

6. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies

Authors: Jim C. Collins & Jerry I. Porras
An in-depth study of enduring organizations, uncovering visionary traits like core ideology, productive conservatism, and evolutionary progress.

7. Venture Meets Mission: Aligning People, Purpose, and Profit to Innovate and Transform Society

Authors: Arun Gupta, Gerard George & Thomas J. Fewer
This book presents a blueprint for mission-driven entrepreneurship—blending commercial innovation with public-good objectives through multi-sector collaboration. 

8. Market Wizards: Origins (forthcoming late 2026)

Author: Jack Schwager & George Coyle
The next installment delving into the early careers of elite traders—offering valuable lessons in risk-taking, psychology, and disciplined strategy.

9. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Author: Ben Horowitz
A brutally honest account of leadership under duress, navigating crises, and making tough calls in scaling companies—based on real-world experience.

10. Blue Ocean Strategy

Authors: W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne
A global bestseller that revolutionized competitive strategy: instead of battling in crowded markets, create new "blue oceans" through innovation and differentiation.