2026 Awards – Management

Goody Business Book Awards Winners and Finalists for 2026 Banner for Business Management

2026 best book awarded to authors on the subject of Management.

Displaying 1 - 6 of 6

Results

Winner

It's All About Relationships: Mastering the Art of Relational Leadership

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Author:

Eddy Arriola

HOW is this book helping people?

This book makes a simple but profound argument - leadership is all about relationships. Teams and companies are only as strong as their leaders' connections to their teams. In a time where isolation is an epidemic, this book argues for a better path.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Winner

The Octopus Organization: A Guide to Thriving in a World of Continuous Transformation

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Author:

Phil Le-Brun

Co-Author Names

Jana Werner

HOW is this book helping people?

The book helps leaders, teams, and organizations break free from the dysfunction that keeps them stuck—saving them time, money, and the frustration of failed transformation efforts. Most organizations waste billions on top-down change initiatives that deliver little. This book offers a radically different path: instead of expensive, slow overhauls, readers get thirty-six practical "levers" that create meaningful improvement in months, not years. By applying the distributed intelligence model of the octopus—where the whole moves with purpose while each part thinks for itself—leaders learn to unlock the talent already inside their organizations. The result is teams that innovate faster, adapt to disruption more confidently, and build resilience that lasts.

Drawing on real-world experience at Amazon, McDonald's, and hundreds of global companies, this book gives every reader—from frontline manager to C-suite executive—an actionable blueprint to create organizations that truly thrive

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Winner

Becoming a Better Boss: Be the leader people want to follow, not just tolerate

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Author:

Burl Stamp

HOW is this book helping people?

Everyone wants to be a leader. But what employees really need is a great boss. Seventy percent of what determines whether an employee is engaged at work comes down to one thing: the person they report to.

"Becoming a Better Boss" helps managers become that boss. Most of us became managers by being great at the technical or tactical parts of our job, only to realize the skills that made us star individual performers can make us a terrible boss. Former hospital CEO Burl Stamp offers a candid playbook for mastering the human side of management that nobody trained you for.

The T.E.A.M. Model (Teach, Empower, Align, and Mentor) addresses the root causes of burnout and disengagement with tools managers can use immediately. Readers learn to earn trust in hundreds of small moments, build a culture where people feel they have a voice, and become the leader people want to work for.

Book available for purchase.

ripples.media

Finalist

Invisible Leadership: How to design systems that create high‑performance habits

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Author:

Carlos Donato Da Silva

HOW is this book helping people?

Invisible Leadership helps professionals eliminate the hidden, daily friction that causes workplace burnout and costly operational rework.Instead of relying on exhausting motivational speeches, this book shows leaders how to embed a healthy, high-performance culture directly into their ERP systems (like SAP or Dynamics). It helps companies save money and time by replacing frustrating "Shadow IT"—like parallel Excel sheets—with logical, frictionless workflows.

By teaching managers to act as "Choice Architects," the book dramatically reduces employee stress. Using new metrics introduced in the book (ICE and CRR), leaders can design smart defaults and system rules that make doing the right thing the path of least resistance. Ultimately, it helps organizations build a coherent, stress-free environment where people can succeed and high performance becomes a natural habit, rather than a daily struggle.

Book available for purchase.

a.co

Finalist

The Tao of Leadership: Harmonizing Technological Innovation with Human Creativity

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Author:

Jack Myers

HOW is this book helping people?

Readers of The Tao of Leadership gain a navigational compass for becoming effective leaders built on 3,000-year-old Taoist principles. With accelerating technology overwhelming traditional structures, the book offers a practical Blueprint for Leadership in the AI Era, focused on embracing AI without becoming subservient to it and pursuing innovation without losing empathy, ethics, or purpose. The Tao of Leadership is grounded in the Taoist principles of harmony, flexibility, balance, simplicity, and integrity, translating them into the FusionFlow Process, a tutorial for breaking down organizational silos, accelerating ideas into action, and building cultures of continuous learning. Readers who are navigating the role and influence of AI in their own lives, their organizations, and in civilization will learn that leadership in the AI age is not about mastering machines. It is about understanding how to embrace change and remain grounded in human judgment, empathy, purpose, and integrity

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Finalist

The Four Competitive Business Drivers: Theory + Model + Strategy + Tactics

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Author:

Jorge Sá

Co-Author Names

Magda Pereira

HOW is this book helping people?

