Extractive summaries and key takeaways from the articles carefully curated from TOP TEN BUSINESS MAGAZINES to promote informed business decision-making | Since 2017 | Week 432, covering December 19-25, 2025 | Archive
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Tariffs Unravel India’s Dream of Challenging China in Toymaking
By K Oanh Ha | Bloomberg Businessweek | December 23, 2025
2 key takeaways from the article
- Three years ago, Vijendra Babu opened India’s largest toy factory, a two-story building with enough space to play 11 football games simultaneously. The plant near Bangalore was a revelation for India at the time, offering a one-stop shop that could engineer toys, cut steel molds for their production and manufacture them. At the time, the $30 million investment seemed ambitious but not absurd: Babu’s business was almost doubling every two years. These days, he’s wondering whether he did the right thing. “We had plans to expand,” says Babu, managing director of Micro Plastics Pvt Ltd. “Now we will have to see how this affects all that.” “This” is US tariffs of 50% on Indian goods, which President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 6 to punish India for purchasing Russian oil.
- Exporters like Babu express optimism. But if tariffs remain high, they can adjust and focus on India which has more than 350 million children.
(Copyright lies with the publisher)
Topics: Tariff, USA & China, Toy Manufacturing
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
Three years ago, Vijendra Babu opened India’s largest toy factory, a two-story building with enough space to play 11 football games simultaneously. The plant near Bangalore was a revelation for India at the time, offering a one-stop shop that could engineer toys, cut steel molds for their production and manufacture them. At the time, the $30 million investment seemed ambitious but not absurd: Babu’s business was almost doubling every two years. These days, he’s wondering whether he did the right thing. “We had plans to expand,” says Babu, managing director of Micro Plastics Pvt Ltd. “Now we will have to see how this affects all that.”
“This” is US tariffs of 50% on Indian goods, which President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 6 to punish India for purchasing Russian oil. Babu’s company had been prospering, with contracts from global giants such as Hasbro, Mattel and Spin Master to churn out Nerf guns, Paw Patrol trucks and thousands of other products sold in big-box stores worldwide. But now, when the loading docks should be dispatching a dozen or more trucks a day with containers full of Christmas cheer, the warehouse is eerily quiet.
For decades, the logic of manufacturing was simple: Make it cheap, make it fast and make it in China. But the trade wars that began during Trump’s first term shattered that formula, setting off a race by Western companies to find new manufacturing hubs. There was so much demand from US companies that Babu, backed by private equity money, this year completed construction of a 250,000-square-foot facility next to the one where he’s standing. It’s now empty. “We should have opened, and we should be getting the machines in,” he says.
Babu was projecting 40% growth this year, but he’s more likely to see a 15% drop, and he’s bracing for a further decline in 2026. For some long-standing customers, he’s even agreed to make products at cost just to keep the assembly lines moving and avoid laying off any of his 2,000 workers.
India’s toy exports to the US were only $100 million last year, versus China’s $11 billion and Vietnam’s $3 billion. Labor in India is abundant and cheap, and the overall labor force tops 600 million, or almost twice the population of the US. But the country is short on know-how and lacks a robust supply chain. Key components such as specialized synthetic plush fabrics, electronics and even the eyes for dolls and teddy bears must often be imported—frequently from China.
And unlike Vietnam, where toymakers are heavily dependent on Chinese components and capital, India has a tricky relationship with China, and political tensions have dampened the enthusiasm of mainland entrepreneurs. Kharbanda says that needs to change. For decades, he notes, American companies transferred both production and knowledge to China. Now, he says, it’s time for India to get a similar injection of assistance. “We have to learn from the best,” he says.
Kharbanda and Babu both express optimism, regardless of what happens with the White House. Yes, they want to sell to the US and tap its massive market. But if tariffs remain high, they can adjust and focus on India. While the country remains poor, it has more than 350 million children, and hundreds of millions of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins eager to spoil them. “Plan A, tariffs are going to go away. Plan B, we need to start expanding the markets. Plan C, focus on the Indian market,” Kharbanda says. “We hope for the best, but we prepare for the worst.”
Why gold went through the roof this year—and why its price may have been raised permanently
By Jim Edwards | Fortune | December 24, 2025
3 key takeaways from the article
- The S&P 500 closed up 0.46% yesterday to hit a new record of 6,909.79. The index is now up 17.48% for the year. It’s likely that investors will mark this in their spreadsheets as a very good year. Unless, of course, they have a friend who bought gold at the beginning of 2025 which price is up an astonishing 71% year to date, and is currently hovering around $4,514 per troy ounce.
