2025
Winner: Managing Up: How to Get What You Need from the People in Charge by Melody Wilding, published by Crown Currency
Judging Comments: Managing Up offers relationship management strategies for readers on every rung of the career ladder. It’s the kind of straightforward, practical advice workers need — but often don’t get from workplace training. As one judge put it, ‘It made me think, whose door should I be sliding this under?
2024
Winner: Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport, published by Portfolio
Judging Comments: Slow Productivity should be on the fast track for every business manager to read. It offers a tonic that is sorely needed in our overworked, burned-out society. Taking longer to do less seems counterproductive, but when the result is a top-quality product, it makes it all worthwhile. The author lays out his argument clearly and simply, creating a compelling read that should help shift your mindset about work.”
Finalists: Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg, published by Random House; 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work: …And the Truth We Need to Succeed by Bonnie Hammer, published by Simon and Schuster/Simon Element
2023
Winner: The Phoenix Economy: Work, Life, and Money in the New Not Normal by Felix Salmon, published by HarperCollins Publishers
Judging Comments: The Phoenix Economy isn’t a typical book about investing—it won’t advise you on what stocks to pick or how to figure out your Social Security benefits. Instead, it’s an expertly reported and thoughtful analysis of how the pandemic changed our underlying psychology about money and investing, especially for the rising generation that came of age during the disruption.
Finalists: Retirement Reboot: Commonsense Financial Strategies for Getting Back on Track by Mark Miller, published by Agate Publishing; How to Invest: Masters of the Craft by David M. Rubenstein. published by Simon and Schuster
2022
Winner: Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk, and a Better Life written by Laurence Kotlikoff, published by Little, Brown Spark
Judging Comments: Laurence Kotlikoff impressed us by translating complex topics into practical language and accessible advice. He challenges the conventional wisdom of the financial services industry, as well as some of the findings of behavioral economics, when it comes to questions surrounding key financial decisions such as buying a home or investing for retirement.
Finalists: The Revolution That Wasn’t: Gamestop, Reddit and the Fleecing of Small Investors by Spencer Jakab, published by Portfolio; The Truth About Crypto: A Practical, Easy-to-Understand Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain, NFTs and Other Digital Assets by Ric Edelman, published by Simon and Schuster