Avoiding the trap of increasing efforts for decreasing returns. Why? There are four distinct/necessary drivers for performance:
- The theory of business: why the company makes sense. The reality assumptions it is grounded upon;
- The business model: what are the basic pillars of a firm’s organization. How it transforms client satisfaction into value for itself;
- Strategy: where the organization competes: geographical areas, industries and segments; and
- Tactics: the how of the nine functional areas - how to organize operations, how to market the product, how to finance, how…

The above constitute the four drivers for organization optimization: the why; what; where; and how. Previous literature has failed in two ways:
- by making the distinction between strategy and tactics fuzzy; and
- by identifying the business model with the theory of business.

But only a clear-cut distinction enables to:
1 – Target them;
2 – Review them; and
3 – Obtain a coherent whole.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

2026 Awards – Innovation

Goody Business Book Awards Winners and Finalists for 2026 Banner for Business Innovation

2026 best book awarded to authors on the subject of Innovation.

Displaying 1 - 6 of 6

Results

Winner

The Bias Advantage: How Unconventional Leaders Gain Power in an AI-Drivan World

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Author:

Liat Ben-Zur

HOW is this book helping people?

This book offers clear, actionable strategies teaching high performers like you who are stalled by legacy power structures how to do the following: decode the hidden architecture of power and command your narrative, leverage AI as a force multiplier without sacrificing your crucial human judgment, reposition yourself at the center of the new power structure, and transform difference into a durable, competitive advantage.

Book available for purchase.

a.co

Winner

Innovation Ecosystems: A Dynamic Blueprint for Organizational Success and Engagement

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Author:

Ilene Fischer

HOW is this book helping people?

Innovation Ecosystems helps leaders stop reacting to change and start using it as a catalyst for growth. Drawing on decades of experience with Fortune 500 companies and innovative organizations, Ilene Fischer provides a practical systems-thinking framework that transforms how businesses respond to disruption. Readers will learn how to build collaborative, agile organizations where innovation becomes part of everyday culture, employees are empowered to drive change, and teams align around a shared purpose. By connecting people, culture, strategy, and technology, the book helps organizations navigate uncertainty, accelerate growth, and improve transformation success. The result is a more resilient, adaptive organization equipped to thrive in today's fast-changing world.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Winner

Change Fluency: 9 Principles to Navigate Uncertainty and Drive Innovation

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Author:

Jay Kiew

HOW is this book helping people?

Part parable, part playbook, Change Fluency equips managers, executives, and leaders to discover what’s possible, design the future, and differentiate from the standard when everything feels the same. Complete with practical exercises and a companion AI coach, this isn’t just another change management book. It’s your guide to making innovation work for you. Drawing from over $2 billion in transformation impact from more than four hundred organizations, Kiew uses a Change Fluency model to show how the most successful leaders don’t just manage change, they become fluent in it. Just as you master a new language, you can use Change Fluency to translate uncertainty from challenge into opportunity.

Book available for purchase.

a.co

Finalist

The Inside Job: The Intrapreneur's Toolkit to Mastermind Meaningful Change and Innovation

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Author:

Ed Essey

HOW is this book helping people?

Inspired by the narrative style of a heist story, The Inside Job combines practical advice and engaging storytelling from a mastermind intrapreneur. It shows you the essential skills you need to create change. Filled with examples from intrapreneurs who have been coached by Essey himself, The Inside Job uses real-world cases to illustrate concepts. Each chapter provides strategies, tools, and moves that you can immediately apply to foster innovation within your organization. Hand-drawn images add a personal and visual touch. Ed Essey, a senior director at The Microsoft Garage with decades of experience in driving innovation, offers a game-changing guide for high performers and innovation leaders who refuse to settle and want to empower their crew so bold ideas flourish.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.ca

Finalist

The Tao of Leadership: Harmonizing Technological Innovation with Human Creativity

Book Cover Upload
Author:

Jack Myers

HOW is this book helping people?