- There’s a hackneyed narrative explaining why gold went up: We had a volatile year with President Trump’s tariffs disrupting global trade; Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine; concern about a bubble in AI-related tech stocks; Bitcoin went nowhere this year (it’s down 7%); inflation is trending up; and gold is the safe-haven investment for nervous investors who want a hedge against pretty much all of that. A more plausible explanation is that the introduction in 2004 of gold exchange-traded funds—which make buying gold as easy as buying stocks—has permanently pushed up the price of gold. The more recent introduction of tokenized gold stablecoins—crypto tokens backed by gold reserves and thus pegged to the price of gold, which can be “staked” or locked up as investments in other risk assets like bonds—is likely to push the price up further.
- But don’t get too excited. Gold isn’t actually a great hedge against inflation over the long run as indicated by Comex report.
(Copyrighte lies with the publisher)
Topics: Gold Prices, Safe Investment
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
The S&P 500 closed up 0.46% yesterday to hit a new record of 6,909.79. The index is now up 17.48% for the year. With only the quiet Christmas week left before the end of 2025, it’s likely that investors will mark this down in their spreadsheets as a very good year. Unless, of course, they have a friend who bought gold at the beginning of 2025.
The price of gold is up an astonishing 71% year to date, and is currently hovering around $4,514 per troy ounce. That friend is now laughing at you, foolish stock investor, for wasting your money on trivialities like the Magnificent Seven.
There’s a hackneyed narrative explaining why gold went up: We had a volatile year with President Trump’s tariffs disrupting global trade; Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine; concern about a bubble in AI-related tech stocks; Bitcoin went nowhere this year (it’s down 7%); inflation is trending up; and gold is the safe-haven investment for nervous investors who want a hedge against pretty much all of that.
In fact, that is only partially true, according to newish research from Claude Erb and Campbell Harvey of the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. The reality, they say, is that the introduction in 2004 of gold exchange-traded funds—which make buying gold as easy as buying stocks—has permanently pushed up the price of gold.
The more recent introduction of tokenized gold stablecoins—crypto tokens backed by gold reserves and thus pegged to the price of gold, which can be “staked” or locked up as investments in other risk assets like bonds—is likely to push the price up further, they say.
But don’t get too excited. Gold isn’t actually a great hedge against inflation over the long run, Erb and Harvey argue. The price of gold has high volatility, whereas inflation is a low-volatility phenomenon. Gold investors can spend years losing money if they are trying to beat inflation: And then there’s the performance of gold generally, in nominal dollars, versus stocks.
According to Comex continuous contract for gold versus the S&P 500 index over the past 20 years, the winner ain’t gold:
So has gold peaked? No one knows, obviously. But it is interesting that investment banks like Société Générale, Morgan Stanley, and Mitsui have all expanded their precious metal trading teams this year, while other banks are exploring getting back into the “vault” business of storing gold reserves, the Financial Times reports.
Strategy & Business Model Section
Five lessons on tech transformation from leaders who have done it themselves
McKinsey & Company | December 15, 2025
3 key takeaways from the article
- Every company now claims to be digital, AI-powered, or data-driven. Yet the real differentiator isn’t technology—it’s how deeply organizations have rewired themselves across people, processes, and decisions.
- Across very different organizations—homeware retail, manufacturing, telecom, banking, and chemicals—we saw a common thread: success came from leaders who didn’t just talk about transformation but started running their businesses differently.
- Five lessons from those who turned ambition into measurable impact. A) Cast a wide net to find the possibilities, then focus on the use cases that deliver and rigorously test to decide what to scale. B) Speed and scale don’t have to compete; with the right structure, they reinforce each other. C) The same precision used to engage customers can—and should—be applied internally to accelerate both learning and performance. D) Transformation happens faster when teams build with the business, and true collaboration shortens the distance between innovation and impact. And E) The takeaway: By building digital skills and confidence across the organization, Jubilant turned data and technology into daily habits that drive continuous performance improvement.
