The IoD, in association with Kogan Page, offers an extensive range of business titles that can help directors refresh, develop and improve their business management skills. Click here to visit the IoD bookshop

The Unknown Leader: Discover the leader in you

Al- Banawi states that there are many obvious leaders in the world, from captains of industry to chief executives, but argues that we also depend on the leaders whose work is usually not so visible.

Lessons from the Top

The award-winning television and radio broadcaster Gavin Esler states that without the ability to tell stories leaders would have no followers and would cease to lead

Negotiation Mastery: Tools for the 21st century negotiator

John A. Dembitz argues that good managers and business leaders are capable of driving performance and change through people

It's The People! What really drives great management and leadership

John A. Dembitz argues that good managers and business leaders are capable of driving performance and change through people

WHAT TO ASK THE PERSON IN THE MIRROR

Robert Kaplan argues that leadership skills can be learnt with hard work and determination regardless of your talent

Adaptability: The art of winning in an
age of uncertainty

Strategy and innovation expert Max McKeown sets out a practical set of rules that show you how to boost the adaptability of your organisation to create winning commercial positions

LOUDER THAN WORDS: TAKE YOUR CAREER FROM AVERAGE TO EXCEPTIONAL

Former FBI agent and behaviour expert Joe Navarro looks in depth at body language and non-verbal communication

SERIAL INNOVATORS: FIRMS THAT CHANGE THE WORLD

Claudio Feser delves into the secrets of building a company that continuously reinvents itself to avoid certain death

Organizations Don't Tweet... People Do:
A manager's guide to the social web

Euan Semple offers expert advice on how social media can help your busines

WHO CARES WINS: WHY GOOD BUSINESS IS BETTER BUSINESS

David Jones, global chief executive of advertising agency Havas, outlines how corporate social responsibility and doing good business are interlinked

The PEOPLE SKILLS REVOLUTION

This book is aimed at business leaders to change their behaviour and present themselves more positively at work

THE END OF BUSINESS AS USUAL

A new type of consumer has emerged from the information revolution that is informing and informed – making decisions based on the shared experience of others

zoom

How to turn a business idea into reality fast with the right mindset and attitude

The mountain within

This book is about how to get to the top – both literally and figuratively – as international finance executive Herta von Stiegel explains the way she led a group of 28 people to the summit of Kilimanjaro

The Challenger spirit

This book draws heavily on cases presented on Dragons' Den (both good and bad). These work well and Bannatyne mixes with better-known, big business failures to highlight mistakes. Very readable indeed

43 mistakes businesses make

This book draws heavily on cases presented on Dragons' Den (both good and bad). These work well and Bannatyne mixes with better-known, big business failures to highlight mistakes. Very readable indeed

elusive growth

Springman lists the social, cultural, economic, political and technological trends that have changed the world in ways that too many marketing and strategy professionals have failed to notice

Brand valued

This book can be a difficult read, but it offers invaluable insights into new ways to think about brands, particularly the way consumer brands fit into the sustainability debate

The business of influence

Sheldrake trained as an engineer and his rigorous approach is a welcome change from the attitude of many marketing experts who eschew a scientific approach to strategy

Hegarty on advertising

This is one of the most eagerly awaited books on the sector since the "father of advertising" David Ogilvy put pen to paper. And Hegarty doesn't disappoint

Ten steps ahead

Here, author Erik Calonius picks out what it is that allows true business greats to achieve what they do

To plant a walnut tree

How to create a fruitful legacy by using your experience

Onward

This book tells the story of how Howard Shultz achieved a remarkable turnaround at Starbucks

Bold

What connects drinks company Innocent, JCB, Virgin Galactic, O2, and 10 other seemingly unrelated firms? Despite huge variations in sector, size and style, all are what Smith and Milligan call bold businesses

Little bets

This is the story of innovators unafraid to try new things. By working on a small, affordable scale, good ideas can flourish, while failures don't cause too much damage

The John Adair Lexicon of Leadership

This is a collection of six previous John Adair books on leadership stitched together to form a (reasonably) coherent one-stop resource for both students and practitioners

well-being

Here, Director contributor Professor Cary Cooper and his colleague Ivan Robertson draw together research covering the area where wellbeing, workplace happiness and productivity interact

Fixing Britain

This book is a frank, no-nonsense and blunt description of Jones' views on what's wrong with Britain. He lays plenty of blame with New Labour but his opinions in many areas are surprisingly close to the party's

Fit to bust

As Phillips observes in the introduction to this excellent collection of what might be called "reverse case studies", there's no better or worse time to write a book about failing companies than at the tail end of a recession