Readers of The Tao of Leadership gain a navigational compass for becoming effective leaders built on 3,000-year-old Taoist principles. With accelerating technology overwhelming traditional structures, the book offers a practical Blueprint for Leadership in the AI Era, focused on embracing AI without becoming subservient to it and pursuing innovation without losing empathy, ethics, or purpose. The Tao of Leadership is grounded in the Taoist principles of harmony, flexibility, balance, simplicity, and integrity, translating them into the FusionFlow Process, a tutorial for breaking down organizational silos, accelerating ideas into action, and building cultures of continuous learning. Readers who are navigating the role and influence of AI in their own lives, their organizations, and in civilization will learn that leadership in the AI age is not about mastering machines. It is about understanding how to embrace change and remain grounded in human judgment, empathy, purpose, and integrity

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Finalist

INNOVATOR: 10 simple steps to innovate with speed, scale and confidence

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Author:

Tom Pullen

HOW is this book helping people?

Innovation has the power to solve the world’s most important problems. INNOVATOR helps more people do exactly that by giving them the confidence and practical skills to innovate successfully. Its 10-step INNOVATOR Way® makes innovation accessible beyond visionaries and specialists, helping leaders and team members identify genuine customer needs, develop stronger ideas, test them quickly, reduce wasted time and resources, and turn the best solutions into reality. The book is deliberately action-oriented, equipping readers with practical tools, power questions and action steps they can apply immediately to real-life projects. The methodology at the heart of the book is already trusted by business leaders and managers in 40+ countries, including at leading companies such as Toyota, LVMH, Rexel and Danone. INNOVATOR’s ultimate aim is simple: help organizations grow by enabling more people to create products, services and solutions that truly improve people's lives.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

2026 Awards – Environment

Goody Business Book Awards Winners and Finalists for 2026 Banner for Business Environment

2026 best book awarded to authors on the subject of Environment.

Displaying 1 - 2 of 2

Results

Winner

Disciplined Entrepreneurship for Climate and Energy Ventures

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Author:

Ben Soltoff

Co-Author Names

Bill Aulet, Tod Hynes, Francis O'Sullivan, Libby Wayman

HOW is this book helping people?

Disciplined Entrepreneurship for Climate and Energy Ventures (DE4CEV) helps people turn ideas into scalable solutions at the intersection of people, planet, and profit. Climate and energy entrepreneurs face challenges that traditional entrepreneurship guides rarely address, including capital-intensive technologies, long development timelines, complex regulation, and the need to deliver both financial and environmental results. Until now, there has been no comprehensive guidebook designed specifically for these challenges. DE4CEV provides a practical, step-by-step framework for identifying customers, evaluating technologies and economics, developing products, attracting capital, managing risk, and scaling organizations. By making climate and energy entrepreneurship more accessible and systematic, it helps innovators translate promising ideas into measurable real-world impact.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Finalist

Destination Stewardship: Drive Sustainability, Economic Renewal, and Cultural Integrity

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Author:

Tonya Fitzpatrick

HOW is this book helping people?

Tourism does more than move people and money; it distributes opportunity, visibility, and power. It can determine which businesses prosper, whose history is remembered, whose culture is presented to the world, and who has a voice in shaping a place’s future. Drawing on Tonya Fitzpatrick’s experience in law, civil-rights policy, travel journalism, and tourism governance, the book challenges an industry accustomed to measuring success through arrivals, hotel occupancy, and visitor spending alone. Through research, global case studies, expert interviews, decision frameworks, and measurement tools, Fitzpatrick shows leaders how to build stewardship into governance, finance, procurement, workforce development, cultural storytelling, and performance measurement.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

2026 Awards – Career Success

Goody Business Book Awards Winners and Finalists for 2026 Banner for Business Career Success

2026 best book awarded to authors on the subject of Career Success.

