Results
Winner
Collaborative Hardball: Using the Power of a New Negotiation as Women to Change the World
Susan Coleman
Collaborative Hardball is both a rallying cry and a practical guide for women—and anyone who supports the rise of the feminine—to reclaim power, redefine negotiation, and dismantle the systems holding us back. In this book, the author outlines how to improve negotiation skills through steps anyone can take. The guidance shared in Collaborative Hardball will help readers to sharpen their voice, ignite their confidence, and equip them to lead with purpose in every arena of their lives—from boardroom deals, to bedroom negotiation. In this way, Collaborative Hardball is strengthening and supporting women as they show up in every area of both their business dealings and personal lives.
Winner
Fight Less, Win More: How Master Negotiators Influence Hearts, Minds, and Deals
Jonathan B. Smith
Derek Gaunt
Providing qualitative improvements to the reader's negotiating skills from a leading business strategist and a top expert in hostage negotiation, this book reframes day-to-day business as negotiations and equips the reader with skills they need to come out on top with less resistance.
Winner
Exit Right: How to Sell Your Company
Tim Vorhoff
Tim Vorhoff’s 'Exit Right: How to Sell Your Company' is transforming outcomes for business owners by demystifying one of the most complex and consequential moments in their lives. Designed as an education-first resource, the book equips founders, particularly those leading family-owned and mid-market companies, with a clear, step-by-step playbook to maximize the value of their businesses. By translating complex financial and transactional concepts into practical, accessible guidance, Vorhoff enables owners to navigate the sale process with confidence, avoid costly mistakes, and maintain control in high-stakes negotiations.
At its core, Exit Right advocates for the often-overlooked seller, helping protect entrepreneurs from predatory deal dynamics and reactive, underprepared exits. The result is tangible impact: better-informed decisions, stronger negotiating positions, and, ultimately, significantly improved financial outcomes for the people who built these businesses.
Finalist
Winning With Ancient Wisdom: Negotiation Strategies From Asia and Europe
Jean-Baptiste Deal
Winning With Ancient Wisdom helps leaders and negotiators handle high‑stakes conversations with more courage, clarity, and respect. Drawing on Aesop’s fables and Asian stratagems, it translates timeless stories into concrete negotiation playbooks that busy professionals can apply immediately in sales meetings, salary discussions, and cross‑cultural deals. Readers learn to negotiate beyond language and cultural barriers, gaining clarity, control, and influence. Practical tools, checklists, and real cases from Asia and Europe show how to defuse tension, protect relationships, and still achieve ambitious business results. The book is especially helpful for rising leaders, entrepreneurs, and experts who were never formally trained in negotiation but now must influence without formal authority. It gives them a shared language and simple frameworks they can bring back to their teams to improve everyday decisions and build long‑term partnerships.
Finalist
Rethinking China: Challenging Our Economic Assumptions & Opportunities for Lasting Prosperity
Zhengyu Z Huang
Rethinking China helps business leaders, policymakers, educators, students, and engaged citizens make better decisions about one of the world's most consequential relationships by challenging false, incomplete, and oversimplified narratives with rigorous, evidence-based analysis. Drawing on Zhengyu "Z" Huang's experience across global business, U.S. public policy, and international affairs, including service as a White House Fellow, the book provides a practical framework for evaluating trade, technology, supply chains, competitiveness, talent, and national security by their real-world outcomes rather than political rhetoric. Already informing discussions across leading universities, CEO forums, policy institutions, and international media, it fosters critical thinking, helps readers recognize Chinese and Asian Americans as strategic assets for America's innovation and competitiveness, and equips leaders and citizens to reduce the risk of costly strategic miscalculation.