Best Company Business Profiles Books of 2026

Good to Great by Jim Collins is a must-read for business leaders who want to understand how some companies achieve enduring greatness. Collins and his team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained them for at least fifteen years. The book provides insights into the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great. The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice. Overall, this book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to build a great company.

Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike is a captivating memoir that reveals the inside story of Nike's early days as a start-up and its journey to becoming one of the world's most renowned brands. Phil Knight, the founder, and board chairman of Nike, shares his story in an unfiltered, funny, and beautifully crafted way. Knight's memoir is more than just a story of a successful business, it's a story of triumphs, setbacks, and the importance of relationships. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, business, and sports culture.

The Chaos Machine is an eye-opening account of the inner workings of social media and how it has impacted our world. Max Fisher, a New York Times investigative reporter, delves into the psychological tactics used by social media giants to drive engagement and increase profits. He also explores the devastating consequences of their actions, including the spread of hate speech and misinformation that has led to a polarized society. Fisher weaves together stories of those who have raised the alarm and defected from Silicon Valley to reveal what is happening behind closed doors. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the power of social media and its impact on our lives.

Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how to foster creativity in business and leadership. As a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, Catmull shares his insights into the company's unique environment that has produced some of the most successful films in history. The book provides an inside look into Pixar's meetings, postmortems, and "Braintrust" sessions, revealing the ideals and techniques that have made it so widely admired and profitable. Overall, Creativity, Inc. is an insightful and inspiring read that offers valuable lessons for anyone looking to unleash their creativity and achieve success.

Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies and studied each in direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day -- as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the comparison companies and what were the common practices these enduringly great companies followed throughout their history?" Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels, Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the 21st century and beyond.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future is a New York Times and International Bestseller that explores the life and work of one of Silicon Valley's most exciting and ambitious entrepreneurs. Author Ashlee Vance takes readers on a journey from Musk's tumultuous upbringing in South Africa to his dramatic technical innovations and entrepreneurial pursuits. Vance uses Musk's story to examine the pressing question of whether America can still compete in an age of fierce global competition. Through this thorough and insightful book, Vance brings to life a rapidly and dramatically changing technology industry. Overall, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in the future of technology and innovation.

The Caesars Palace Coup is a gripping true story of the 2015 bankruptcy of Caesars Entertainment, one of the most brutal corporate restructurings in Wall Street history. The book details the intense power struggle between private equity firms and distressed debt hedge funds over the famous casino giant. Through a $27 billion leveraged buyout and a dizzying string of financial engineering transactions, Apollo and TPG seemingly snatched every prime asset of the company from creditors, with the exception of Caesars Palace. This book delves deep into the tactics of distressed debt mavens and their fight-to-the-death mentality that has come to dominate the scene in Corporate America. Financial journalists Max Frumes and Sujeet Indap have done an excellent job of bringing this story to life.

Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon by William D. Cohan is a captivating read that chronicles the dramatic journey of General Electric (GE) from its inception to its downfall. The book provides a masterful re-appraisal of GE's management culture and pioneering doctrine of shareholder value that led to its success and eventual collapse. Cohan's meticulous research and access to major players in the company bear significant fruit, making this book a rich narrative that is both informative and insightful. Overall, Power Failure is a cautionary tale that offers valuable lessons on the perils of corporate hubris and the importance of avoiding avoidable mistakes.

National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist   From the acclaimed, award-winning author of Alexander Hamilton: here is the essential, endlessly engrossing biography of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.—the Jekyll-and-Hyde of American capitalism. In the course of his nearly 98 years, Rockefeller was known as both a rapacious robber baron, whose Standard Oil Company rode roughshod over an industry, and a philanthropist who donated money lavishly to universities and medical centers. He was the terror of his competitors, the bogeyman of reformers, the delight of caricaturists—and an utter enigma.   Drawing on unprecedented access to Rockefeller’s private papers, Chernow reconstructs his subjects’ troubled origins (his father was a swindler and a bigamist) and his single-minded pursuit of wealth. But he also uncovers the profound religiosity that drove him “to give all I could”; his devotion to his father; and the wry sense of humor that made him the country’s most colorful codger. Titan is a magnificent biography—balanced, revelatory, elegantly written.