What books have shaped today’s leading CEOs? In celebration of National Book Lovers Day, explore McKinsey’s 2026 annual book recommendations, featuring picks from CEOs who have built global businesses and navigated periods of profound change. Their selections explore leadership, innovation, personal growth, and resilience, offering fresh perspectives for anyone looking to think bigger and lead better. Check out the highlights below.
Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Recommended by David Rogier, founder and CEO, MasterClass
“Lincoln, FDR, LBJ, Teddy Roosevelt. Four leaders, four crises, zero playbooks. Goodwin shows that these leaders grew most not during their wins but during their worst moments. The lesson: The best leaders don’t wait for clarity. They adapt faster than the moment demands. Plus, Goodwin is amazing.”
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth by Amy C. Edmondson
Recommended by Stephan Seifert, CEO, Körber
“As a CEO, I know the cost of silence—concerns left unspoken, bad news relayed too late. Amy C. Edmondson’s book delivers the answer: psychological safety as a hard prerequisite for speed, innovation, and quality decision-making. Genuinely actionable. A must read.”
Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (Third Edition) by Joseph A. Schumpeter
Recommended by Amy Webb, CEO, FTSG
“This book has never mattered more. Each tech wave accelerating around us is an act of creative destruction, compounding. The most valuable leaders in the convergence era won’t be the ones who built empires but the ones willing to burn them down at the right moment and build again.”
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things by Adam Grant
Recommended by Ginni Rometty, cochair, SkillsRight; former chair and CEO, IBM
“AI is reshaping every job and skill set. Adam Grant’s argument has never been more urgent: Potential is less about where you start and more about how you grow. A skills-first mindset is the only way to lead right now.”
The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness by Arthur C. Brooks
Recommended by Arun Gupta, CEO, NobleReach Foundation
“Arthur Brooks diagnoses something I see in every workforce conversation: people who have built impressive careers but feel hollow inside. His framework of coherence, purpose, and significance maps closely to what mission-driven work actually provides.”
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern
Recommended by Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO, Gulf International Bank Asset Management
“This one is next, and I can’t wait to read it. Ardern leads through a terror attack and a pandemic with empathy as her strategy—not a soft option, but a deliberate one. Ardern embodies everything most leadership books talk about but rarely show in practice.”