Every year, McKinsey Global Publishing curates a list of books recommended by contributors from across sectors—social, business, tech, academia, and more—as well as McKinsey leaders, such as Global Managing Partner Bob Sternfels. For the first time, you can keep track of the books you’ve already read, the ones you want to read, and how your reading list compares with those of our contributors.
Check out the 12 books that received the most “want to read” clicks and see other titles to consider for your bookshelf in “What to read next: McKinsey’s 2025 annual book recommendations.”
The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna
Recommended by: Mohamed Nanabhay, Managing partner, Mozilla Ventures
A CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Cycles of Leadership by Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra
Recommended by: Raju Narisetti, Partner and leader of McKinsey Global Publishing, McKinsey
101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest
Recommended by: Daniel Trujillo, Partner and global chief ethics and compliance officer, McKinsey
Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results by Shane Parrish
Recommended by: Cristina Junqueira, Cofounder and chief growth officer, Nubank, Brazil
Leading Through Disruption: A Changemaker’s Guide to Twenty-First Century Leadership by Andrew N. Liveris
Recommended by: Zubaida Bai, CEO and president, Grameen Foundation; Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum
The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel
Recommended by: Maya Horgan Famodu, Founder and partner, Ingressive Capital; Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum
Building a God: The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and the Race to Control It by Christopher DiCarlo
Recommended by: María Eugenia del Castillo Cabrera, Ambassador on special mission for sustainable investment, Office of the Vice President, Presidency of the Dominican Republic; Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum
Genesis: Artificial Intelligence, Hope, and the Human Spirit by Henry A. Kissinger, Craig Mundie, and Eric Schmidt
Recommended by: Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, CEO and president, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
Recommended by: Malcolm Gladwell, Author; host, Revisionist History podcast
How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon
Recommended by: Jeff (Jongyoon) Kim, CEO, Yanolja Cloud; chief strategy officer, Yanolja
The Thinking Machine: Jensen Huang, Nvidia, and the World’s Most Coveted Microchip by Stephen Witt
Recommended by: Alan Murray, President, WSJ Leadership Institute
The Unaccountability Machine: Why Big Systems Make Terrible Decisions—and How the World Lost Its Mind by Dan Davies
Recommended by: Paul Hudson, CEO, Sanofi