Business Books Are Pointless Without Action

If you're a reader, you might be squishing a few extra books into these last few weeks of 2025. Now's the time to log those into Goodreads and see if you can meet that challenge you set early this year. Or you might be seeing plenty of posts about the best books of the year, logging each for your 2026 TBR pile.

Looking through my own 2025 reads, there are many books on the list for my professional development. Which made me start to think about business or management books in general and concluded one thing: there are a lot of them and things are still messed up at work. Why do we have so many resources and so few actions?

You can read the books, listen to the podcasts, scroll all the LinkedIn posts, and be hit with more business and management knowledge than you could possibly use in a lifetime. What I have noticed is this behavior/feeling that if you read Adam Grant, you've become Adam Grant-like. You have been imbued with the smarts that the plebs in the break room lack. People are reading these books to have the knowledge, but rarely are they doing the work to implement anything they learn.

A few months ago, PCG held our first webinar on this topic, specifically why do leaders struggle to explain or communicate even the most basic of needs for their organization. Surely many of these leaders have also read a book or two, seeing some answers for their team in the pages of Brene Brown or James Clear. Most likely, they will pass the book on to the next person, hoping that once everyone reads it, it will all be copacetic. But just like any change you want to implement in the workplace, you gotta tell them. Then you make a plan to do it.

While I don't think the book alone is the answer, I did read a few books that I hope will see implementation in the workplace and beyond. Don't make their mission pointless! Get in there and do the work!

The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher

This book presents easy ways to handle difficult conversations and has a great casual, confident tone you'll want to emulate. You might know Jefferson Fisher from his Instagram content, where he gives his 6 million followers quick advice on dealing with negative people, unexpected feedback, or staying calm in a disagreement.

And as if he knew exactly about the implementation problem, the follow-up book will be a workbook on his methods.

There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genuis of Taylor Swift by Kevin Evers

No, this book won't tell you how to become a billionaire or give you an Eras Tour-level idea, but it will convince you that having a strategy for literally everything is not a wasted exercise. When the story is everything, how do you continue to chart your path as authentically as possible, through wins and losses?

I'm hoping for a series and I want Beyonce next!

Fans First: Change the Game, Break the Rules, and Create An Unforgettable Experience by Jesse Cole

By now, everyone knows of the Savannah Bananas. If you don't know their backstory, you have to pick up this book that documents how they pulled themselves from obscurity and debt to sold out games across the US. The Bananas' dedication to their fans is a lesson in the power of experiences, but also in how we find our best selves in community.

Have you read any of these picks? Got a suggestion I should read for 2026? Drop us a line!