Displaying 1 - 6 of 6

Results

Winner

Navigating the Quarterlife Career Crisis: Real Stress, Real Solutions

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Author:

Scott Doyne

HOW is this book helping people?

"Navigating the Quarterlife Career Crisis" helps 18- to 25-year-olds struggling with uncertainty reduce their stress and make progress towards a fulfilling life and career. Too often, young adults' career anxiety is dismissed. This book validates that stress as real, and answers it with real solutions. Drawing on research and real stories, including interviews and surveys with hundreds of young professionals, author Scott Doyne, an ICF-certified career coach and Emmy-winning former sports media executive, names the stressors holding this generation back: fear of failure, career path uncertainty, and feeling stuck or lost.

It delivers practical, peer-sourced solutions: stress relief, mentoring, networking, job and internship search strategies, and campus career resources, plus guidance on social media, AI, family pressure, financial stress, and entrepreneurship. Its message: you have what it takes to thrive, even when

Book available for purchase.

ripples.media

Winner

Navigating Your Next: Discover the Career You Want and the Path to Get There

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Author:

Julian Lighton

HOW is this book helping people?

We spend around 90,000 hours of our lives at work, yet many people invest more time planning a holiday than deciding what they really want from their career. Navigating Your Next gives readers the tools to change that. At a time of AI-driven disruption, layoffs, hiring freezes and shifting career paths, the book helps people move from uncertainty to clarity and take greater control of what comes next. Its practical seven-step framework enables readers to identify what they genuinely want from work, understand and articulate their value, recognise the skills and behaviours they need to develop, and pursue opportunities that align with their ambitions.

Drawing on Julian Lighton’s 35 years of experience hiring, leading and coaching people, it supports readers at every career stage – from those starting out to experienced professionals considering a reinvention. Rather than prescribing one definition of success, it equips people to define their own and build a realistic path towards it.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Winner

Coach Yourself Confident: Ditch the self-doubt tax, unlock humble confidence

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Author:

Julie Smith

HOW is this book helping people?

Coach Yourself Confident helps capable people stop paying the self-doubt tax: the cost of low confidence, levied in missed opportunities or in overwork and exhaustion. Real-life stories reassure readers that they are far from alone in doubting themselves. Clear prompts for self-reflection surface fresh insights on their confidence and their doubt. The book goes much further than deepening awareness; it supports readers to take action. Its 38 practical activities (“gold dust” according to a reviewer) take the learning from the page into real life. The result for one reader: "The biggest change? If I don't feel confident BEFORE I give something a go, I still go ahead and do it."

Throughout, gentle provocation is blended with encouragement and empathy. Described by a reader as "a personal coach on your desk", the book provides on-demand access to the benefits of executive coaching, otherwise out of reach for so many.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.co.uk

Winner

Careers By the People: Candid Career Advice from 101 Experienced Professionals

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Author:

Mike Wysocki

HOW is this book helping people?

My book tackles the issue of career readiness. The bridge from education to the workforce is broken. Schools are not preparing the students for the workforce and industry is complaining but not helping. Students are drowning in debt and are confused and depressed. My book offers students suggestions on workforce preparation. Since I did not prepare, I did not enjoy my profession so I inform the students on the way I should have prepared which I learned in 30+ years in industry. To add, the students and educations can read about 101 careers by the people that worked them. From CEO to actuary to accountant and so many more. Chapters are divided into Hollands Occupational Themes.

Also, it's a fun and easy read. Career Readiness is an imperative subject and many of the books are dry so students avoid and end up getting career advice from social media. My book received endorsements from educators of Stanford, Harvard, UMass, BU, Northeastern and many more. Thank you.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Finalist

Becoming the Project Manager: Lessons from the Early Years of a Project Manager

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Author:

Stuart Taylor

HOW is this book helping people?

Most people begin their careers in project management feeling unprepared, often because they never planned to be project managers.