(Copyright lies with the publisher)
Topics: AI Strategy, Transformation
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
Every company now claims to be digital, AI-powered, or data-driven. Yet the real differentiator isn’t technology—it’s how deeply organizations have rewired themselves across people, processes, and decisions. This year McKinsey worked with leaders who didn’t just experiment—they scaled. They placed bold bets on data, built factories for innovation, personalized learning at enterprise scale, and made digital the core of their operating systems. Across very different organizations—homeware retail, manufacturing, telecom, banking, and chemicals—we saw a common thread: success came from leaders who didn’t just talk about transformation but started running their businesses differently. Here are five lessons from those who turned ambition into measurable impact.
- Karaca: Explore broadly, then double down on what delivers. When Turkish homeware retailer Karaca wanted to expand its AI usage, it began by scanning nearly 200 potential use cases across the business—but the breakthrough came from focusing on the ideas with the greatest customer and commercial impact. AIDA, an AI shopping assistant, became the flagship because early tests showed it could transform the online experience—ultimately doubling conversions versus search and delivering five times the rate of unaided sessions. Crucially, Karaca paired its broad exploration with disciplined guardrails, quality checks, and A/B testing to validate what worked and build organizational trust.
- Emirates Global Aluminium: Run two tracks at once. Emirates Global Aluminium faced a common leadership challenge—how to show rapid results while building long-term digital foundations. The solution was a dual-track approach. One track, the digital factory, focused on fast wins and turning out use cases in quarterly waves. The second track built the durable infrastructure—new governance, data platforms, and an agile delivery model. Together, these tracks helped EGA halve inbound logistical delays and increase productivity by over 18 percent.
- Deutsche Telekom: Apply personalization internally. At Deutsche Telekom, personalization took on a new meaning when the organization recognized significant variation in performance across service agents. The company built an AI-powered learning engine that analyzed millions of data points to recommend tailored courses, real-time coaching, and peer mentoring paths for each employee. Not only was there a 10 percent increase in first-time resolution rates, but customer satisfaction rose, reflected by a 14-point increase in customers’ likelihood to recommend the company to others.
- Banco Pichincha: Make transformation a team sport. When Ecuador’s largest bank set out to build a new digital business, the turning point came when engineers, designers, and frontline staff joined forces to co-create Deuna!—a platform built to reach millions of unbanked customers. By merging technical expertise with local insight, the team developed a product that scaled quickly and sustainably. The platform didn’t just digitize banking; it redefined inclusion by expanding access to financial services. Deuna! now has two million monthly active users, and more than 500,000 merchants across Ecuador accept digital payments.
- Jubilant Ingrevia: Turn innovation into a daily habit. When market challenges hindered growth for specialty chemical player Jubilant Ingrevia, the organization made innovation part of its operating model. Through a center of excellence and a train-the-trainer approach, employees learned to embed digital tools into everyday operations. The shift was cultural as much as technical. Employees learned data science fundamentals to apply in their daily tasks, and the organization built lasting confidence in using data to drive performance. Thanks to these changes, Jubilant achieved $13.6 million in savings over 36 months and optimized processes, cutting power consumption by 10 percent at its Bharuch facility.
Get Off the Transformation Treadmill
By Darrell Rigby and Zach First | Harvard Business Review Magazine | January–February 2026
3 key takeaways from the article
- A satirical article in the Onion titled “CEO Unveils Bold New Plan To Undo Damage From Last Year’s Bold New Plan” parodied the serial transformations that occur at many corporations. the The authors claim that they don’t claim that transformations are never necessary. However, the authors’ experience with hundreds of successful and unsuccessful change programs suggests that the best way to manage transformations is to minimize the need for them.
- Four practical actions to cultivate that kind of self-renewing system. A) Master Systems Management – adapt your entire business system to thrive in dynamic environments. B) Detect Emerging Realities Before Transformations Become the Only Options. C) Increase Agility to Keep Problems Small. And D) Grow Value—Don’t Just Shift It from One Stakeholder Group to Another.
(Copyright lies with the publisher)
Topics: Strategy, Transformation, Agility, System Management
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
A satirical article in the Onion titled “CEO Unveils Bold New Plan To Undo Damage From Last Year’s Bold New Plan” parodied the serial transformations that occur at many corporations. Leaders often blame uncontrollable factors—policies of previous administrations, hiring for a boom that fizzled unexpectedly, macroeconomic uncertainty, the rise of artificial intelligence—but all too often the real strategic issues go unaddressed. Rather than revitalizing the organization, the constant shake-ups breed change fatigue that drains employee morale. Customers and suppliers, uncertain which strategies will survive next year’s pivot, grow wary of long-term partnerships. Investors fear greater risk and discount future earnings. Leadership’s time and financial resources flow to organizational cleanups and restructuring charges instead of innovation and value creation.
