For its annual book award, the Financial Times looks beyond books that might be filed under business in a bookshop, picking out books that are compelling and enjoyable, explains Andrew Hill, the newspaper’s senior business writer. He talks us through the 2022 shortlist: books that shine a light on obscure but immensely important companies or industries, or address some of the bigger challenges facing our capitalist economies.

Running a successful business is an endless series of impossible challenges, a constant mix of terror and euphoria, explains Brian O'Kelley, co-founder of the billion-dollar ad tech company AppNexus and now at Scope3. He tells us which books every entrepreneur needs to read and why it's so helpful to learn from those who have gone before.

What are the best books to read if you want to be an entrepreneur? Oxford Saïd Business School’s Thomas Hellmann, DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, shares his top five books—and explains what entrepreneurs can learn from them.

Halitosis, happy hour and bumming a cigarette: all concepts invented by marketers. Marketing is all about manipulating emotions—and this is a dark art that can be used for both good and evil, says the bestselling author and marketing guru Seth Godin as he selects five of the best books on his specialist subject.

If you feel like you lose whole days to procrastination or indecision—or simply have too much to do!—you probably want advice on how improve your productivity. We spoke to David Allen, creator of the perennial bestseller Getting Things Done, about the best books on the subject: why we waste time, and what we can change to be more productive.

Good decision-making is a crucial skill not only in business but in life. In this interview, entrepreneur, investor and poker player Sebastian Park advises how to make good decisions in a world of uncertainty, how to evaluate past decisions for future improvement, and how fiction can help us reflect on the choices we make.

From the classroom to the boardroom, everybody tries (and sometimes fails) to be liked and admired by others. In this interview, Övül Sezer—Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at Cornell University—recommends five books that can help you make a good impression on everybody, including yourself.

Good leaders combine iron will with a dose of humility, says the founder of groundbreaking teaching charity Teach First. He traces leadership skills back to Moses, and tells us about books we can all learn from.

If you’ve stepped inside a school recently, you’ve probably heard teachers talking about the importance of  a ‘growth mindset.’ Here psychologist Carol Dweck, who pioneered research into this key concept, explains what it’s all about and recommends books—other than her own—that shed light on it.

Burton Malkiel, a professor of economics (emeritus) at Princeton University and author of the bestselling A Random Walk Down Wall Street, recommends his top picks of books to read on investing.

Every year the Financial Times’s management editor, Andrew Hill, helps organize its ‘Business Book of the Year’ award, which celebrates outstanding books relating to business in the broadest sense. Here, he talks us through the 2021 shortlist, six books that will draw you in and open your eyes to how events happening in the world of business affect all of us–sometimes in very profound ways.

Like the perfume seller in Balzac’s Human Comedy, many people still fear the moral stigma of bankruptcy. But while modern bankruptcy laws allow people to walk away from their debts, they do not address the underlying issues that can all too easily leave hardworking people in dire financial straits. Jack Ayer, emeritus professor and former bankruptcy judge, recommends his top bankruptcy books.

To reach your full potential you must put as much effort into building mental resilience as you do into work or training, advises high-performance psychologist Dr Michael Gervais. Here, he selects five titles to help you find the right mindset—whether you dream of sporting stardom, artistic achievement or business success.

Overwhelmed, exhausted, yet unable to relax when you have the chance? You are not alone. Josh Cohen, psychoanalyst and author of Not Working: Why We Have to Stop, discusses the symptoms and causes of burnout—and why relentless activity is at the source.

Whether you’re looking for ideas on how to run a successful business or books that look at the various challenges facing capitalist society, the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award is a great place to start. Andrew Hill, who with colleagues at the Financial Times sifted through hundreds of entries to compile the award’s longlist, talks us through the books that made the 2020 shortlist—as well as offering some predictions for the year ahead.

We all have a brand, whether we want to or not, says Cynthia Johnson—the digital marketing expert and author of Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding. Here she selects five of the best books to help you build a better personal brand, and thereby boost your career.

Modern market economies face a growing malaise, says activist and science fiction author Cory Doctorow: powerful actors creating ‘chokepoints’ between producers and consumers, causing untenable conditions for both. Here he picks out the best books he’s reviewed over the last two years and explains why they’re important.

Confused about which of the thousands of business books published in 2019 to read? Fortunately, the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award has sifted through hundreds of entries to pick the very best. Andrew Hill, the FT’s management editor and author of Ruskinland, talks us through the six brilliant books that made this year’s shortlist.

The author and Wall Street Journal personal finance columnist, Jason Zweig, explains why there’s truth in the old adage that investors get the returns they deserve, and recommends books that might help you avoid being taken for a ride.

If you are fed up and burnt out, it’s time to take concrete steps towards building a better life, based on a job you love. Bestselling business author Emma Gannon tells Five Books about the career advice books that have inspired her most.

Investing can seem scary if you’ve never done it before but it is, in fact, fairly straightforward. Economist John Kay recommends some investing books for beginners.

To brand is human, says practitioner and professor Robert Jones. He recommends the five best books on branding.

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications chief, takes a look at leadership in politics and in sport, recognising that ordinary citizens can show courageous moral leadership

Whatever modern leadership books may say about what’s required to be a good leader, for the ancients there was only one vital requirement: studying philosophy. Jeffrey Beneker, Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, talks us through what ancient biographies reveal about how to be a leader.

The Chairman of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London selects his top five books on managerial culture. He discusses decline in American traditional management excellence but remains optimistic for the future.

The CEO of iOpener, a human asset management consultancy, explains how you can increase happiness and thus productivity in the workplace. She picks five essential reads for bosses and employees.

Financial literacy is an essential life skill, but it is not routinely taught at school and not everybody has good role models to look to for financial behaviour. Reading can certainly help. Finance teacher Darren Collins recommends his top books for teens and young adults to learn the fundamentals for making sound personal finance decisions in life.

Former UNESCO Professor of Maths and Economics at Columbia University selects five intriguing books on catastophic risks, making statistical decisions and reasoned gambling

The author and Emmy award-winning advertising exec discusses the changing face of the advertising world. He argues that the digital revolution has been mirrored before in the change from radio to tv advertising.

Marc Faber, the infamous investor known as “Dr Doom”,  discusses books he considers indispensable for those interested in investment. He stresses the importance for investors to be historically aware, and holds that Irving Fisher is one of the best economists of the 20th century.

Richard Tofel, general manager of the non-profit newsroom ProPublica and former assistant publisher of the Wall Street Journal, explains why the printed newspaper is doomed. He recommends the best books to read to better understand the changing business of journalism.