Business Impact Award 2024: The Longlist
Established in 2001, the getAbstract International Book Award is one of the longest continuously running non-fiction awards in the world. Aligned with our mission to provide actionable, business-relevant knowledge, the getAbstract International Book Award focuses on titles that help people make better decisions in their personal and professional lives – in line with our slogan ‘Know Better. Do Better.’
Here are this year’s nominees:
LONGLIST: Business Impact Award 2024 International
- Julie Smith: Coach Yourself Confident
- Dan McClure & Jennifer Wilde: Do Bigger Things
- Bernard Marr: Generative AI in Practice
- Jeff Goodell: The Heat Will Kill You First
- Michelle P. King: How Work Works
- Jeff Fuhrer: The Myth That Made Us
- Maureen Dunne: The Neurodiversity Edge
- Kate Abramson: On Gaslighting
- R. Jisung Park: Slow Burn
- Dominique Shelton Leipzig: Trust.
You can vote for one of the above titles here until 22 September and thus contribute to the Readers’ Choice Award.
– THE LONGLIST –
Julie Smith:
Coach Yourself Confident
Practical Inspiration Publishing, 2024
Is a lack of confidence holding you back? Career coach expert Julie Smith empowers you to challenge your inner critic, embrace your strengths, and navigate the ups and downs of self-doubt with grace and resilience. Through personal stories, practical exercises, and evidence-based approaches, she offers a road map to a self-assured future where confidence fuels every aspect of your life.
Coach Yourself Confident by Julie Smith provides an engaging and practical guide to overcoming self-doubt and building lasting confidence. The nomination for the Business Impact Award is justified by its actionable strategies and the empowering message it delivers. The book stands out for its focus on internal validation and practical exercises, making it a valuable resource for anyone looking to enhance their self-assurance and performance.
Navid Nazemian, Juror
Whether you seek to enhance your professional performance, enrich your personal relationships, or simply live with greater authenticity, this guide is your essential companion on the journey to self-confidence.
Dan McClure & Jennifer Wilde:
Do Bigger Things
Fast Company, 2024
Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb. He connected his version of the lightbulb with power plants and transmission lines to create a “lightbulb ecosystem” that changed the world. Innovation experts Dan McClure and Jennifer Wilde draw upon Edison and other real-world examples to demonstrate how “ecosystem innovation” brings people, organizations, and technologies together to solve complex problems.
An engaging and very practical read to rethink and change how we approach complex problems. More important than ever for all companies, from start-ups to global players.
Laura Lesum, Juror
Whether you’re a small business or a global organization, their practical guide will help you innovate a “future ecosystem.”
Bernard Marr:
Generative AI in Practice
Wiley, 2024
Generative AI has the potential to transform your everyday life experience dramatically as its use expands across sectors. As futurist Bernard Marr warns, while GenAI can give your company a competitive edge, it can also cause unintended harm — both on a collective societal level and on an organizational level. Marr’s insights will deepen your understanding of GenAI’s potential risks and benefits as he explains how it’s poised to disrupt industries ranging from healthcare to software development.
Generative AI in Practice has great scope across subject areas and is a good general manual with broad applicability, especially for those who are new to using AI at work.
Erica Rauzin, Juror
Marr conjures multiple future possibilities, some dystopian and some hopeful, and urges readers to harness GenAI’s potential for good. He calls for a cultural shift toward embracing GenAI in a way that inspires innovation, openness, and collaboration.
Jeff Goodell:
The Heat Will Kill You First
Little, Brown US, 2023
Climate researcher Jeff Goodell describes the accelerating impacts of global warming with real-life stories illustrating scientific facts. Drawing from his travels, studies, and relationships, and writing with unusual skill, he warns that all living things will seek escape from the escalating heat, relentless storms, drought, and rising seas. Adaptation won’t be adequate for hundreds of millions of Earth’s inhabitants, including humans.
A wake-up call what global warming means for us all. Very well written by combining scientific facts with stories. Very readable!
Laura Lesum, Juror
Goodell also notes that increasing heat exposes global injustice and instability. Rich people install air conditioners or move, while the poor suffer. His conclusion: The best way to blunt these dire outcomes is to stop burning fossil fuels.
Michelle P. King:
How Work Works
HarperBusiness, 2023
Dive deep into the pivotal skill of “reading the air” – gaining a profound understanding of your workplace’s shared norms and unspoken dynamics. Corporate culture expert Michelle P. King, PhD portrays this skill as a prime requirement for advancement and happiness at work since it enables you to navigate cultural shifts and build crucial informal networks.