According to the author they don’t claim that transformations are never necessary. However, our experience with hundreds of successful and unsuccessful change programs suggests that the best way to manage transformations is to minimize the need for them. Based on their work and research the authors explore how to continuously strengthen the business through steady, integrated strategic adjustments—so that progress compounds naturally and the need for future upheavals declines. Four practical actions to cultivate that kind of self-renewing system.
Master Systems Management. Similar to other complex living systems, businesses constantly contend with unpredictable forces that favor the fittest and most adaptable competitors. Our research finds that successful business leaders are masterful systems managers. Whether or not they use that term, they adapt their entire business system to thrive in dynamic environments. They optimize the performance of the whole rather than focusing on individual pieces in isolation, understanding that the total value of a company isn’t just the sum of its parts, it’s also the value of the synergistic relationships among those parts. These leaders respect uncertainty and talk in terms of scenarios and probabilities rather than indisputable predictions. They regularly conduct experiments to expose their ideas and strategies to low-risk reality checks. They relentlessly update information, and when new data invalidates a prior assumption, they revise the assumption rather than protecting egos. Skillful systems managers embrace disagreement as a sign of engagement, not disloyalty. They turn the entire organization into a self-correcting organism: one that can navigate shocks and opportunities faster and better than its disjointed rivals can.
Detect Emerging Realities Before Transformations Become the Only Options. An old saying advises that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But in complex systems—including physical and mental health, personal relationships, cybersecurity, and companies—when something is broken, we tend to neglect it for far too long. Hoping that “it’s probably nothing,” we accumulate intangible liabilities that typically come due at the worst possible times. A company needs superb market intelligence to detect meaningful signals in a world of noise and misinformation. All too often corporate dashboards fail to foresee problems, because they’re dominated by lagging indicators that confirm damage only after the fact. A mix of rearview measurement, corrupted incentives, and wishful thinking blinds organizations to compounding risks and subjects them to chronic transformations. Effective measurement minimizes transformations by working as a learning system, not a “gotcha” report card. It relies on metrics designed with—not for—the people who will use them to run the business. Each benchmark is stress tested by its creators’ asking, “Could someone hit this target yet undermine our mission?” If so, the measure is paired with counter-metrics or qualitative checks that close potential loopholes.
Increase Agility to Keep Problems Small. Business agility is a critical capability for turning unexpected disruptions into valuable strategies. Agile organizations thrive in dynamic environments by fostering aligned autonomy—empowering multidisciplinary teams closest to the work to act on real-time information and make decisions swiftly. They are free from bureaucratic micromanagement but firmly anchored in the organization’s shared purpose. This balance ensures innovation remains coordinated and coherent, channeling creativity into collective value rather than chaotic inefficiency. By continually capturing insights across the enterprise and rapidly translating them into integrated actions, agile organizations convert uncertainty into opportunity and deliver sustained performance gains.
Grow Value—Don’t Just Shift It from One Stakeholder Group to Another. Transformations are often desperate responses to angry stakeholders. Under heavy pressure and tight deadlines, executives resort to quick-fix change initiatives that simply shift value from passive stakeholders to the most vocal and aggressive ones. While this may buy temporary peace, it does nothing to address the root problem. Instead, it perpetuates a destructive cycle. Once-docile stakeholders, now feeling exploited, retaliate even harder—escalating conflicts and ultimately eroding long-term value. Continually increasing the amount of alignment, synergy, and value creation among team members is the only way to avoid or escape this trap. Long-term value creation should not be a zero-sum game. It thrives on collaboration, not conflict. It is especially valuable during crises, when people tend to shrink their social circles, reducing their collective problem-solving capacity. The ability to maintain and leverage expansive networks has long been a defining factor in human achievement. In business, systemwide value creation is the unifying force that holds a company together. Without it, profits erode and talent migrates to firms that offer greater value. A thriving organization sustains itself through building a cohesive business system that generates extraordinary value for both the company and its stakeholders.
How To Avoid Five Business Ecosystem Pitfalls
By Mark Greeven | Forbes | December 23, 2025
2 key takeaways from the article
- Everyone talks about ecosystems these days. Partner networks, platforms, digital marketplaces—the language floods boardrooms worldwide. Yet most ecosystem initiatives fail, not from lack of ambition, but from five fundamental mistakes executives make right at the start. These are: Mistaking Your Platform for a Business Ecosystem. Suffocating Innovation With Control. Extracting Value Instead of Sharing It. Chasing Scale Over Substance. And Treating Ecosystems as Side Projects.
- Each of these failures stems from the same root cause: forcing ecosystem dynamics into traditional business frameworks. Success requires moving beyond managing supplier networks to orchestrating genuine multilateral value creation. It demands providing minimum viable structure rather than comprehensive control. It calls for ensuring reciprocal value flows rather than one-way extraction, building strategic depth rather than superficial breadth, and committing to organizational transformation rather than innovation theatre.
(Copyright lies with the publisher)
Topics: Ecosystem, Shared Value, Networks
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
Everyone talks about ecosystems these days. Partner networks, platforms, digital marketplaces—the language floods boardrooms worldwide. Yet most ecosystem initiatives fail, not from lack of ambition, but from five fundamental mistakes executives make right at the start.
Mistaking Your Platform for a Business Ecosystem. Your company built a robust platform. You’ve streamlined supplier relationships. Your partner portal is best in class. Congratulations—but you don’t have an ecosystem yet. A true ecosystem isn’t just efficient transactions flowing through your hub. It’s when partners create value with each other, independent of your direct orchestration. When suppliers only transact with you—not collaborate with each other on new solutions—you’ve optimized a supply chain, not built an ecosystem.
- Suffocating Innovation With Control. Industrial leaders love control. Detailed playbooks, rigid technical standards, hierarchical governance—it’s how traditional organizations succeed. But ecosystems require a fundamentally different approach.
- Extracting Value Instead of Sharing It. Traditional value chains are built on clear, direct, mostly bilateral transactions. Ecosystems operate differently. Value flows indirectly across many participants, and it often compounds over time rather than showing up immediately in a single line item.
- Chasing Scale Over Substance. More partners must be better, right? Not necessarily. The temptation to rapidly expand—adding as many integrations and partners as possible—often backfires spectacularly.
- Treating Ecosystems as Side Projects. Your ecosystem team operates in a silo. New revenue models are an afterthought. The initiative lives in the innovation lab, disconnected from core business units.
- The Path Forward. Each of these failures stems from the same root cause: forcing ecosystem dynamics into traditional business frameworks.
Success requires moving beyond managing supplier networks to orchestrating genuine multilateral value creation. It demands providing minimum viable structure rather than comprehensive control. It calls for ensuring reciprocal value flows rather than one-way extraction, building strategic depth rather than superficial breadth, and committing to organizational transformation rather than innovation theatre.
Ecosystem scorecards often track reach and participation—such as active partners and their growth rate—with some advisors suggesting that, in mature models, a significant share—sometimes 20–40%—of revenue may ultimately come from ecosystem-based products and services.
The uncomfortable truth? Building a real ecosystem means surrendering some control to gain collective capability. It means celebrating when partner innovations eclipse your own internal developments. It means accepting value flows you didn’t design and connections you didn’t architect.
For industrial leaders willing to embrace these challenges, the opportunity is transformative: standing at the centre of value networks that create possibilities no single organization could achieve alone. But first, you have to stop managing ecosystems like traditional businesses—before you kill them before they ever get a chance to live.
Personal Development, Leading & Managing Section
From Crisis to Coopetition: What Leaders Can Learn From Anesthesiologists
By Halle Tecco | MIT Sloan Management Review | December 22, 2025
3 key take aways from the article
- In 1982, millions of Americans tuned in to the ABC news program 20/20 to watch an exposé that shook the medical world to its core. The segment, titled “The Deep Sleep: 6,000 Will Die or Suffer Brain Damage,” told harrowing stories of patients harmed by anesthesia errors. For anesthesiologists, the situation posed an existential crisis. And they did something radical: They opened up.
- The anesthesiologists’ playbook offers lessons for leaders in other industries. Their success came not from isolated breakthroughs but from collective action. Consider five practices to turn competitors into collaborators and transform fragmented industries into engines of progress. Study failures collectively. Create neutral ground. Set shared standards. Ensure interoperability. And pool resources strategically.