Guitar lessons

This is a thoroughly enjoyable story of business success with the usual early ups and downs. There are plenty of lessons to be drawn from Taylor's experiences

The Attack of the Unexpected

This is an engaging, approachable and almost bite-sized read, but it manages to deliver thought-provoking content

The big Mo

Roeder does a great job of looking at the various causes of momentum and it becomes really interesting when he moves away from familiar themes to explore the deeper roots of this phenomenon

The road from ruin

Bishop and Green argue that some reform is needed and this book does a good job of laying out ideas for a more engaged, people-focused capitalism

The negotiation book

This is a good guide to negotiating skills and Gates does a sound job of explaining the processes and tricks of effective negotiating as well as the psychology behind them

playing to wiin

The video games market has seen notable successes and failures in the last decade. But few stories of that time match the rollercoaster journey of Nintendo

The Cult of the Leader

In this excellent book, Bones examines why we remain so in thrall to the power of self-centric leaders as opposed to dwelling on the environmental factors for success

Consumptionomics

Leading Asian economies are setting a course for disaster by following a path previously trodden by big trading nations in the West in terms of a consumption at all costs approach to economic development, says Chandran Nair

The Decision Book

Success in business is all about making the right decisions at the right time. This book won't make up your mind for you, but what the authors offer is a handy primer for anyone keen to tackle problems in a different way

Sticky Marketing

The internet has changed the world in the past 20 years. But while most of us benefit from that transformation, too many businesses and marketers are stuck in "old world" ways of thinking and behaving

How Did I Get Here? The ascent of an unlikely CEO

This may try hard to be the coolest business book of the year, but it's also packed with lessons for entrepreneurs

The Smarta Way To Do Business

This book comes close to being an unrepentant manifesto for the role of social media in business

The Extra One Per Cent

Here psychologist and coach Rob Yeung takes a scientific approach to discovering exactly what it is that high-achieving people do that makes them more exceptional than fellow employees

Business Exposed

Vermeulen's idea appears to be not to offer guidance to all lost chief executives, but merely to make them aware that they are lost

The art of action

Stephen Bungay draws on military thinking to suggest that rather than fixed plans, leaders should lay out "intended outcomes" and allow staff to interpret what needs to be done to achieve them

Overconnected: the promise and threat of the internet

This book raises important questions about how we might need to rethink regulation and control of the internet

What You See Is What You Get: My autobiography

Lord Sugar is the ultimate Marmite leader. Regardless of which camp you are in, there is much here to admire.

Angels, Dragons & Vultures

Anyone seeking outside investment from either an angel or a venture capitalist should read this first

Smart swarm

National Geographic editor Peter Miller believes there are lessons for the corporate world to draw from the birds and the bees

Them and Us: Changing Britain—why we need a fair society

Will Hutton's latest title is a well-researched, far-reaching and cogently argued call to arms

Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead

The unintended message of this book is that if only more in the music world had paid attention to the ideas of the Grateful Dead, the industry would have found the last few years a lot easier

Selected

There is nothing unusual about a book presenting a new theory on leadership. But the authors here claim that their "evolutionary leadership theory" is a grand unifying idea that explains all previous leadership thinking

Consumer.ology

After a career in market research, Graves delivers a stinging rebuke to his profession. But to his credit, he does more than just show marketers the error of their ways

Dragons' Den Grow Your Business

For years individual Dragons have been cashing in on their celebrity entrepreneur status by publishing a stream of business books. Now the TV brand itself is having a go

Accounting for Sustainability: Practical insights

While debates over climate change rage, there is a growing movement to back the theory that companies placing sustainable practice at the heart of their business will be best placed for long-term success.

Mister Swatch: Nicolas Hayek and the secret of his success

This book puts into context Hayek's extraordinary feats

Working 5 to 9

Here Emma Jones, founder of online community Enterprise Nation, provides advice for anyone who likes the idea of starting a home business but who doesn't know where to begin

The winner-take-all society

Originally published in 1995, this is the book that inspired Chris Anderson to formulate his Long Tail thesis as a challenge to the ideas it presented

The Naked millionaire

Guess what? You, too, can be a millionaire if you want it enough and you're prepared to take action to make it happen. All you need is the get-up-and-go to... get up and go

The new business road test

Before anyone gets too far into a new venture it makes sense to test the idea and examine it for flaws. But which model should you use?

