ABOUT THE AWARDS
In August of 2007, Jenkins Group launched the Axiom Awards, “designed to honor the year’s best business books and
their authors and publishers.” Now, eight years and 3,000 entries later, we announce the winners of the eighth annual,
2015 Axiom Business Book Awards, honoring the year’s best business books, their authors, and publishers.
The Axiom Business Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary business books and their
creators, with the understanding that business people are an information-hungry segment of the population, eager to
learn about great new books that will inspire them and help them improve their careers and businesses.
This year’s awards attracted over four hundred entries from throughout North America and the English-speaking world.
Medals go to authors, illustrators, and publishers from 21 U.S. states, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea
and Switzerland. The results are listed below by category. Congratulations to all!
2015 AXIOM BUSINESS BOOK AWARDS RESULTS
1. BUSINESS THEORY
4. CAREER
GOLD: The Process Improvement Handbook: A Blueprint
for Managing Change and Increasing Organizational Performance, by Tristan Bourtros and Tim Purdie (McGraw-Hill
Education)
SILVER: The Risk-Driven Business Model: Four Questions
that Will Define Your Company, by Karan Girotra and Serguei Netessine (Harvard Business Review Press)
BRONZE: The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance, by Jim Blasingame (SBN Books)
GOLD: The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age,
by Reid Hoffman, Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh (Harvard
Business Review Press)
SILVER: Secrets of a Hiring Manager Turned Coach, by Lisa
Quast (Career Woman, Inc.)
BRONZE: Get Hired! Grow. Lead. Live., by Hal Eastman
(Peregrine Images)
5. SALES
GOLD: Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems,
and Behaviors that Drive Effective Selling, by Frank V. Cespedes (Harvard Business Review Press)
SILVER: Ditch the Pitch: The Art of Improvised Persuasion, by
Steve Yastrow (SelectBooks)
BRONZE: Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas that Get More Projects Approved! by Mark Jewell with Rachel Christenson
(Energy Efficiency Funding Group)
2. BUSINESS COMMENTARY
GOLD (tie): Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections,
Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas, by John Pollack (Gotham Books)
Citizen Coke: The Making of Coca-Cola Capitalism, by Bartow J. Elmore (W.W. Norton & Company)
SILVER: The Next Crash: How Short Term Profit Seeking
Trumps Airline Safety, by Amy L. Fraher (Cornell University
Press)
BRONZE: Rebuilding Empires: How Best Buy and Other
Retailers Are Transforming and Competing in the Digital Age
of Retailing, by Thomas Lee (Palgrave Macmillan)
6. LEADERSHIP
GOLD (tie): Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation, by Linda A. Hill, Greg Brandeau, Emily Truelove & Kent Lineback (Harvard Business Review Press)
Flex: The New Playbook for Managing Across Differences, by
Jane Hyun and Audrey S. Lee (Harper Business)
SILVER (tie): The CEO Tightrope: How to Master the Balancing Act of a Successful CEO, by Joel Trammell (Greenleaf
Book Group Press)
The Management Shift: How to Harness the Power of People
and Transform Your Organization for Sustainable Success, by
Vlatka Hlupic (Palgrave Macmillan)
BRONZE: Left Brain, Right Stuff: How Leaders Make Winning Decisions, by Phil Rosenzweig (Profile Books)
3. ECONOMICS
GOLD: The Dollar Trap: How the U.S. Dollar Tightened Its
Grip on Global Finance, by Eswar S. Prasad (Princeton
University Press)
SILVER: The End of Normal, by James K. Galbraith (Simon
& Schuster)
BRONZE: GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History, by Diane
Coyle (Princeton University Press)
2
