The 2021 Porchlight Business Book Awards Longlist
November 18, 2021
"The authors who make up this year’s Porchlight Business Book of the Year Awards longlist gift us with a feast of new ideas to explore and, even more valuable, a renewed sense of possibility.”
We often turn to books for comfort, as a place to curl up and retreat from the struggles of life and the harsh realities of the world around us. After the past 20 months, no one could be blamed for seeking that comfort, but it has also been a time that lays bare the need to seek new ways of seeing and doing things. And, at their best, in times like these, books make us a little uncomfortable by challenging our preconceived notions and intellectual complacency, overthrowing conventional thinking, exposing injustice, and pushing back against so-called best practices while providing new ideas and narratives.
Porchlight's Managing Director, Sally Haldorson, offered the following thoughts as we were wrapping up the list: “For all its uncertainty, the upheaval we’ve all experienced over the past two years in our businesses and in our lives is an opportunity for change. We have learned that we are resilient, that we can adapt to new constraints, and that, if we are a little brave and a lot determined, we can grow in ways we hadn’t previously imagined. But the path forward is itself uncertain. So, we look for a map, or maybe to draw our own, using the insights of teachers, mentors, scholars, leaders, survivors, and guides to fuel our journey. The authors who make up this year’s Porchlight Business Book of the Year Awards longlist gift us with just that: a feast of new ideas to explore and, even more valuable, a renewed sense of possibility.”
The forty books on our longlist give us a fresh perspective on our past and present, and visions of a better way forward, with a wide breadth of erudition, ideas, and actions that we can engage in to help us change what must be changed, and preserve that which we must not lose.
Image by Gabbi Cisneros
Leadership & Strategy
- All In: An Autobiography by Billie Jean King with Johnette Howard and Maryanne Vollers, Knopf
- Gentelligence: The Revolutionary Approach to Leading an Intergenerational Workforce by Megan Gerhardt, PhD, Josephine Nachemson-Ekwall, and Brandon Fogel, Rowman & Littlefield
- The Promises of Giants by John Amaechi OBE, Nicholas Brealey
- Transformation in Times of Crisis: Eight Principles for Creating Opportunities and Value in the Post-Pandemic World by Nitin Rakesh and Jerry Wind, Notion Press
- Trauma to Triumph: A Roadmap for Leading Through Disruption (and Thriving on the Other Side) by Mark Goulston and Diana Hendel, HarperCollins Leadership
Management & Workplace Culture
- Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life by Gillian Tett, Avid Reader Press
- The Burnout Epidemic: The Rise of Chronic Stress and How We Can Fix It by Jennifer Moss, Harvard Business Review Press
- The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations by Robert Livingston, Currency
- Fair Pay: How to Get a Raise, Close the Wage Gap, and Build Stronger Businesses by David Buckmaster, Harper Business
- The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate BS by Martin Lindstrom, Mariner Books
Marketing & Sales
- Brand Hacks: How to Build Brands by Fulfilling the Consumer Quest for Meaning by Emmanuel Probst. powerHouse Books
- The Human Element: Overcoming the Resistance That Awaits New Ideas by Loran Nordgren & David Schonthal, Wiley
- Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World that Never Stops Changing by Frank Cespedes, Harvard Business Review Press
- The Secret Lives of Customers: A Detective Story About Solving the Mystery of Customer Behavior by David S. Duncan, PublicAffairs
- The Widest Net: Unlock Untapped Markets and Discover New Customers Right in Front of You by Pamela Slim, McGraw-Hill
Innovation & Creativity
- Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways by Sarah Stein Greenberg and Stanford d.school, Ten Speed Press
- Honor Thy Label: Dr. Bronner's Unconventional Journey to a Clean, Green, and Ethical Supply Chain by Gero Leson, Portfolio
- Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men by Katrine Marçal, Abrams Press
- Two Beats Ahead: What Musical Minds Teach Us About Innovation by Panos A Panay, R. M Hendrix, PublicAffairs
- We Are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto by Alice Waters, Penguin Press
Personal Development & Human Behavior
- Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It by Ethan Kross, Crown
- Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust & Connection, No Matter the Distance by Erica Dhawan, St. Martin's Press
- An Ordinary Age: Finding Your Way in a World That Expects Exceptional by Rainesford Stauffer, Harper Perennial
- The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t by Julia Galef, Portfolio
- The Wake Up: Closing the Gap Between Good Intentions and Real Change by Michelle MiJung Kim, Hachette Go
Current Events & Public Affairs
- Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door—Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy by Christopher Mims, Harper Business
- Engine of Inequality: The Fed and the Future of Wealth in America by Karen Petrou, Wiley
- Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's case for Hope and Healing in A Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe, Atria/One Signal Publishers
- Shutdown: How Covid Shook the World's Economy by Adam Tooze, Viking
- The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World by Judy Samuelson, Berrett-Koehler
Narrative & Biography
- The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones & The New York Times Magazine, One World
- Ages of American Capitalism: A History of the United States by Jonathan Levy, Random House
- Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire by Brad Stone, Simon & Schuster
- Collision Course: Carlos Ghosn and the Culture Wars That Upended an Auto Empire by Hans Greimel & William Sposato, Harvard Business Review Press
- Susan, Linda, Nina and Cokie: The Extraordinary Story of the Founding Mothers of NPR by Lisa Napoli, Abrams Press
Big Ideas & New Perspectives
- Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism by Mariana Mazzucato, Harper Business
- Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home by Charlie Warzel & Anne Helen Petersen, Knopf
- Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation by Paul Hawken, Penguin Books
- The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee, One World
Thanks to all the authors who wrote these books (and the many other books it pained us greatly to leave off this list), and to everyone else working in the industry who helped bring them to life. We appreciate all of you, and the prodigious efforts you put into bringing more books and ideas into the world.
We will announce our shortlist on December 16th, and the overall winner on January 13th, 2022.
About Dylan Schleicher