How Work Works’ coverage of office dynamics is perceptive, useful, and innovative, especially for people early in their careers. Its career-growth advice is deeper than usual because it takes a systemic approach to organizational life.
Erica Rauzin, Juror
King demystifies the elusive factors that make up a company’s culture, revealing the unwritten rules that govern many workplace interactions. If you can analyze and adapt to the inner workings and values of your firm’s culture – the way power, priorities and relationships ebb and flow – then you can thrive and lead anywhere.
Jeff Fuhrer:
The Myth That Made Us
MIT Press, 2023
Economist Jeff Fuhrer looks at American society and sees an economy constructed atop a fairy tale. According to what Fuhrer calls “The Myth,” the rich get rich through relentless toil and constant sacrifice, while the poor stay poor because they’re unwilling to do what it takes to better themselves.
This book provides an insightful analysis of the distorted beliefs shaping the US economy and offers practical policy recommendations. It’s a thought-provoking read for those interested in economic policy and social justice.
Navid Nazemian, Juror
Fuhrer meticulously unpacks these assumptions, and he prescribes undoing US inequality through a variety of progressive policies, such as raising the minimum wage and investing heavily in education and child care. But Fuhrer’s policy suggestions seem unlikely to find traction in a nation in which so many still subscribe to The Myth.
Maureen Dunne:
The Neurodiversity Edge
Wiley, 2024
The innate strengths of neurodivergent workers are an often untapped resource that could help organizations drive innovation and navigate complex challenges. But according to cognitive scientist Maureen Dunne, organizations routinely exclude and overlook the potential of the roughly 20% of the population who are neurodivergent.
The Neurodiversity Edge presents a solid case for expanding the workforce with this untapped talent. It’s also an excellent guide to help understand how to recruit and manage the workplace climate to be inclusive.
Kevin Wilde, Juror
Dunne explains how neurodiversity contributed to human survival in prehistoric times and how it can give companies a competitive edge today. Learn how to authentically include neurodiverse people in your workplace and gain insights into the strengths of divergent ways of thinking.
Kate Abramson:
On Gaslighting
Princeton UP, 2024
“Gaslighting,” Merriam-Webster’s “word of the year” in 2022, is a term that gets bandied about when one person questions another’s credibility. However, gaslighting is a much more specific, nefarious behavior. With clarity, sensitivity, and academic rigor, philosopher Kate Abramson conducts a deep dive into its characteristics, motives, and psychological damage. She illustrates how gaslighters undermine their targets’ confidence and independence, and how gaslighting often reinforces oppressive ideologies such as sexism and racism.
On Gaslighting is clear, innovative, and surprisingly important. The author’s presentation is thorough and well-explained, particularly her examples of how gaslighting works in familiar settings, including the world of work.
Erica Rauzin, Juror
Abramson notes that most gaslighters are men, while their victims are most commonly women, and her use of pronouns throughout her book is representative of a textbook case. However, anyone can become the victim of a gaslighter. People who’ve experienced gaslighting — and those who support them — will appreciate the insight and validation Abramson’s account provides.
R. Jisung Park:
Slow Burn
Princeton UP, 2024
Thinking “statistically” — rather than relying on apocalyptic headlines, personal experience, or intuition — is vital if humanity wants to mitigate the harms of climate change, economist R. Jisung Park writes. There are many subtle ways that a slowly warming planet affects social and economic well-being, including reduced learning outcomes, lower productivity, and exacerbated socioeconomic inequity.
Slow Burn is a highly relevant book with good action steps and fresh and compelling data. I would buy this book and give it to my friends.
Kevin Wilde, Juror
Problem-solvers and policymakers must consider these less catastrophic “hidden costs” and seek locally focused solutions that allow people to adapt to a slowly warming planet.
Dominique Shelton Leipzig:
Trust.
ForbesBooks, 2024
Nearly all companies today need data to grow and innovate. Technological advances, such as generative AI, will amplify and speed up this trend. Digital transformation strategist Dominique Leipzig argues that this increased reliance on data means new responsibilities for corporate leadership.
This book provides valuable insights into the intersection of data, AI, and privacy, offering practical strategies for businesses to navigate the digital landscape responsibly and effectively. It emphasizes the importance of trust in leveraging data and AI, making it a must-read for leaders in the digital era.
Navid Nazemian, Juror
Organizations must not only know how to leverage data to achieve their strategic goals but also how to safeguard the data they gather and how to use it in ways that promote rather than erode trust. This helpful text unpacks how company leaders can become responsible data stewards.
The winner of the Business Impact Award will be announced at the award ceremony in Frankfurt am Main on 17 October 2024. Click here for the German selection. Here, you can find the nominees for the Learning Impact Award.
