The 2024 Porchlight Business Book Awards Longlist

The challenges we face today are so immense and many that it can be overwhelming just to think about them. The debate on how to address them among our elected representatives and the talking heads on television feels trite and trivial, sometimes even terrifying when compared to their scope. The instinct to turn away from it all is understandable, but we must face these issues and the efforts to do so present our greatest opportunities. In those efforts, each of us has a role to play, agency to act in the places we live and work, and influence in our corner of the world.  

Books offer a way to dive deeper into the issues—and the opportunities—that are in front of us. They offer a slower, more thoughtful and thorough examination of the reality and complexity of the world, a more nuanced look at the issues, and a wealth of pragmatic ways we can address them. 

At Porchlight, we’ve had both the challenge and the great privilege to spend the past few months poring over this year's best books and learning as much as we can. 

As our Managing Director, Sally Haldorson, recently wrote in a back-and-forth amongst award jurors here at Porchlight:

The 40 books on this year's list of best business books provide a bastion against the tide of overwhelm that we all feel from time to time in this always online, opinion-saturated world. When so much seems outside our control, these well-researched, deftly written books ground us with clear-eyed practical and practiced ways to do the work that will effectively bring positive change to our personal and professional spaces and places.

After a lot of reading and fruitful discussions, we're proud to announce the 2024 Porchlight Business Book Awards Longlist. Our selections are: 

BIG IDEAS & NEW PERSPECTIVES  

• The Art of the Interesting: What We Miss in Our Pursuit of the Good Life and How to Cultivate It by Lorraine Besser, Balance 
• Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves, and Our Culture by Niobe Way, Dutton 
• Relationality: How Moving from Transactional to Transformational Relationships Can Reshape Our Lonely World by David Jay, North Atlantic Books
• Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World by R. Jisung Park, Princeton University Press 
• Tech Agnostic: How Technology Became the World's Most Powerful Religion, and Why It Desperately Needs a Reformation by Greg Epstein, MIT Press 

CURRENT EVENTS & PUBLIC AFFAIRS 

• Build: Investing in America's Infrastructure by Sadek Wahba, Georgetown University Press  
• Holding It Together: How Women Became America's Safety Net by Jessica Calarco, Portfolio  
• How the World Ran Out of Everything: Inside the Global Supply Chain by Peter S. Goodman, Mariner Books 
• The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers by Zeke Hernandez, St. Martin's Press 
• What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, One World 

INNOVATION & CREATIVITY 

• Born to Create: How Creativity Sparks Connection, Innovation, and Belonging in our New World of Work by Anne Jacoby, Fast Company Press  
• From Pessimism to Promise: Lessons from the Global South on Designing Inclusive Tech by Payal Arora, The MIT Press  
• Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There by Tali Sharot & Cass R. Sunstein, One Signal 
• Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future by Mike Maples Jr. & Peter Ziebelman, PublicAffairs 
• The Vagina Business: The Innovative Breakthroughs that Could Change Everything in Women's Health by Marina Gerner, Sourcebooks 

LEADERSHIP & STRATEGY 

• Burnt Out to Lit Up: How to Reignite the Joy of Leading People by Daisy Auger-Domínguez, Wiley 
• Higher Ground: How Business Can Do the Right Thing in a Turbulent World by Alison Taylor, Harvard Business Review Press 
• The Mac and Cheese Millionaire: Building a Better Business by Thinking Outside the Box by Erin Wade, Wiley 
• Modern Achievement: A New Approach to Timeless Lessons for Aspiring Leaders by Asheesh Advani & Marshall Goldsmith, Amplify Publishing 
• This is Strategy: Make Better Plans by Seth Godin, Authors Equity 

MANAGEMENT & WORKPLACE CULTURE 

• The Canary Code: A Guide to Neurodiversity, Dignity, and Intersectional Belonging at Work by Ludmila Praslova, Berrett-Koehler Publishers  
• The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make Right Things Easier and Wrong Things Harder by Robert I. Sutton & Huggy Rao, St. Martin's Press 
• Never Not Working: Why the Always-On Culture Is Bad for Business—and How to Fix It by Malissa Clark, Harvard Business Review Press 
• The Problem with Change: And the Essential Nature of Human Performance by Ashley Goodall, Little, Brown Spark 
• Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport, Portfolio 

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS/SALES & INFLUENCE 

• Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers by Steve Pratt, Page Two 
• Everybody Needs an Editor: The Essential Guide to Clear and Effective Writing by Melissa Harris & Jenn Bane, Simon Element  
• Say It Well: Find Your Voice, Speak Your Mind, Inspire Any Audience by Terry Szuplat, Harper Business  
• Shareworthy: Advertising That Creates Powerful Connections Through Storytelling by Robin Landa & Greg Braun, Columbia Business School Publishing 
• Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg, Random House 

NARRATIVE & BIOGRAPHY 

• The Everything War: Amazon’s Ruthless Quest to Own the World and Remake Corporate Power by Dana Mattoli, Little, Brown and Company 
• The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America by Elizabeth Dias & Lisa Lerer, Flatiron Books  
• I Hate It Here, Please Vote for Me: Essays on Rural Political Decay by Matthew Ferrence, West Virginia University Press 
• Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America's Largest Meatpacking Company by Alice Driver, Atria/One Signal Publishers  
• Savings and Trust: The Rise and Betrayal of the Freedman's Bank by Justene Hill Edwards, W.W. Norton & Company 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT & HUMAN BEHAVIOR 

• Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness by Jamil Zaki, Grand Central Publishing 
• Microskills: Small Actions, Big Impact by Adaira Landry & Resa E. Lewiss, Hanover Square Press 
• Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts That Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together by Michael Morris, Thesis 
• Unlearning Silence: How to Speak Your Mind, Unleash Talent, and Live More Fully by Elaine Lin Hering, Penguin Life 
• When We Are Seen: How to Come into Your Power and Empower Others Along the Way by Denise Young, Crown 

Our deepest respect and thanks to all the authors who put their hearts, minds, souls, and time into producing this year's books, and to everyone working in the publishing industry who helped bring them to life. We appreciate all of you, and the monumental efforts you put into bringing great books and ideas into the world this past year. Like every other year, there were so many other wonderful books published in 2024 (over 750 of them were submitted for our awards this year) that we loved but had to leave off this list. We hope you'll go back and check out the books we covered over the course of the year and check out other lists from the likes of NPR, FT Press, and so many other outlets.

Write-ups from our jurors exploring the books in each category will appear in this space over the course of the next month.

We will announce the winners of our eight categories at an industry event in New York City on January 29th.