Best Business Communication Books of 2025

Design for How People Learn is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to improve their teaching and communication skills. This book provides insights and techniques for creating engaging and effective learning experiences that help the audience gain and retain knowledge. The second edition features new chapters on designing for habit and evaluating learning, as well as updated research on how people learn and remember. The author uses accessible visual metaphors and concrete examples to explain the fundamental concepts of instructional design. Overall, Design for How People Learn is a must-read for anyone who wants to create meaningful and impactful learning experiences.

Everybody Writes by Ann Handley is a newly revised and updated guide to creating exceptional content that engages and retains customers. The book provides practical and how-to advice on content creation, production, and publishing. It also includes new examples, tools, resources, and expanded chapters that reflect the evolution of content marketing. Handley's witty and practical approach makes the book an enjoyable read. The book is a must-read for anyone looking to refine and upgrade their content marketing skills.

Amplify Your Influence: Transform How You Communicate and Lead by Rene Rodriguez is a practical guide for anyone who wants to improve their communication and leadership skills. The book is based on the author's proprietary AMPLIFII system and offers practical tips, useful frameworks, guided practice, and simple application exercises to help readers create new and lasting behaviors that effect change in their life and work. The author leverages the latest advances in neuroscience to provide readers with actionable strategies for immediate results. This book is a must-read for executives, managers, sales professionals, and other business leaders who want to improve their ability to effect change in the people around them.

Everyday Business Storytelling by Janine Kurnoff and Lee Lazarus is a practical guide for business professionals to create compelling narratives that leave a lasting impact on their audience. With their years of experience working with top brands, the authors provide a simple, repeatable framework to help readers choreograph their ideas, data, and insights into a persuasive story. The book also includes clever data visualization techniques to build an emotional connection with the audience. If you're a busy businessperson responsible for executive presentations, emails, or virtual meetings, this book is a must-read.

The third edition of "Leading with Questions: How Leaders Discover Powerful Answers by Knowing How and What to Ask" provides a unique and effective strategy for leaders to lead others. The authors, Michael Marquardt and Bob Tiede, offer practical guidance on how to ask powerful questions that generate short-term and long-term results. They also provide hands-on strategies for generating change with questions, making this book perfect for business leaders who want to engage and lead others. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in improving their leadership skills.

This book is a must-read for scholars, researchers, and anyone who wants to present their work visually. Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks by Jonathan Schwabish provides essential strategies to create effective data visualizations. The book covers over 80 visualization types, from histograms to choropleth maps and explains how to make subjective style decisions around a chart's design. The author walks readers through the steps of creating better graphs and how to move beyond simple line, bar, and pie charts. Overall, this book is an excellent practical guide to more effective communication through data visualization.

The SHRM Exam Prep is a comprehensive guide for those preparing for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) exam. It includes a study guide for both CP and SCP, practice test questions, detailed answer explanations, and covers all subjects of the exam in-depth. With over 320 exam prep questions, this book is a valuable resource for anyone looking to pass the SHRM exam in 2023 and 2024. As a communication skills book, it is an excellent tool for HR professionals looking to enhance their knowledge in the field. Overall, this book is a must-have for those preparing for the SHRM exam and is unique in its comprehensive coverage of the exam and clear explanations of the answers.

slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte, CEO of Duarte Design, is a must-read for anyone looking to improve their presentation skills. This book provides practical approaches to visual storytelling, with insightful case studies from the world's leading brands. Duarte challenges traditional approaches to creating slides by teaching readers how to be visual thinkers. With slide:ology, readers will learn how to connect with specific audiences, turn ideas into informative graphics, and develop truly influential presentations. This book is a valuable resource for professionals at any level and is a unique addition to the communication skills book genre.

Effective Data Storytelling is a comprehensive guide that teaches readers how to craft compelling stories with data by combining the three central elements of data storytelling: data, narrative, and visuals. The author, Brent Dykes, goes beyond data visualization and explains how to engage audiences with a narrative, making data stories more enduring and powerful than pretty charts or raw statistics. This book is a must-have resource for anyone who communicates regularly with data, including business professionals, analysts, marketers, salespeople, financial managers, and educators. Overall, Effective Data Storytelling is a unique and essential resource for mastering the art and science of data storytelling.

The Big Book of Dashboards is a comprehensive reference book that offers practical and effective visualization examples with real-world solutions. The book comprises dozens of examples that address different industries and departments and different platforms. With an entire section devoted to addressing practical and psychological factors, the book provides the tools, guidance, and models you need to produce great dashboards that inform, enlighten, and engage. Overall, the book is an invaluable resource for those tasked with building or overseeing the development of business dashboards, making it a must-have for anyone interested in data visualization.