130+ Books Which Helped Changemakers Learn and Create Impact in 2023
With 2023 coming to a close, it is time to pause and reflect on what progress has been seen with the social enterprise movement. For the Impact Boom Podcast, our team published more interviews than ever before, with 80+ leading innovators sharing their knowledge and key learnings.
The Impact Boom platform has experienced huge growth, countless insights, recommendations and resources, which have been shared with our global audience. While resources in 2023 have grown to include podcasts, AI web-tools and movies, tried and tested books still find themselves fiercely advocated for by the impact-driven entrepreneurship community.
2023 saw over 130 books finding their way onto the (increasingly virtual) bookshelves of change makers. These books did everything from summarise best practice for businesses, provide thought-provoking insights or just an opportunity for relaxation during the often stressful entrepreneurial journey.
Whatever you are hoping from your next read, check out our list of books recommended by leaders of impact in 2023 on our social impact podcast series.
“Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled “This could change your life.”.”
- Helen Exley
Three
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
four
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth
five
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Seven
Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good by Ann Mei Chang
Eight
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
Nine
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss
Ten
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber
Eleven
The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines Into Massive Success And Happiness by Jeff Olson
Twelve
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Thirteen
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
Fourteen
See What You Made Me Do: Power, Control and Domestic Violence by Jess Hill
Fifteen
The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy by Mariana Mazzucato
Sixteen
The Systems Work of Social Change by Cynthia Rayner & Francois Bonnici
Seventeen
Unbroken: My Fight for Survival, Hope, and Justice for Indigenous Women and Girls by Angela Sterritt
Eighteen
Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention - and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
Nineteen
No More Gold Stars: Regenerating Capacity to Think for Ourselves by Carol Sanford
Twenty
How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference by Rebecca Huntley
21. Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia Puigcerver
22. Weaving Networked Action for Systemic Change - A Practical Guide by Adrian Röbke and Namrata Arora
23. The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist
24. Winning the Battle for Relevance: Why Even the Greatest Become Obsolete... and How to Avoid Their Fate by Michael McQueen
25. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
26. Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now by John Doerr
27. The Private Equity Playbook by Adam Coffey
28. The Myth Of Normal by Gabor Mate
29. A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey
30. Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom and David Kelley
31. Doing Disability Differently: An alternative handbook on architecture, dis/ability and designing for everyday life by Jos Boys
32. The Secret Life of Trees: How They live and Why They Matter by Colin Tudge
33. The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life by Robin S. Sharma
34. JADAM Organic Farming by Youngsang Cho
35. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk
36. The Regenerative Life: Transform Any Organization, Our Society, and Your Destiny by Carol Sanford
37. Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior by Dr. David R. Hawkins
38. The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller
39. The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley by Victor W. Hwang & Greg Horowitt
40. Becoming by Michelle Obama
41. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen Covey
42. If Tears Were Prayers by Emma Sunshaw
43. Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life) by Thomas Erickson
44. How to Change the World by John-Paul Flintoff
45. Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership by Dr. Kirsten Ferguson
46. Another Day in the Colony by Chelsea Watego
47. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill & Ben Holden-Crowther
48. Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
49. The 5 Levels of Leadership: Proven Steps to Maximize Your Potential by John C. Maxwell
50. Re-Inventing the Corporation: Transforming Your Job and Your Company for the New Information Society by John Naisbitt & Patricia Aburdene
51. Walk out, Walk On by Margaret Wheatley & Deborah Frieze
52. How to Build a Business Others Want to Buy by Kobi Simmat
53. Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon
54. Saving Our Kids: The inside story of Taskforce Argos, Detective Inspector Jon Rouse and their mission to protect our children online by Madonna King
55. Hope in Darkness by Rebecca Songlet
56. Zero to One by Peter Thiel
57. Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter by Greg McKeown
58. Design, Disability and Embodiment: Spatial Justice and Perspectives of Power by Dr. Janice Rieger
59. Women, Race & Class by Angela Y. Davis
60. The Regenerative Business: Redesign Work, Cultivate Human Potential, Achieve Extraordinary Outcomes by Carol Sanford
61. Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection by John T. Cacioppo & William Patrick
