Recognizing and Promoting the World's Best Business Titles

AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS 2018 RESULTS

Congratulations to the medalists in the 2018 Axiom Business Book Awards!

In August of 2007, Jenkins Group launched the Axiom Awards, “designed to honor the year's best business books and their authors and publishers.” Now, eleven years later, we announce the winners of the eleventh annual, 2018 Axiom Business Book Awards, honoring the year's best business books, their authors, and publishers.

The Axiom Business Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary business books and their creators, with the understanding that business people are an information-hungry segment of the population, eager to learn about great new books that will inspire them and help them improve their careers and businesses.

Thanks to all for your participation and congratulations to the medalists! 


1. Business Theory

GOLD: Principles, by Ray Dalio (Simon & Schuster)

SILVER (tie) The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change, by Bharat Anand (Random House)

Fast/Forward: Make Your Company Fit for the Future, by Julian Birkinshaw and Jonas Ridderstråle (Stanford Business Books)

BRONZE: The Inversion Factor: How to Thrive in the IoT Economy, by Linda Bernardi, Sanjay Sarma, and Kenneth R. Traub (The MIT Press)


2. Business Commentary

GOLD: What To Do When Machines Do Everything: How to Get Ahead in a World of AI Algorithms Bots and Big Data, by Malcolm Frank, Paul Roehrig, and Ben Pring (Wiley)

SILVER (tie): Becoming Facebook: The 10 Challenges That Defined The Company That's Disrupting The World, by Mike Hoefflinger (Amacom)

$UPERHUBS: How the Financial Elite and their Networks Rule Our World, by Sandra Navidi (Nicholas Brealey Publishers)

BRONZE: Mean Men: The Perversion of America’s Self-Made Man, by Mark Lipton (Voussoir Press)


3. Economics

GOLD: Simply Electrifying: The Technology that Transformed the World, from Benjamin Franklin to Elon Musk, by Craig R. Roach (BenBella Books)

SILVER: The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty, by Jonathan Morduch & Rachel Schneider (Princeton University Press)

BRONZE (tie): The Wisdom of Finance: Discovering Humanity in the World of Risk and Return, by Mihir A. Desai (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

TAP: Unlocking the Mobile Economy, by Anindya Ghose (The MIT Press)


4. Career (job search, career advancement)

GOLD: Entering Startupland: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job, by Jeffrey Bussgang (Harvard Business Review Press)

SILVER: The Right (And The Wrong) Stuff: How Brilliant Careers are Made (and Unmade), by Carter Cast (Public Affairs)

BRONZE: The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts will Rule the Digital World, by Scott Hartley (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)


5. Sales (sales skills, negotiating, closing)

GOLD: Ninja Selling: Subtle Skills. Big Results, by Larry Kendall (Greenleaf Book Group)

SILVER: The Sales Manager's Guide to Greatness: 10 Essential Strategies for Leading Your Team to the Top, by Kevin F. Davis (Greenleaf Book Group)

BRONZE: RIDE THE WAVE: How To Embrace Change And Create A Powerful New Relationship With Risk, by John Wessinger (Wise Ink Creative Publishing)


6. Leadership

GOLD (tie): Lincoln on Leadership for Today: Abraham Lincoln’s Approach to 21st-Century Issues, by Donald T. Phillips (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

No Limits: Blow the Cap Off Your Capacity, by John C. Maxwell (Center Street)

SILVER (tie): SPARK: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success, by Angie Morgan Courtney Lynch & Sean Lynch (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Good Authority: How to Become the Leader Your Team is Waiting For, by Jonathan Raymond (IdeaPress Publishing)

BRONZE: Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace, by Christine Porath (Grand Central Publishing)


7. Networking (social media, communication skills, etc.)

GOLD: Leadership in Focus: Bringing Out Your Best on Camera, by Vern Oakley (Greenleaf Book Group)

SILVER: Communicate Like a Leader: Connecting Strategically to Coach, Inspire, and Get Things Done, by Dianna Booher (Berrett-Koehler Publishers)

BRONZE: Life Would Be Easy if it Weren’t for Other People, by Connie Podesta (STANDOUT Press)


8. Business Ethics

GOLD: The 3rd Ingredient: The Journey of Analog Ethics into the World of Digital Fear and Greed, by Jim Blasingame (SBN Books)

SILVER: Rogues of Wall Street: How to Manage Risk in the Cognitive Era, by Andrew Waxman (Wiley)

BRONZE: The Miseducation of the Student Athlete: How to Fix College Sports, by Kenneth L. Shropshire and Collin D. Williams Jr. (Wharton Digital Press)


9. Operations Management / Lean / Continuous Improvement

GOLD: Seeing Around Corners: How to Unlock the Potential of Big Data, by Graham Hogg (LID Publishing)

SILVER: Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future, by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe (Grand Central Publishing)

BRONZE: Mind+Machine: A Decision Model for Optimizing and Implementing Analytics, by Marc Vollenweider (Wiley)


10. Human Resources / Employee Training

GOLD: The Talent Brand: The Complete Guide to Creating Emotional Employee Buy-In for Your Organization, by Jody Ordioni (LID Publishing)

SILVER: Dedication: The Foundations of Huawei's HR Management, by Huang Weiwei (LID Publishing)

BRONZE: Gen Z @ Work: How the Next Generation is Transforming the Workplace, by David Stillman and Jonah Stillman (Harper Business)


11. Entrepreneurship / Small Business

GOLD (tie): Make Elephants Fly: The Process of Radical Innovation, by Steven Hoffman (Center Street)

The Power of Little Ideas: A Low-Risk, High-Reward Approach to Innovation, by David Robertson with Kent Lineback (Harvard Business Review Press)

