The 2017 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards Longlist

This is the eleventh year of our annual business book awards. It is never an easy process—not just because there are hundreds of books submitted (this year, 594!), though that does pose a challenge to all of us tackling the books, but because there are inevitably great books that we have to leave off the list. But there is a nothing but satisfaction here in being able to champion the books we did choose.

Discussing the books, our General Manager Sally Haldorson stated that:

This year’s longlist strikes me as particularly eclectic, and as a result, tremendously exciting. Every business reader whose curiosity and love of learning drives them to seek new approaches, to strive for better, to push a little further in their own lives and their own companies will find a book here well-suited to their needs.

Editorial Director Dylan Schleicher added that:

Business books are traditionally known for their actionability, but the best books first provide understanding—helping us pause before we act to make sense of the world and our place in it. The 40 books on this list all do that, and remind us that the fundamental reason business exists is not to make money or pursue economic growth, but to meet the basic needs and aspirations of human beings.

We know that the right book at the right time can change readers' lives and the lives of organizations, and after much deliberation and a fair amount of intellectual torment, we have settled on a longlist of 40 titles—five each in eight categories—that we believe will do so. Those books are…

In the LEADERSHIP & STRATEGY category:

• Blue Ocean Shift: Beyond Competing - Proven Steps to Inspire Confidence and Seize New Growth by W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne, Hachette Books
• Creating Great Choices: A Leader's Guide to Integrative Thinking by Jennifer Riel & Roger Martin, Harvard Business Review Press
• Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone by Satya Nadella, Harper Business
• Lead Right for Your Company's Type: How to Connect Your Culture with Your Customer Promise by William E. Schneider, AMACOM
• The Mathematical Corporation: Where Machine Intelligence and Human Ingenuity Achieve the Impossible by Josh Sullivan & Angela Zutavern, PublicAffairs

In the MANAGEMENT & WORKPLACE CULTURE category:

• The Loyalist Team: How Trust, Candor, and Authenticity Create Great Organizations, by Linda Adams, Abby Curnow-Chavez, Audrey Epstein, and Rebecca Teasdale, PublicAffairs
• Own It: The Power of Women at Work by Sallie Krawcheck, Crown Business
• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity by Kim Scott, St. Martin's Press
• The Startup Way: How Modern Companies Use Entrepreneurial Management to Transform Culture and Drive Long-Term Growth by Eric Ries, Currency
• Time, Talent, Energy: Overcome Organizational Drag and Unleash Your Team’s Productive Power by Michael Mankins & Eric Garton, Harvard Business Review Press

In the MARKETING & SALES category:

• Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction by Derek Thompson, Penguin Press
• The Lost Art of Closing: Winning the Ten Commitments That Drive Sales by Anthony Iannarino, Portfolio
• Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work that Lasts by Ryan Holiday, Portfolio
• The Transformational Consumer: Fuel a Lifelong Love Affair with Your Customers by Helping Them Get Healthier, Wealthier, and Wiser by Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Berrett-Koehler
• UnBranding: 100 Branding Lessons for the Age of Disruption by Scott Stratten & Alison Stratten, Wiley

In the INNOVATION & CREATIVITY category:

• Designed Leadership by Moura Quayle, Columbia Business School Publishing
• Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown, Crown Business
• Hunch: Turn Your Everyday Insights Into The Next Big Thing by Bernadette Jiwa, Portfolio
• Mapping Innovation: A Playbook for Navigating a Disruptive Age by Greg Satell, McGraw-Hill
• The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone by Brian Merchant, Little, Brown and Company

In the PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT & HUMAN BEHAVIOR category:

• Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown, Random House
• Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu, Flatiron Books
• Insight: Why We're Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life by Tasha Eurich, Crown Business
• The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip Heath & Dan Heath, Simon & Schuster
• Weird in a World That's Not: A Career Guide for Misfits, F*ckups, and Failures by Jennifer Romolini, Harper Business

In the CURRENT EVENTS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS category:

• The CEO Pay Machine: How it Trashes America and How to Stop it by Steven Clifford, Blue Rider Press
• The Chessboard and the Web: Strategies of Connection in a Networked World by Anne-Marie Slaughter, Yale University Press
• Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth, Chelsea Green Publishing
• A Uterus Is a Feature, Not a Bug: The Working Woman's Guide to Overthrowing the Patriarchy by Sarah Lacy, Harper Business
• World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech by Franklin Foer, Penguin Press

In the NARRATIVE & BIOGRAPHY category:

• The Cubs Way: The Zen of Building the Best Team in Baseball and Breaking the Curse by Tom Verducci, Crown Archetype
• Double Bind: Women on Ambition Ed. by Robin Romm, Liveright
• The Golden Passport: Harvard Business School, the Limits of Capitalism, and the Moral Failure of the MBA Elite by Duff McDonald, Harper Business
• Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America by Michael Ruhlman, Abrams Press
• Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein, Simon & Schuster 

And, in the BIG IDEAS & NEW PERSPECTIVES category:

• Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari, Harper
• Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future by Andrew McAfee & Erik Brynjolfsson, W. W. Norton & Company
• The Power of Onlyness: Make Your Wild Ideas Mighty Enough to Dent the World by Nilofer Merchant, Viking
• Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies by Geoffrey West, Penguin Press
• Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm by Christian Madsbjerg, Hachette Books 

We'd like to thank the publishers, authors, editors, publicists, designers, and everyone else in publishing submitted books, and that make them come to life—and for making this time of year so heady and exhilarating for us. It is really a pleasure to get close with all of the books, and explore what they have to offer. 

We will be announcing the winners of each of these eight categories on December 5th. Those eight category winners will make up the shortlist for the overall winner, the 800-CEO-READ Business Books of the Year. The winner will be announced at an event on January 18th in New York City, where we will also be celebrating the fourth Annual Jack Covert Award for Contribution to the Business Book Industry.   

Stay tuned here for both of those announcements.