62. Undefeated: 90 Migrant Women, 118 Stories by Professional Migrant Women
63. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
64. You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Dr. Joe Dispense
65. Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Dr. Vivek Murthy
66. The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem by Brad Feld & Ian Hathaway
67. Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty by Dr. Muhammad Yunus
68. The Exit Strategy Playbook by Adam Coffey
69. One Life Lost, Millions Gained: The Story of a Flight Nurse Turned MedAire CEO by Joan Sullivan Garrett
70. Collective Illusions: Conformity, Complicity and the Science of Why We Make Bad Decisions by Todd Rose
71. Cause for Concern: Results-Oriented Cause Marketing by Stephen Adler
72. Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs by Ari Wallach
73. Bamboo: The Gift of the Gods by Oscar Hidalgo López
74. The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business by Josh Kaufman
76. Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup by Bill Aulet
77. The Resilience Project: Finding Happiness through Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness by Hugh van Cuylenburg
78. Women and Leadership: Real Lives, Real Lessons by Julia Gillard & Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
79. Title Fight: How the Yindjibarndi Battled and Defeated a Mining Giant by Paul Cleary
80. The Psychology of Wealth: Understand Your Relationship with Money and Achieve Prosperity by Dr. Charles Richards
81. IL31 Bambus – Bamboo by Frei Otto
82. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jake
83. Cause Related Marketing: Who Cares Wins by Sue Adkins
84. Booming Bamboo: The (re)discovery of a sustainable material with endless possibilities by Pablo van der Lugt
85. 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman & Kaley Warner Klemp
86. What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry & Oprah Winfrey
87. The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown by Nathan Furr & Susannah Harmon Furr
88. The Designing for Growth Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide by Jeanne Liedtka & Tim Ogilvie
89. Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Gregory Boyle
90. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Mauborgne
91. Courting Power: Law, Democracy & the Public Interest in Australia by Isabelle Reinecke
92. Pasifika Black: Oceania, Anti-colonialism, and the African World by Quito Swan
93. The Awakened Woman: Remembering & Reigniting Our Sacred Dreams by Dr Tererai Trent & Oprah Winfrey
94. The High-Growth Nonprofit: Proven Steps to Quickly Double Your Revenue and Drive Impact by Matt Scott
95. Failing to Win by Mike Quinn
96. Becoming a Matriarch by Helen Knott
97. Animal, Vegetable, Junk: A History of Food, From Sustainable to Suicidal by Mark Bittman
98. Beginner's Pluck: Build Your Life of Purpose and Impact Now by Liz Forkin Bohannon
99. Invisible Planets by Ken Liu
100. The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World by Iain McGilchrist
101. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
102. Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein
103. Astonishing the Gods by Ben Okri
104. Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
105. Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? A Story About Women and Economics by Katrine Marçal
106. Feminism: A Key Idea for Business by CV Harquail
107. Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh
108. From the Ashes: My Story of Being Métis, Homeless, and Finding My Way by Jesse Thistle
109. Net Positive: How Courageous Companies Thrive By Giving More Than They Take by Paul Polman & Andrew Winston
110. The Biggest Estate On Earth by Bill Gammage
111. Calling My Spirit Back by Elaine Alec
112. Birth of the Chaordic Age by Dee Hock
113. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
114. Loving What Is: Four Questions that Can Change your Life by Byron Katie
115. Key Person of Influence by Daniel Priestly
116. Dare to Lead by Brené Brown
117. Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
118. QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life by John G. Miller & David L. Levin
119. The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter—And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay
120. First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
121. Species of Spaces by Georges Perec
122. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
123. Believe-in-You Money: What Would It Look Like If the Economy Loved Black People? by Jessica Norwood
124. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
125. The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav
126. The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
127. Zero: eliminating unnecessary deaths in a post-pandemic NHS by Jeremy Hunt
128. This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See by Seth Godin
129. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
130. Money Queens: Rule Your Money by Michelle Bowers
131. The Feminist Bookstore Movement: Lesbian Antiracism and Feminist Accountability by Kristen Hogan
132. Beloved Economies Transforming: How We Work by Jess Rimington & Joanna L.Cea
133. Co-design in Metro North Health: Creating better healthcare together co-led with Dr. Adrienne Young
134. In My Own Moccasins: A Memoir of Resilience by Helen Knott
135. Leading by Nature: The process of becoming a regenerative leader by Giles Hutchins
136. Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton & Sheila Heen