SILVER: The Airbnb Story: How Three Ordinary Guys Disrupted an Industry, Made Billions...and Created Plenty of Controversy, by Leigh Gallagher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

BRONZE: Entrepreneurial You: Monetize Your Expertise, Create Multiple Income Streams, and Thrive, by Dorie Clark (Harvard Business Review Press)


12. Philanthropy / Nonprofit / Sustainability

GOLD: Capital and the Common Good: How Innovative Finance Is Tackling the World’s Most Urgent Problems, by Georgia Levenson Keohane (Columbia Business School)

SILVER: Headwinds of Opportunity: A Compass for Sustainable Innovation, by Tim Lindsey (Routledge)

BRONZE: Beyond the Triple Bottom Line: Eight Steps Toward a Sustainable Business Model, by Francisco Szekely and Zahir Dossa (The MIT Press)


13. International Business / Globalization

GOLD: The Next Factory of the World: How Chinese Investment is Reshaping Africa, by Irene Yuan Sun (Harvard Business Review Press)

SILVER: Warnings: Finding Cassandras to Stop Catastrophes, by Richard A. Clarke and R.P. Eddy (Ecco)

BRONZE: The Language of Global Success: How a Common Tongue Transforms Multinational Organizations, by Tsedal Neeley (Princeton University Press)


14. Personal Finance / Retirement Planning / Investing

GOLD: Wealth by Virtue, by Chad Gordon (GreenStar Press)

SILVER: Book of Value: The Fine Art of Investing Wisely, by Anurag Sharma (Columbia University Press)

BRONZE: Investment Traps Exposed: Navigating Investor Mistakes and Behavioral Biases, by H. Kent Baker and Vesa Puttonen (Emerald Publishing)


15. Business Technology

GOLD: TAP: Unlocking the Mobile Economy, by Anindya Ghose (The MIT Press)

SILVER: Management in Singularity: From Linear to Exponential Management, by Prof. Tjeu Blommaert and Stephan van den Broek in cooperation with Erik Kolthof (Vakmedianet)

BRONZE (tie): Data Strategy: How to Profit from a World of Big Data, Analytics and the Internet of Things, by Bernard Marr (Kogan Page)

Confident Coding: Master the Fundamentals of Code and Supercharge Your Career, by Rob Percival (Kogan Page)


16. Women / Minorities in Business

GOLD: The Diversity Bonus: How Great Teams Pay Off in the Knowledge Economy, by Scott E. Page (Princeton University Press)

SILVER: The Influence Effect: A New Path to Power for Women Leaders, by Kathryn Heath, Jill Flynn, Mary Davis Holt, and Diana Faison (Berrett-Koehler Publishers)

BRONZE: That’s What She Said: What Men Need to Know (and Women Need to Tell Them) About Working Together, by Joanne Lipman (William Morrow)


17. Success / Motivation / Coaching

GOLD: The Launch Book: Motivational Stories to Launch Your Idea, Business or Next Career, by Sanyin Siang (LID Publishing)

SILVER (tie): A Quarter Million Steps: Creativity, Imagination, & Leading Transformative Change, by Anthony Paustian, PH.D. (Bookpress Publishing)

The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, by Chip Heath & Dan Heath (Simon & Schuster)

BRONZE: Find the Fire: Ignite Your Inspiration and Make Work Exciting Again, by Scott Mautz (Amacom)


18. Advertising / Marketing / PR / Event Planning

GOLD: Streampunks: YouTube and the Rebels Remaking Media, by Robert Kyncl with Maany Peyvan (Harper Business)

SILVER (tie): The Native Advertising Advantage: Build Authentic Content that Revolutionizes Digital Marketing and Drives Revenue Growth, by Mike Smith (McGraw-Hill Education)

The CEO's Guide to Marketing: The Book Every Marketer Should Read Before Their Boss Does, by Lonny Kocina (Maple Island)

BRONZE: Killing Marketing: How Innovative Businesses Are Turning Marketing Cost Into Profit, by Joe Pulizzi & Robert Rose (McGraw-Hill Education)


19. Corporate History / Milestone

GOLD: Perfectly Aged: 40 Years of Recipes and Stories from the Taste of Texas, by Nina J. Hendee, Edd C. Hendee, Lisa Hendee Blackard, Kristin Ann Hendee Blackford, and Corbin Blackford (Taste of Texas)

SILVER: The JD.com Story: An E-Commerce Phenomenon, by Li Zhigang (LID Publishing)

BRONZE: Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency, by James Andrew Miller (Custom House)


20. Business Reference (legal, how-to)

GOLD: Super Structured: How to Overcome Chaos and Win Back Time, by David Stiernholm (LID Publishing)

SILVER (tie): 50 Economics Classics: The Greatest Books Distilled, by Tom Butler-Bowdon (Nicholas Brealey Publishing)

Swanepoel Trends Report: 2018, by Stefan Swanepoel (T3 Sixty)

BRONZE: Basic Accounting: Concepts Principles and Procedures Vol 1 & 2 (Second Edition), by Gregory R. Mostyn (Worthy & James Publishing)


21. Memoir / Biography

GOLD: Architect of Prosperity: Sir John Cowperthwaite and the Making of Hong Kong, by Neil Monnery (London Publishing Partnership)

SILVER: A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age, by Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman (Simon & Schuster)

BRONZE: Against All Odds: Leading Nokia from Near Catastrophe to Global Success, by Jorma Ollila & Harri Saukkomaa; translated by Richard Powell (Maven House)


22. Business Fable

GOLD: The Respectful Leader: Seven Ways to Influence Without Intimidation, by Gregg Ward with Walter G. Meyer (Wiley)

SILVER: Cadence: A Tale of Fast Business Growth, by Pete Williams (Morgan James Publishing)

BRONZE: Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It, by Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg with Roy H. Williams (Buyer Legends)