Behind every great business is a story – and behind every great leader, there are books that shape the way they think, informing us about the stories we tell ourselves. Here are the books published in 2025 that reveal tried-and-tested lessons and bring new possibilities to the next generation of leaders.  

A Story is a Deal

By Will Storr

Storytelling expert and The Times’ bestselling author Will Storr proposes a central idea in his new book. Simple but profound: every story is a deal. The storyteller offers meaning, and the listener agrees to care. We are, he says, storytelling animals – wired to turn chaos into order and experience into meaning. He unpacks the psychological and sociological reasons stories reach us so deeply, and how we can tell them more effectively. Discover how to make story into something more than just what we read on a page, see on a screen or hear in a speech. 

A quote from the book:

How to Fall in Love with the Future

By Rob Hopkins

Hopkins argues that activism alone isn’t enough unless we can first imagine the kind of future we actually want. Equal parts playful and profound, it’s a joyful provocation to rethink our relationship with what lies ahead. A reminder of the vital need to shake off cynicism, listen to our deepest longings, and pay attention to the clues the future is already dropping into the present. It’s a blueprint for anyone ready to move from despair to possibility, and to do it with others, joyfully.

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Embracing Uncertainty

By Margaret Heffernan

Margaret Heffernan opens with a compelling thought experiment: imagine a life where every scrap of uncertainty is eliminated. You know exactly when the bus will arrive, the moment illness will strike, and even the precise day you will die. It’s a stark and unsettling vision that prompts the reader to consider how lifeless such certainty would be. Heffernan then builds a compelling argument for embracing uncertainty rather than fearing it. She highlights how artists have mastered the art of leaning into the unknown – a hidden superpower that fuels their creativity. If more of us could cultivate this ability, Heffernan suggests, it would unlock vast reserves of untapped creative potential.

The Forgotten Teachers

By Claudia Biçen and Brian Isset

DNA is often described as a personal instruction manual – but it’s more than that. In The Forgotten Teachers, Bicen and Isset show that our genetic code is a library of lessons, shaped not just by our own lives but by forces from the very origins of life. Fully and intricately illustrated, the book explores six elemental “teachers” embedded in DNA that continue to shape humans and the world around us.

A quote from the book:

Shadows at Work

By Steven D’Souza

Many of us wear a mask to work. We bring only our most polished, professional selves, leaving the rest at home. But leadership isn’t only about the light we show – it’s also the shadows we choose to hide. That’s the central message of executive coach and best-selling author Steven D’Souza’s book. These hidden shadows – our fears, desires, and vulnerabilities – also hold untapped gifts like creativity, humour and wisdom. What if your biggest leadership strengths are hiding in the shadows?

A quote from the book:

​On Loneliness

By Julia Hawkins and The School of Life

Loneliness is a universal human experience, yet we often feel isolated in it. Through heartfelt interviews and captivating photography, Hawkins and The School of Life explore how people experience isolation, feeling invisible and alienated – and those who have found unexpected paths to understanding and connection. This is a book for anyone who has ever felt alone – that is, anyone who has ever been human.

A quote from the book:

Natural Connection

By Joycelyn Longdon

Many of us think of environmental action in binary terms: activist or observer. In Natural Connection, Longdon reveals a broader vision, showing how embracing rage, imagination, care, innovation, and healing are all possible outlooks for the wider movement. A lyrical, deeply researched, and original work of narrative non-fiction by University of Cambridge environmental justice, AI, and bioacoustics researcher and educator Joycelyn Longdon, Longdon illuminates the wondrous awe of the natural world – with stories from marginalised communities from the US to the UK, Brazil to Iran, Ghana to Ethiopia.

A quote from the book: