My 10 Best Business Books of Summer 2026

My list is a combination of looking at culture, innovation, how work gets shaped and how geniuses happen by chance. The more technology we have in society, the more the need for interpersonal skills. This list is rich in interpersonal skills.

1.How to Agree to Disagree

By Gabrielle Rifkind

This book touches on a taboo most people go through—when to disagree constructively. Professionals tend to be silent when they should try and find a common ground with the person they are disagreeing with. Gabrielle Rifkind is a world leading conflict mediator.

2.The Rules that Make Us

By Oliver Sweet

Culture is something everyone has a view about and most struggle to get it right. Oliver Sweet is an anthropologist and gives us a new model to look at our colleagues and family. He has many examples from the Gates Foundation, a pet food company in Brazil, NGOs, etc.

3. Unhinged Habits

By Jonathan Goodman

The book asks us to shed our bad habits (many do not even know they have bad habits) and encourages us to do less. Less is more is the mantra. Goodman is an explorer. His central thesis: A full life runs through strategic subtraction and not endless accumulation.

4. The Genius Myth

By Helen Lewis

Helen Lewis explores the concept of the genius and comes to some startling and simple conclusions: genius happens more by accident and less by design. She talks of the many people who played a supporting role in the life of the genius and many who didn’t make it for whatever reason.

5. China’s 90% Model

By Ram Charan

Professor Ram Charan argues that China has selected a few industries where they build 90% of the global capacity and with help from the currency, they get people to seek China’s permission to compete or exit in that Industry. He argues that America, the UK, the EU, Japan, South Korea and Israel—who form a $60 trillion GDP block—must converge to take the China 90% theory head on.

6. 100 Ways to See India

By Rohit Saran

This book is a great compendium of everything you didn’t know about India. It is a fun and surprising book that has relevance to anyone interested in consumers in India—regarding food, culture, language and everything else.

7. How Great Ideas Happen

By George Newman

George Newman is a cognitive scientist and an associate professor at the University of Toronto. He argues that creativity is a method—it’s science and not just art. The greatest ideas are found, not created. It’s a process of discovery.

8. Thinking Outside the Building

By Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Rosabeth Moss Kanter co-founded and led the Harvard Advanced Leadership Program. All institutions have establishment paralysis. She says that traditional structures inhibit innovation. Institutions tend to focus and mirror ones like themselves.

9. Success Curious

By Andy Reid

Andy Reid is a coach and mentor. He writes about success, about setting goals and building high performance teams. He talks about an important topic—imposter syndrome and overcoming obstacles.

10. Open to Work

By Ryan Roslansky and Aneesh Raman

Work is changing fast and standing still is not an option. Old career advice doesn’t work anymore, and the book asks you to think afresh about how you imagine your career. There is no predictable ladder of the past, more a network wall.