Looking for the best business and management advice? Well, considering that some of the biggest corporations, governments, and institutions turn to and trust the guidance of McKinsey & Company consultants, their wisdom is golden.
Overcome challenges, lead better, and strategize to win by studying these nine books by current and former McKinsey professionals.
The Broken Rung: When the Career Ladder Breaks for Women–and How They Can Succeed in Spite of It
By Kweilin Ellingrud, Lareina Yee & Maria del Mar Martinez
The broken rung: a phenomenon even more pervasive than the glass ceiling in holding women back from career success. This book explains it and gives you strategies for how to overcome it and fulfill your potential. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Lareina Yee and Maria del Mar Martinez, or View on Amazon
Irreplaceable: The Art of Standing Out in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
By Pascal Bornet
An award-winning AI expert, former McKinsey executive, and Top Voice in Technology with over 1 million LinkedIn followers, unveils the ultimate guide for working, living, and leading organizations in a rapidly changing, AI-driven world. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Pascal Bornet, or View on Amazon
The Journey of Leadership: How CEOs Learn to Lead from the Inside Out
By Dana Maor, Hans-Werner Kaas, Kurt Strovink & Ramesh Srinivasan
When the pressure is on, many of the world’s top CEOs turn to McKinsey & Company to reinvent themselves and their organizations. The Journey of Leadership brings the experience of one of the world’s most influential consulting firms right to your fingertips. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Dana Maor and Ramesh Srinivasan, or View on Amazon
Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work
By Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock & Emily Field
A profound reimagining of what middle managers can and must be able to do. Middle managers are uniquely positioned close to the ground but with a crucial connection to company strategy—enabling them to guide organizations through the current period of rapid and complex change, as well as help to shape the new world of work. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, and Emily Field, or View on Amazon
Proximity: How Coming Breakthroughs in Just-in-Time Transform Business, Society, and Daily Life
By Robert Wolcott & Kaihan Krippendorff
Proximity-driven delivery represents an entirely new way to serve customers, with critical implications for corporate strategy, investing, public policy, supply chain resilience, and even sustainability. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Robert Wolcott and Kaihan Krippendorff, or View on Amazon
Smart Startups: What Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know—Advice from 18 Harvard Business School Founders
By Catalina Daniels & James Sherman
Two startup company founders and angel investors go inside eighteen companies founded by Harvard Business School graduates, uncovering surprising lessons for success and unexpected pitfalls essential for aspiring entrepreneurs. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Catalina Daniels and James Sherman, or View on Amazon
Deliberate Calm: How to Learn and Lead in a Volatile World
By Jacqueline Brassey, Aaron De Smet & Michiel Kruyt
A trio of McKinsey & Company veterans draws from a combination of psychology, neuroscience, and consciousness practices plus a combined 50-plus years of international boardroom experience to offer a unique approach to leadership during challenging circumstances. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Jacqueline Brassey, or View on Amazon
The Titanium Economy: How Industrial Technology Can Create a Better, Faster, Stronger America
By Asutosh Padhi, Gaurav Batra & Nick Santhanam
McKinsey veterans reveal the “titanium economy,” a modern, reinvented industrial sector complete with high-paying, domestic jobs, soaring stock prices, and critical infrastructure. The Titanium Economy dispels the myth that the best of American manufacturing is behind us. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Gaurav Batra, or View on Amazon
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest
By Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller & Vikram Malhotra
From the world’s most influential management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, this is an insight-packed, revelatory look at how the best CEOs do their jobs based on extensive interviews with today’s most successful corporate leaders—including chiefs at Netflix, JPMorgan Chase, General Motors, and Sony. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Scott Keller, or View on Amazon
The Key Ideas in 15 Minutes
“If you are going to get anywhere in life, you have to read a lot of books,” Roald Dahl once famously said. The only trouble is, reading even one book from cover to cover takes hours—and you may not have many hours to spare.
But imagine for a moment: What if you could read a groundbreaking new book every day? Or even better, what if you could invite a world-renowned thinker into your earbuds, where they personally describe the 5 key takeaways from their work in just 15 minutes?
With the Next Big Idea App, we’ve turned this fantasy into a reality. We partnered with hundreds of acclaimed authors to create “Book Bites,” short audio summaries of the latest nonfiction that are prepared and read aloud by the authors themselves. Discover cutting-edge leadership skills, productivity hacks, the science of happiness and well-being, and much more—all in the time it takes to drive to work or walk the dog.
Go Deeper with a Next Big Idea Club Membership
The Next Big Idea App is free for anyone to try—and if you love it, we invite you to become an official member of the Next Big Idea Club. Membership grants you unlimited access to Book Bites and unlocks early-release, ad-free episodes of our LinkedIn-partnered podcast. You also gain entry to our private online discussion group, where you can talk big ideas with fellow club members and join exclusive live Q&A sessions with featured authors.
For a more focused learning experience, we recommend a Hardcover or eBook Membership. Every few months, legendary authors and club curators Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink select two new nonfiction books as the must-reads of the season. We then send hardcover copies straight to your doorstep, or eBook versions to your favorite digital device. We also collaborate with the authors of selected books to produce original reading guides and premium video e-courses, 50-minute master classes that take you step by step through their most life-changing ideas. And yes, it’s all available through the Next Big Idea App.
Learn Faster, from the World’s Leading Thinkers
Whether you prefer to read, listen, or watch, the Next Big Idea is here to help you work smarter and live better. Wake up with an always-fresh Idea of the Day, the perfect shot of inspiration to go with your morning coffee. Then dive into one of our Challenges, hand-picked collections of Book Bites that form crash courses in subjects like communication, motivation, and career acceleration. Later, watch the playback of an interview with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, Stanford psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt, or philosopher John Kaag. And be sure to check the “Events” tab in the app, so that you can join an upcoming live Q&A and personally chat with the next featured thought leader.
If you’re hoping to grow as a person or as a professional, we hope you’ll join us and tens of thousands of others who enjoy the Next Big Idea. Get started by downloading the app today!
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