Build a brand in 30 days

An invaluable read for anyone starting a business. It's impossible for Middleton to provide all the answers, but he lays out the right questions for anyone launching a brand

Naked marketing

While not perfect, the four Ps, if applied properly, remain the best way to frame a marketing mix. To claim, as Nelson does, that the system has destroyed business is ludicrous

Free

When it comes to undoing the traditional marketing model, the shift to a digital economy—where the cost of goods is reduced to virtually zero—is having more impact than anything else

Brand America

The idea behind this book is that by getting inside Brand America, readers will find general branding lessons for their own products and services

50 ways to make Google love your website

If this book won't change your life, it might transform your business. It is a lesson in the power of keeping things simple

The Future of Money

As the sweeping title suggests, this is an ambitious project. It's a series of essays from leading economists, bankers, business leaders and politicians on the current state of the world economy, the events that led to the financial crash and recession, and the way these events will shape the future

Driving Down Cost

Author Andrew Wileman draws on a wealth of experience as a cost-cutting consultant and chief financial officer to make it seem like the most interesting part of a manager's remit.

The Little Big Things

Beyond its wackiness, the message in this book is that the little things companies do to help their customers and fellow employees often have more impact on success than the big strategic ideas

The China Strategy

The great China debate continues to rage. Is it the next big bubble or the great miracle of our age? Scary statistics, such as the fact that China is building 34 airports the size of Heathrow, suggest the latter. Author Edward Tse is a cheerleader for this camp

Family Wars

Family businesses are seen by many as the backbone of the economy. The drawback to this idea is that, like all families, these businesses are more prone to conflict than other firms. That at least is the view of the authors of this potted history of the main conflicts in family businesses

The Age of Instability

Several books have examined the recent economic crash and a few have put the meltdown into the context of previous bubbles. Here, David Smith recounts events in the recent past that created the circumstances for the extended boom and the bust

Obliquity: Why our goals are best achieved indirectly

This book by John Kay is a useful addition to the thriving school of behavioural economics

Chief culture officer

Why gurus succeed, says Grant McCracken, is because they are so well plugged into the culture in which their company operates.

Guide to business planning

Anyone looking to launch a new venture, however experienced they are, will need a business plan. And if you are in any doubt as to what such a plan might include, this comprehensive and rigorous book leaves you in no doubt.

co-opportunity

The premise of this relentlessly optimistic book is both simple and daunting. If we all stopped pursuing our own private agendas and started working more for the common good we would stand a better chance of achieving our individual goals.

re-inventing management

Birkinshaw is a business school professor who is dedicated to the study of management. As the author himself declares, "management as we know it today is struggling to do the job it intended to do".

The Death of modern Management

The upheaval of this recession has prompted many publishers to look for books that help explain what Owen here calls "the new world disorder".

Stuff

Have you ever wondered what the material things we gather around us say about our humanity? No, I hadn't either, until I read this engaging introduction to a subject that is formally called material culture, but which Miller calls "stuff".

Business essential

This volume should really be subtitled the Ultimate Bluffer's Guide to Management and is essential reading for anyone thinking of adding a fake MBA to their CV.

Cool it

This paperback edition of the controversial 2007 title arrives in time for the climate change talks in Lomborg's home capital of Copenhagen. It's a refreshing antidote to the growing shelves of books that assume the science and outcome of climate change is a done deal.

Managing

Henry Mintzberg has dedicated his career to building a better understanding of management. Here he lays out, in six clear and precise chapters, what he sees as the issues facing managers today.

Change by Design

Tim Brown, chief executive of design agency IDEO, looks at applying the basic approach of good designers—to combine an understanding of human needs with knowledge of what is technologically possible to create better products—to a wider set of management issues.

herd

Companies are not always that good at assessing what customers want.This is partly, as Mark Earls explains here, because companies make the mistake of asking consumers themselves.

Mike Bloomberg: money, power, politics

Joyce Purnick's interesting account of Bloomberg's career asks how a "colourless manager" who "could not deliver a speech that anyone wanted to hear" became one of New York's most successful mayors.

The management myth

This should be required reading for anyone about to hire a management consultant

how to build a great business in tough times

"Why would people be interested in reading about King of Shaves?" asks King in the prologue. Had this simple rhetorical question been more widely asked, a large proportion of current business books might not have made it to the book shops.

Anything but ordinary

This translation of a successful German book is packed full of useful thoughts and ideas that will force readers to think twice about their organisation. That, of course, is the point of lateral thinking.

Know me, like me, follow me

The need for organisations and individuals to get to grips with the advent of social networks is, we are continually told, the most important issue of the day. For anyone who subscribes to this idea, this is a useful place to start.

