Best of Books for Business 2025 - Data & AI Business Design Community

Last year, I read many books so that you don’t have to read them. 😉 Those are my recommended Best of Books for Business from 2025. The ⭐ rating refers to their relevance for data & AI business (strategy, innovation & transformation):

⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜ Co-Intelligence: The Definitive, Bestselling Guide to Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick > I agree: AI is less about Artificial Intelligence and more about Augmented Intelligence, but the book misses the point: it’s not about a better ME, but about a smarter WE. I look forward to the second edition on the topic of “Team Co-Intelligence.”

⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜ Flow Engineering: From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action by Steve Pereira > Data & AI is about improving workflows and, consequently, value streams. The book summarizes existing techniques and tools.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Agentic Design Patterns: A Hands-On Guide to Building Intelligent Systems by Antonio Gulli > Intelligence arises from the interaction of autonomous agents. This applies to both human and artificial intelligence. Anyone who wants to build truly intelligent systems must first understand how to design them.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them by Gary Hamel > If you think we can replace our technical operating systems (from IT to AI) without renewing our organizational operating systems, then you should read this book. If you already understand that transformation is always technological, organizational, and cultural, then you should read this book, too.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⬜ Your Strategy Needs a Strategy: How to Choose and Execute the Right Approach by Martin Reeves > There is no strategy to rule them all. There are different types of strategies, and you need a strategy to decide when to use which strategy.

⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜ No Bullsh*t Strategy: A Founder’s Guide to Gaining Competitive Advantage with a Strategy That Actually Works by Alex M H Smith > The No Bullsh*t Strategy is such one type of strategy. It works well for small and midsized companies and the insights from the book might be applicable to large companies as well.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information as an Asset for Competitive Advantage by Douglas B. Laney > A classic. A must-read. There’s no way around it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Design a Better Business: New Tools, Skills, and Mindset for Strategy and Innovation by Patrick van der Pijl > Same for this book: must read. Data & AI are just a means to an end: to design better businesses.

⭐⭐⭐⬜⬜ Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb > Huh, difficult: I greatly appreciate the author’s books (“Black Swan Events”, “Fooled by Randomness”) and his insights. His recommendations are both valid and valuable. Too often, however, he loses himself in tirades about the stupidity of others.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⬜ Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman > I don’t know if it’s relevant to your business, but I found it eye-opening for me as a person to learn about the history and its many layers and perspectives of strategy.

If you’re looking for more reading material, check out my Goodreads list:

👉 https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/datentreiber

What Best of Books for (Data & AI) Business can you recommend to me for 2026?