- The lesson from the anesthesiologists’ story is clear: Transparency and collaboration turn existential crises into opportunities for reinvention. The question for leaders is simple: What walls can you dismantle, and what bridges can you build?
(Copyright lies with the publisher)
Topics: Leadership, Crisis Management, Coopetition
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
In 1982, millions of Americans tuned in to the ABC news program 20/20 to watch an exposé that shook the medical world to its core. The segment, titled “The Deep Sleep: 6,000 Will Die or Suffer Brain Damage,” told harrowing stories of patients harmed by anesthesia errors.
For anesthesiologists, the situation posed an existential crisis. The profession’s credibility was at stake, malpractice suits were mounting, and patients had lost trust. The doctors could have circled the wagons, deflected blame, and worked in silos to protect their reputations. But instead, they did something radical: They opened up.
The dynamics anesthesiologists confronted — fragmented stakeholders, reputational risk, and misaligned incentives — are familiar to leaders in every sector. Today’s businesses are navigating crises of trust, ranging from data privacy scandals in the tech sector to accusations of greenwashing in the consumer goods industry. They’re facing rising regulatory scrutiny, global supply chain vulnerabilities, and rapid technological change. No organization can solve these problems alone. Yet the dominant instinct to compete narrowly — protecting data, building walled gardens, and optimizing for market share rather than collective progress — remains.
One way forward is to instead embrace coopetition, the idea that competitors can sometimes achieve more together than they can separately. Coined by software entrepreneur Ray Noorda in the 1980s, the term describes situations where rivals collaborate to create value that none could realize on its own.
The anesthesiologists’ playbook offers lessons for leaders in other industries. Their success came not from isolated breakthroughs but from collective action. Consider five practices to turn competitors into collaborators and transform fragmented industries into engines of progress.
- Study failures collectively. The Closed Claims Project turned malpractice lawsuits into learning opportunities. Likewise, airlines’ open reporting systems transformed aviation safety. In the tech sector, cybersecurity companies share threat intelligence to protect users from attacks that could compromise the entire industry. Is your industry coming together to study failures?
- Create neutral ground. The APSF provided a trusted, independent platform where competitors could come together to address common challenges. Many industries need neutral tables — foundations, nonprofits, or joint ventures — where rivals can convene to solve systemic problems.
- Set shared standards. Competing businesses often build proprietary protocols that fragment markets. By agreeing on standards, industries can reduce friction for consumers, grow adoption, and accelerate innovation.
- Ensure interoperability. Customers shouldn’t experience fractured service because systems don’t connect. Competitors that align on interoperability create better experiences and expand usage of their products or services.
- Pool resources strategically. Some challenges are better tackled together, like building shared infrastructure, funding research, or lobbying for policy change.
Of course, these strategies don’t eliminate competition. Companies will still battle for contracts, customers, and market share. But they establish a baseline of collaboration that allows the whole sector to advance.
The lesson from the anesthesiologists’ story is clear: Transparency and collaboration turn existential crises into opportunities for reinvention. The question for leaders is simple: What walls can you dismantle, and what bridges can you build?
Entrepreneurship Section
10 Best Business Books of 2025, According to Founders and Business Leaders
By Chris Morris | Inc | December 23, 2025
2 key takeaways from the article
- Inc. surveyed an assortment of founders and business leaders and dug through dozens of lists to find recommendations of some of the best business books around today. If nothing in your backlog of books is calling to you today, any of these could be a good place to start.
- 10 Best Business Books of 2025, According to Founders and Business Leaders. A) Breakneck by Dan Wang. Looks at China’s rapidly expanding technological and geopolitical profile, “one of the better explanations of the gap between an engineering-driven society and a lawyer-driven one.” B) Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. It’s a memoir that looks at one woman’s career at Facebook. Wynn-Williams, and the stories she conveys, which include alleged misconduct and harassment at the company, are ones Meta did not want told. C) When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows by Steven Pinker. Its about how people communicate. D) Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. It is a must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming government so it can deliver for working people. E) The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom. Finance isn’t the only sort of wealth, he writes. There’s also time wealth, social wealth, mental wealth, and physical wealth. He discusses how to achieve each of these. F) Reset by Dan Heath. Reset explores how to become unstuck and to find leverage points, where a little effort can yield large rewards, while putting an end to wasteful actions. G) Source Code by Bill Gates. It’s a chance to look at the very early history of a founder who would go on to revolutionize an industry. H) 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin draws parallels between Great Depression and modern financial markets as well as the roles that greed, policy, and psychology did (and continue to) play. It also offers interesting case studies on leadership during a crisis. I) Algospeak by Adam Aleksic looks at how internet algorithms are transforming how we communicate with one another. And J) The Sweaty Startup by Nick Huber argues that you don’t need a revolutionary idea and significant financial backing to succeed. By focusing on skills like sales, hiring, and delegation, you can succeed by executing a proven idea better than your competition.
