10 Books, Podcasts and Ideas Helping Business Leaders Navigate the Decisive Decade
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Almost two years ago we shared our favourite sustainability books.
Looking back, they reflected the questions many business leaders were asking at the time.
What is sustainability?
Why does it matter?
Where do we begin?
Today, the questions feel very different.
The world has changed at an extraordinary pace. Climate impacts are accelerating. Nature continues to decline. Geopolitical tensions are reshaping economies and supply chains, and artificial intelligence is transforming how we work (not always for the better). Democracies feel increasingly fragile, and communities are becoming more polarised. It’s a cascading polycrisis.
And one thing is clear: business as usual is no longer fit for purpose.
Yet alongside these challenges something else has been changing too. Many of the scientists, economists, systems thinkers and campaigners I follow have shifted their focus. Rather than simply explaining what is going wrong, they are increasingly helping us understand what comes next.
They are asking a different question.
How do we navigate this moment with clarity, compassion and courage at the scope, scale, and speed required?
I’ve found that shift enormously hopeful. Not because the challenges have become smaller, they definitely haven’t, but because more people are helping us imagine and build the world we actually want to live in.
Here are the sustainability books, podcasts and ideas that I believe every business leader should explore in 2026.
1. What If We Get It Right? Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
This may be the most hopeful book I’ve read this year.
Rather than dwelling on everything we’re losing, Ayana invites us to imagine what success could actually look like. Through conversations with scientists, artists, entrepreneurs and activists, she paints vivid pictures of cleaner cities, healthier, more equitable communities, thriving ecosystems and meaningful work.
It’s insightful and optimistic without being naïve. Perhaps most importantly, it reminds us that many of the solutions already exist, we simply need the courage to accelerate the scope, speed, and scale.
2. Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet – Thich Nhat Hanh
This book has become one I return to repeatedly.
In a world that rewards constant urgency, Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that inner transformation and systems transformation belong together. His teachings on interconnectedness, compassion and mindful action feel more relevant than ever.
Recently my children gave me the accompanying course as a birthday present. It may well have been the most meaningful gift I’ve ever received.
3. Nature’s Echo – Thomas Crowther
I was fortunate enough to meet Thomas Crowther at the launch of this book in a small independent bookshop in Chester. His ability to explain complex ecological systems with clarity and optimism is remarkable.
Rather than presenting nature as something we simply need to protect, he helps us understand how restoring ecosystems can transform economies, communities and our future, and vitally, we can all get involved.
4. The People’s Emergency Briefing
If you’re looking for one of the best introductions to the interconnected challenges facing society, and, more importantly, the pathways forward, I can’t recommend this highly enough.
Last November in Westminster, ten of the UK’s leading experts briefed an invited audience of over 1,200 politicians and leaders from business, culture, faith, sport and the media. I was privileged to attend the event and it has had a transformative impact on me and my work.
The briefing set out the implications of climate and nature breakdown for health, food systems, national security and the economy. Following the briefing, a 50-minute film was produced to take the message into communities and workplaces across the UK, and beyond.
Screenings in village halls, cinemas, faith spaces and workplaces are bringing constituents, civic leaders and MPs together to hear the evidence – and consider what an emergency response should look like.
I’ve facilitated several screenings now, both for communities, Councillors, and businesses, and they’ve consistently sparked thoughtful, constructive conversations. People, whether leaders, individuals, or communities want to know what can they do, with what they have, where there are.
The presentations are concise, evidence-based and deeply human.
Tim Lenton’s work on tipping points is exceptional, while Kevin Anderson offers one of the clearest explanations of climate science I’ve encountered.
5. The Great Simplification – Nate Hagens
Not a week goes by without my learning and sharing new insight from Nate Hagens. I began listening to The Great Simplification podcast a few years ago and it has become a consistent source of insight and inspiration.
In Nate’s words: “The Great Simplification is a sensemaking platform for global conversations about where we’re headed as a species. We look at how energy, the economy, society, and the environment all connect—and what that means for our future on Earth. It’s a chance to better understand our role in the bigger picture, so we can help arrive at futures better than the default.”
This would be one of my Desert Island essentials!
6. The Good Ancestor – Roman Krznaric
Roman asks one beautifully simple question:
How can we become good ancestors?
I’ve often reframed it as: “you knew, what did you do?” It’s a question every business leader should wrestle with. His exploration of long-term thinking challenges the short-termism that dominates so much decision-making and reminds us that today’s choices ripple far beyond quarterly results. We interviewed Roman Krznaric for the UK for Good community and the conversations that followed were deeply moving. We need to think much more about the consequences of our decisions, all of our choices, on the world we are shaping for our children and future generations.
7. The Serviceberry – Robin Wall Kimmerer
This is a beautiful, short (you could read it in your lunch break!) brilliant book. Robin offers a profound reflection on reciprocity, generosity and the gift economy. Rather than asking what we can take from nature, she invites us to ask what we can give back.
It’s a gentle but powerful shift in perspective that feels deeply relevant for businesses seeking to create genuine value.
8. Here Comes the Sun – Bill McKibben
I have been following Bill McKibben’s work for some time. Bill is an acclaimed environmentalist and brilliant example of somebody who is acting with clarity, compassion and courage, and driving systemic change.
His new book is a call to harness the power of the sun and rewrite our scientific, economic, and political future.
The book demonstrates how quickly renewable energy is changing the world. At a time when many headlines focus exclusively on crisis, his writing reminds us that extraordinary progress is already underway and encourages all to step up. Solutions deserve as much attention as problems.
9. Business Declares
UK for Good has been a member of and worked with Business Declares from the get go. The purpose of this incredible organisation is to: “inspire, encourage and accelerate action within businesses to address the climate, ecological and social emergency – the “polycrisis”.
10. Real Zero – 7 Acts to save the world
Clear, simple, impactful – start today here
The sustainability books and resources every business leader should have
The more I read, the more I realise that none of us has all the answers. But together we are building a richer understanding of the pathways we can explore to determine what comes next – both in terms of mitigation, adaptation, and innovation.
The world doesn’t simply need better strategies. It needs better questions and deeper conversations.
It needs leaders who are curious enough to keep learning, compassionate enough to listen, and courageous enough to act at scope and scale.
If you’re looking for somewhere to begin, choose just one of these books, podcasts or briefings.
Read, watch, listen, or act.
Share with others in your home, community, and team. Together, explore new ways forward knowing that we can’t go back.
The future won’t be designed by the people who know everything.
It will be shaped by those willing to keep learning, and exploring new ways to shape a better world.
Further recommendations
Doughnut Economics – Kate Raworth – This is still one of the clearest frameworks for redesigning cleaner, greener, fairer economies)
The Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson – A book that helps us imagine realistic pathways ahead.
Climate Majority Project – excellent on helping people constructively communicate the climate and nature crisis
Not the End of the World – Hannah Ritchie -Surprising facts, dangerous myths and hopeful solutions for our future on planet Earth
Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity – Tim Jackson’s work is hugely relevant, and continues to explore the question: “What can prosperity possibly mean in a world of environmental, social and economic limits?”
The Beginning comes after the End – Rebecca Solnit, which reminds us that uncertainty creates the power and promise of transformation.
We’d love to hear from you
Which books, podcasts, films or thinkers have changed how you see the world?
Please share your recommendations in the comments.
The more we learn from one another, the better equipped we’ll all be to build a cleaner, greener and fairer future.
All books available from your local independent bookstore, or B Corp certified book sellers World of Books or Bookshop.org
The future belongs to those who keep on learning.