They accidentally find themselves in a role, where they are being handed responsibility, pressure, meetings, politics, and high expectations long before they feel ready for them. And the theory they’ve learned often doesn’t match the reality they experience.

Becoming the Project Manager helps bridge that gap.

Rather than teaching rigid frameworks or textbook processes, the book shares the author’s real experiences, mistakes, pressures, and lessons; and helps readers understand that uncertainty is normal, confidence develops over time, and many of the challenges they face are shared by others in the profession.

The goal of the book is not just to help people manage projects more effectively, but to help them develop judgment, resilience, communication skills, and calm authority in complex working environments.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

Finalist

The Visibility Effect; 50 Truths to Accelerate Your Career, Your Voice and Your Value

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Author:

Janet Wise

HOW is this book helping people?

The Visibility Effect is a career strategy guide for ambitious professionals ready to stop waiting for recognition and start steering their own rise. Drawing on decades as a global head of learning, leadership, and talent development, Janet Wise reveals the career advantage hidden in plain sight: visibility. Through fifty bold, actionable “truths,” I show readers how to clarify their value, amplify their presence, and build a career that’s both visible and valuable. Combining insider HR insight with real-world leadership wisdom, The Visibility Effect helps readers navigate promotions, performance reviews, and high-stakes moments with strategy and confidence. The result is accelerated career growth, greater influence, and professional freedom, because visibility changes everything, when you know how to use it.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com

2026 Awards – Autobiography

Goody Business Book Awards Winners and Finalists for 2026 Banner for Business Autobiography and BIography

2026 best book awarded to authors on the subject of Autobiography.

Displaying 1 - 3 of 3

Results

Winner

Sincerely, Katherine.: Life, Gender, Inclusivity, and Leadership for the Future

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Author:

Katherine Dudtschak

HOW is this book helping people?

As one of Canada’s most senior and recognized corporate executives, Katherine Dudtschak had a masculine name and appearance that did not reflect her truth. But everything changed in a moment when a gender inclusivity poster spoke to a truth she’d buried deep inside. She saw Katherine: the woman and the essence of who she had always been. At 50, she affirmed her gender, coming out as Katherine to the corporate world in front of 80,000 colleagues. Her courage proved that authenticity and leadership are not only compatible but essential. Katherine ignited change, inspiring a more inclusive and compassionate approach to leadership. Sincerely, Katherine. is a story of resilience, self-love, and the profound impact of leading with authenticity, inclusivity, and purpose. She inspires each of us to foster a harmony within ourselves, and with each other and the natural world we are part of and share.

Book available for purchase.

a.co

Winner

The Money Dilemma: My Unlikely Path to Wealth, Philanthropy, and Peace

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Author:

Frank Giustra

HOW is this book helping people?

From the mines to the movie studio to the global stage, Frank Giustra’s journey reveals what wealth can—and can’t—buy. A gripping story of reinvention, philanthropy, and finding meaning beyond money. The Money Dilemma recounts Giustra’s gradual understanding that the best use of excess wealth is to seek to improve the world that our children will inherit. It’s a warts-and-all account of a uniquely fascinating, never-boring life.

Book available for purchase.

a.co

Finalist

The Grace In The Grind: A faithful path to building a business without losing your soul, your family, or your purpose

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Author:

Amber Renee Terschluse

HOW is this book helping people?

The Grace in the Grind helps readers build meaningful success without sacrificing their faith, family, health, or purpose. Through real-life lessons from entrepreneurship, leadership, marriage, and personal growth, the book teaches readers how to navigate stress, uncertainty, and responsibility with resilience and grace. It encourages better decision-making, stronger leadership, healthier priorities, and a long-term perspective that can lead to greater personal and professional success. The book helps business owners avoid costly mistakes driven by burnout, fear, or misplaced priorities, while teaching stewardship, integrity, and sustainable growth. Readers learn how to manage pressure, protect relationships, and develop habits that support emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being. Ultimately, The Grace in the Grind demonstrates that true success is not measured solely by profit or achievement, but by becoming the person God created you to be.

Book available for purchase.

amazon.com