(Copyright lies with the publisher)
Topics: Books, Entrepreneurship, Language, Biography, Governance, Great Depression, Crisis Management
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
One of the nicest things about the holiday season is that you’re able to sneak in some me time. That gives founders a chance to unplug and catch up on their reading.
The right book for you depends on your interests, your tastes, and your mood. But with so many options on shelves, where should you start? Inc. surveyed an assortment of founders and business leaders and dug through dozens of lists to find recommendations of some of the best business books around today. If nothing in your backlog of books is calling to you today, any of these could be a good place to start.
- Breakneck by Dan Wang. Mercury co-founder and CEO Immad Akhund calls this look at China’s rapidly expanding technological and geopolitical profile “one of the better explanations of the gap between an engineering-driven society and a lawyer-driven one. It’s a thought-provoking look at why the U.S. struggles to build things and how we could fix it. It’s not hand-wavy. It’s grounded in engineering reality. If you care about how things actually get made, it’s worth reading.”
- Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Steve Blank, widely regarded as the father of modern entrepreneurship and the creator of the lean startup movement, lists this as one of his top books of 2025. It’s a memoir that looks at one woman’s career at Facebook. Wynn-Williams, a former U.N. diplomat for New Zealand, was the director of public policy at the company from 2011 through 2017. And the stories she conveys, which include alleged misconduct and harassment at the company, are ones Meta did not want told.
- When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows by Steven Pinker. Bill Gates included this look at how the concept of common knowledge shapes human behavior on his list of must-read holiday books for 2025. “Few people explain the mysteries of human behavior better than Steven Pinker, and his latest book is a must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about how people communicate,” he wrote.
- Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. Former president (and co-founder of Higher Ground, the award-winning media production company) Barack Obama, in his 2025 reading list, called Abundance “a must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming government so it can deliver for working people.” It looks at progress in the U.S. through a different lens, illustrating how rigidly clinging to beliefs can sometimes prevent you from achieving what you want.
- The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom. There are plenty of business books about risk. Bloom looks at a different sort, though—the risk of chasing the wrong dreams. Finance isn’t the only sort of wealth, he writes. There’s also time wealth, social wealth, mental wealth, and physical wealth. He discusses how to achieve each of these. “Bloom broadens the definition of what wealth is and reminds us of the kinds of wealth that actually impact our happiness.
- Reset by Dan Heath. Founders can sometimes suffer from tunnel vision, remaining so focused on the day-to-day business of running their companies that they fail to see when it’s not working. Reset explores how to become unstuck and to find leverage points, where a little effort can yield large rewards, while putting an end to wasteful actions.
- Source Code by Bill Gates. This is the first of three planned memoirs by Gates. He discusses his childhood and early struggles to fit in with other kids. He covers meeting Paul Allen and wraps up with stories of the founding of Microsoft. It’s a chance to look at the very early history of a founder who would go on to revolutionize an industry, and Blank lists it as one of his top books of the year.
- 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Sorkin’s detailed narrative of the 1929 stock market crash that launched the Great Depression has been winning praise since it was published. Critics have noted how it draws parallels between that event and modern financial markets as well as how Sorkin discusses the roles that greed, policy, and psychology did (and continue to) play. It’s obviously a detailed account of a transformative moment in American economic history, but it also offers interesting case studies on leadership during a crisis.
- Algospeak by Adam Aleksic. Etymologists don’t always make it onto business book lists, but with Algospeak, Adam Aleksix looks at how internet algorithms are transforming how we communicate with one another. Among the words and phrases the online world has given us are “brainrot,” incel slang, and adding “-core” to various words. Aleksic looks at how language has changed and how societal changes have reflected that.
