Winner
Alignment
Katie Keller Wood
Alignment challenges the traditional idea of work-life balance, offering a new perspective of alignment rather than separation between work and personal life. It is a unique guide using key Montessori education principles and framework. Katie has worked with hundreds of middle and high school Montessori teachers from all over the world through the training program she runs called CMStep. She is recognized as a leader in Montessori programming for adolescents and adults. As the world continues through a period of intense stress and anxiety due to the international unrest and climate crisis, the book’s insights on managing burnout, focusing energy on what matters, and reclaiming purpose are both relatable and relevant.
Winner
The 4 Jobs Club: How Smart Women Care for It All: Kids, Aging Parents, Home and Career
Kathryn Sollmann
Whether you're managing a multi-million-dollar division or contributing to a small team, blending work and life over the course of a career takes creativity, organization, cutting yourself slack, exploring strategies and asking for help. In The 4 Jobs Club, 50 of the world's most successful professional women show you how they too care simultaneously for kids, aging parents, households and careers. They each share simple strategies developed through every life stage and career level, whilst managing these 4 big jobs – all with sanity, good humor and grace. The 4 Jobs Club is the place where you will find the help and wisdom you need to pursue work that fits your life and be the professional, mother, daughter, and life partner you want to be.
Winner
Beyond Busyness: How to Achieve More by Doing Less
Peggy Sullivan
Peggy is quickly becoming one of the most prominent and energizing new voices in the speaking world, and is on a mission to balance being productive with what matters most. Peggy's book blends her lively storytelling, heartfelt vulnerability, and laugh-out-loud humor with data-driven strategies to eliminate Time Poverty—the feeling of have too much to do and never enough time to do it. Her three-step Busy-Busting method balances peak performance, self-care, and happiness without sacrificing one for the other.
Finalist
Working Hell to Working Well: Making Your Company Work For You
Lindsay K Barnett
Nearly half of American employees report experiencing burnout, making it one of today’s most urgent workplace challenges. My book was written as both a response to this crisis and a roadmap out of it, helping readers navigate the realities of corporate systems in ways that allow them to move forward with greater clarity and strength. Rather than viewing burnout as an individual failing, it provides practical tools and mindset shifts that empower people to advocate for their needs, set boundaries, and build the staying power required to thrive when work won’t sit still. A key theme is the ripple effect of role modeling: when one person makes small changes visible—whether it’s leaving loudly, prioritizing recovery, or naming what they need—it inspires and legitimizes those behaviors for others, creating momentum toward healthier cultures. Ultimately, the book shows that even in difficult environments, there are often more options and possibilities than people realize.
Finalist
Less Hustle, More Happy
Claire Seeber
I wrote Less Hustle, More Happy after years of watching brilliant professionals exhaust themselves trying to prove their worth, saying yes to everything, working harder than ever, yet still feeling overlooked or off-track.
This book helps people stop spinning and start steering by teaching them how to define success on their terms, speak up for what they want, set boundaries that stick, and build self-trust in their decisions.
Through relatable stories (including my own face-palm moments), reflection prompts, and practical tools, readers learn how to shift unhelpful career mindsets and create momentum that actually feels good, AND still get results in their organisations.
They finish the book with more clarity, confidence and control over their career, and permission to pursue impact without sacrificing their soul and wellbeing.
Not just less hustle. More intention. More influence. More ease. And most importantly, more happy, at work and beyond.
Finalist
Digital Wellbeing: Recharge Your Focus and Reboot Your Life
Petra Velzeboer
Digital detoxes don't work. Our wellbeing relies on finding a balance. Improve your focus and create healthy habits that will enrich your life with Digital Wellbeing.
So much of our lives are now spent looking at screens, whether we're working on our laptop or checking social media on our phones. It's too easy to become overwhelmed by constant notifications and endless emails, leading to frustration, stress and burnout.