Globalisation laid bare

A collection of essays is only ever as good as its contributors. Here, every contribution is timely, insightful and interesting

The 50th law

US hip-hop superstar Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent, has a knack for keeping things under his own control rather than handing power to record companies. So what can he teach directors in the UK?

How the mighty fall

As the author of such research-heavy masterpieces such as Good to Great and Built to Last, here interrupts another project to let loose a few thoughts on the global recession.

crossroads

Do we take the difficult path of greater global collaboration and co-operation or the more immediately obvious path, carrying on with unfettered global competition, which will lead to humanity's destruction?

Think again

Amid a deluge of interesting but not all that useful books on behavioural economics and decision-making comes one offering something tangible to readers

The Green Guide for business

For any director who thinks the digital revolution is something for others to worry about, here is an alarming wake-up call

The Impulse Factor: Why Some of Us Play it Safe and Others Risk it All

Nick Tasler identifies basic human traits that influence decision-making and despite not directly referencing recent events, he offers an insight into the City meltdown

Understanding Digital Marketing

For any director who thinks the digital revolution is something for others to worry about, here is an alarming wake-up call

Free Market Madness

Peter Ubel makes a case for behavioural economics and, in particular, for its place at the heart of public policy

Brand Enigma

As bookshelves groan with tomes on branding, it's fair to ask whether we need another. But Duncan Bruce and David Harvey suggest upfront that this is "not a textbook on brand strategy or brand management"

What happened?

BBC economics editor Hugh Pym and Financial Times journalist Nick Kochan, provide an easy-to-digest summary of what went wrong and how the lending bubble in financial markets got out of control

Philanthrocapitalism

This is an excellent insight into why the new age of philanthropy has dawned and what it means for those giving, receiving, and for governments and society as a whole

Strategy Safari

Author Henry Mintzberg is one of the best guides for an analysis of strategy and this book is the perfect starting point for someone interested in understanding more about it

Creative Capitalism: Essays by Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Others

As Michael Kinsley himself acknowledges in his introduction, this is in some ways the perfect time to be asking questions about the role of capitalism and free markets in society

the snowball

Alice Schroeder, former journalist and clearly one of Warren Buffett's trusted inner circle, offers extraordinary insights into Buffett's complex personal and business life

branson stripped bare

Does Britain's best-known businessman, Richard Branson, tell his readers anything new? Jo Owen finds out

the secrets of ceos

Steve Tappin and Andrew Cave take a "more is more" approach to their interviews with over 150 CEOs. This is a well-argued, practical guide to life in the top job

future files

A detailed investigation into what author Richard Watson believes are the five key trends that will shape our future

Sales by volume

Books by business brains range from the inspirational to the downright confessional—and they're growing ever more popular. So what makes a wealthy entrepreneur put pen to paper?

Groundswell

Authors Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff present a compelling argument for getting to grips with Web 2.0 in a highly practical, if somewhat prescriptive book

The Power of unreasonable people

Social entrepreneurs are "unreasonable people"—they break the rules. In this excerpt from their new book, John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan investigate the relevance of the new thinking for the mainstream

The Wealth of Nations

What's the best business book ever written? Alan Malachowski considers an old classic

All I want for Christmas...

Six of the best business reads for directors

Books that do the business

What makes a great business book? Two of the judges of a prestigious book award share their insights and recommend the best reads of the last 60 years

A tribute to the late Carol Kennedy

We round up some of Carol's funniest and far-sighted book reviews

Off-Ramps and On Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success

Economist and author Sylvia Ann Hewlett urges organisations to re-think their structure to support "non-linear" careers or risk losing valuable talent

How life imitates chess

A riveting book that will engage non-chess players too. Kaparov compares the complex, internal porcesses of chess with those of higher management

Hot spots

Linda Gratton explains her concept of hot spots—when creativity and purpose flare among groups of people at work—and how to foster them

Herd: how to change mass behaviour by harnessing our true nature

This rather formless book sets out to unravel the mystery of mass decision-making

Green To Gold

Daniel C Esty and Andrew S Winston look at the growth of environmental industries and review the opportunities for small firms

Killer Web Content

The title pretty much speaks for itself. Gerry McGovern explains how to get the most out of your website

The New Philanthropists

This engaging book by Charles and Elizabeth Handy is about public-spirited entrepreneurs putting something back into society

Success built to last

A collection of interviews of 300 achievers from Nelson Mandella to Richard Branson in order to identify their success secrets