- The Sweaty Startup by Nick Huber. A finalist for one of the 2025 Porchlight Business Book Awards (which have recognized the best in the genre since 2007), The Sweaty Startup argues that you don’t need a revolutionary idea and significant financial backing to succeed. By focusing on skills like sales, hiring, and delegation, you can succeed by executing a proven idea better than your competition.
What Transitioning From Founder to CEO Taught Me About Leadership at Any Scale
By Demos Parneros | Edited by Maria Bailey | Entrepreneur | December 17, 2025
3 key takeaways from the article
- Companies and the startups have their own strengths. Startups move fast, fueled by creativity and urgency. Corporations scale big, built on systems and predictability. But the future of leadership belongs to those who can bridge the two; leaders who think like founders and lead like CEOs.
- How an individual can build this balance. 5 advices: Treat failure like fuel. Build “safe havens” for experimentation. Lead better by listening first. Transform your dream into a scalable reality. Lead with purpose, not ego. And Reinvent before you’re forced to.
- Entrepreneurial leadership doesn’t care about titles or hierarchy. The entrepreneurs who thrived have a different mindset. They think like a founder by being bold, curious and customer-obsessed. They lead like a CEO through disciplined, strategic, and people-centered practices. The leaders who can merge those worlds will shape the next generation of business. Because success isn’t final, and failure isn’t fatal. What matters most is the courage to keep learning and the humility to keep evolving.
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Topics: Entrepreneur, Startup
Extractive Summary of the Article | Read | Listen
According to the author he has spent his career straddling the structured discipline of Fortune 500 companies and the entrepreneurial scrappiness of startups. Each side has its strengths. Startups move fast, fueled by creativity and urgency. Corporations scale big, built on systems and predictability. But the future of leadership belongs to those who can bridge the two; leaders who think like founders and lead like CEOs.
Entrepreneurial leadership is the ability to remain agile and curious, like a founder, while maintaining the foresight and operational discipline of a seasoned executive. In an era of constant disruption, that combination is essential.
- Treat failure like fuel. In many large organizations, failure is something to be managed rather than embraced. Metrics, quarterly targets and brand reputation often leave little room for experimentation. It’s safe, but that risk aversion can quietly stifle innovation. Startups already know that every setback serves as important data. The difference between stagnation and growth often comes down to how quickly you can turn lessons into next steps. He tells the executives all the time that failure isn’t fatal, complacency is.
- Build “safe havens” for experimentation. Big companies talk about innovation endlessly. It sounds nice until you realize most innovation can’t survive big bureaucracy. Efficiency cultures tend to sideline creativity. That’s why author believes in building “safe havens” for experimentation: small, cross-functional teams that operate with a startup mentality but have access to corporate resources. Their mission must be decoupled from immediate ROI. You want them to test, learn and translate what works back into the core business.
- Lead better by listening first. Leadership starts with listening. It’s easy, especially when you’re expected to have all the answers, to fall into the trap of talking more than you listen. However, wise entrepreneurs know that every conversation holds valuable insights. Every customer complaint, every employee frustration, every quiet observation is a clue to your next opportunity.
- Transform your dream into a scalable reality. Founders dream big. CEOs make those dreams scalable. Vision is essential, but without discipline, your vision is just a pretty picture. Today’s leaders must understand that speed doesn’t have to mean chaos, and structure doesn’t have to mean rigidity. Entrepreneurial leadership is about knowing when to loosen the reins and when to tighten them. It’s the art of building systems that empower creativity rather than constrain it. When you strike that balance, you create organizations that can move quickly and remain resilient.
- Lead with purpose, not ego. As a leader, it’s often better to be a big megaphone than a big voice. When important decisions need to be made, when you’re brainstorming the perfect strategy, use your position to amplify the right voices in the room. Over time, the author realized that transparency builds more loyalty than perfection ever could. When things go wrong, own it. When people succeed, share the credit. The best leaders replace ego with empathy. The result is trust, the most powerful currency in business.
- Reinvent before you’re forced to. Markets change. Technology evolves. Consumer expectations shift. The question isn’t if you’ll need to reinvent, it’s when. According to the author he has seen companies wait too long to evolve, convinced that past success guarantees future relevance. It never does. Whether you’re running a startup or an established brand, you have to build reinvention into your DNA. That means constantly scanning the horizon, questioning your assumptions and staying hungry to improve. One of the lessons he has learned is that transformation demands a continuous posture of adaptability. The moment you think you’ve figured it all out, you’ve already fallen behind.
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