Are you wondering what business books to read this year? Wonder no more.
Last Friday night I had the pleasure and privilege of attending the inaugural Business Book Awards at The Grange City Hotel, London. The Awards are the brainchild of Lucy McCarraher, the Managing Editor of my publisher, Rethink Press and were organised wonderfully with a team from ThinkFest.
My Own Book Submissions
This year I have authored and contributed to two best selling business books, Grow Your Geeks – A Handbook for Developing Leaders in High-Tech Organisations and Fit for Purpose Leadership #1.
Neither book made it through to the shortlists but, with 150 entries in total, competition was tough! If you’d like to judge for yourself, you can download a free chapter of Grow Your Geeks here.
Surrounded by Talented Authors
I was in great company on the night. I was sat next to Daniel Priestley, award-winning entrepreneur, author of four best-selling books and the keynote speaker for the event.
Photobombing us in the photo is my branding consultant, Sapna Pieroux, Director of InnerVisionsID and a contributing author to Fit-For-Purpose Leadership #2.
My other dinner companion was another Rethink Press author, Jamie Summers, author of Socially Intelligent Selling (with me and Sapna in the picture above).
Also on our table was Gordon McAlpine, author of Scale Up Millionaire and Martin Norbury, author of I Don’t Work Fridays. I have read all these books and they are brilliant. Highly recommended!
Simon de Cintra, author of Unlock Your Business Voice did a fantastic job as one of the MCs for the evening. I was honoured to receive a signed copy of his recently published book. I’m really looking forward to reading it.
Inspirational Speeches
The night was kicked off by Lucy McCarraher who has supported thousands of authors, including me, to write their book.
Further inspiration was provided by Daniel Priestley who made the eloquent point that the book that changes your life is not the one you read, it’s the one you write. Wise words indeed.
Business Books to Read
There were seven categories and five or six nominees in each category, all of which have now been added to my reading list. But for the purpose of this post, I’ll just focus on the winners in each category. I haven’t read them yet so can’t tell you much about each one but since they impressed the judges, they must be good! Here are the business books to read in 2018:
Start-up Inspiration – It Takes A Tribe by Will Dean
Self Development – The Leader’s Guide to Presenting by Tom Bird and Jeremy Cassell
Leading the Team – The Change Catalyst by Campbell Macpherson
Embracing Change – Futureproof by Minter Dial and Caleb Storkey
Thought Leader – The Startup Way by Eric Ries
Selling The Dream – Strategic tendering for professional services by Matthew Fuller and Tim Nightingale
Judges’ Choice – Client Earth by James Thorton and Martin Goodman
Business Book Of The Year – The Change Catalyst by Campbell Macpherson
Fabulous Entertainment
The night was topped off with music and laughter from the fabulously entertaining house band, Four Poofs and a Piano who introduced their set with the quip “If you’re homophobic, it’s going to be a long night.”
Looking forward to next year
All in all a great night that I’m delighted I attended and look forward to attending again next year. You can find out more about the Awards at www.businessbookawards.co.uk
If you recommend any other business books to read, please let us know.