SILVER: Heed Your Call: Integrating Myth, Science, Spirituality,
and Business, by David M. Howitt (Beyond Words/Atria)
BRONZE: Sell Your Business for an Outrageous Price: An Insider’s Guide to Getting More Than You Ever Thought Possible,
by Kevin M. Short (AMACOM)
7. NETWORKING
GOLD: A Social Strategy: How We Profit from Social Media,
by Mikolaj Jan Piskorski (Princeton University Press)
SILVER: On Message: How a Compelling Narrative Will
Make Your Organization Succeed, by Zach Friend (Turner
Publishing)
BRONZE: Edge Presentation: Your Guide to Trust-Based
Presentations, by Ben A. Ratje (300 Publishing)
12. PHILANTHROPY / NONPROFIT
GOLD: The Responsible Entrepreneur: Four Game-Changing
Archetypes for Founders, Leaders, and Impact Investors, by
Carol Sanford (Jossey-Bass)
SILVER: The Power of Impact Investing: Putting Markets to
Work for Profit and Global Good, by Judith Rodin and Margot Brandenburg (Wharton Digital Press)
BRONZE: Practical Project Management for Agile Nonprofits: Approaches and Templates to Help You Manage with Limited Resources, by Karen R.J. White (Maven House Press)
8. BUSINESS ETHICS
GOLD (tie): Criminal Capital: How the Finance Industry
Facilitates Crime, by Stephen Platt (Palgrave Macmillan)
Responsible Leadership: Lessons from the Front Line of Sustainability and Ethics, by Mark Moody-Stuart (Greenleaf
Publishing)
SILVER: Time to Trust: Mobilizing Humanity for a Sustainable
Future, by Mark C. Coleman (Motivational Press)
BRONZE: Clarke Williams: How One Man’s Belief in the
Golden Rule Built CenturyLink, by Leo Honeycutt (Lisburn
Press)
13. INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS/GLOBALIZATION
GOLD: Quest: Leading Global Transformations, by N. Anand
and Jean-Louis Barsoux (IMD)
SILVER: The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest Is
Good for the West, by Charles Kenny (Basic Books)
BRONZE: China Goes West: Everything You Need to Know
About Chinese Companies Going Global, by Joel Backaler
(Palgrave Macmillan)
9. OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT / LEAN / CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
GOLD: The Innovator’s Method: Bringing the Lean Startup
into Your Organization, by Nathan Furr and Jeff Dyer (Harvard Business Review Press)
SILVER: Magic: Five Keys to Unlock the Power of Employee
Engagement, by Tracy Maylett, Ed.D. & Paul Warner, Ph.D.
(Greenleaf Book Group Press)
BRONZE: The Time Bandit™ Structured Time & Workflow
Solution: Recovering Stolen Time You Never Knew You Had, by
Edward G. Brown (Cohen Brown Picture Company)
14. PERSONAL FINANCE / RETIREMENT
PLANNING / INVESTING
GOLD: Money Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom, by Tony Robbins (Simon & Schuster)
SILVER: Jonathan Clements Money Guide 2015, by Jonathan Clements (Jonathan Clements LLC)
BRONZE: Investing for Dummies, 7th Edition, by Eric Tyson
(Wiley)
10. HUMAN RESOURCES / EMPLOYEE TRAINING
GOLD: It’s Not the How or the What but the Who: Succeed
by Surrounding Yourself with the Best, by Claudio Fernández-Aráoz (Harvard Business Review Press)
SILVER: The Power of Thanks: How Social Recognition Empowers Employees and Creates a Best Place to Work, by
Eric Mosley and Derek Irvine (McGraw-Hill Education)
BRONZE: It’s All Your Fault at Work: Managing Narcissists
and Other High-Conflict People, by Bill Eddy, LCSW, ESQ
and L. Georgi DiStefano, LCSW (Unhooked Books)
15. BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY
GOLD (tie): The Decoded Company: Know Your Talent
Better Than You Know Your Customers, by Leerom Segal,
Aaron Goldstein, Jay Goldman, Rahaf Harfoush (Portfolio/
Penguin)
The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and
Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, by Walter Isaacson
(Simon & Schuster)
SILVER: Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business
Transformation, by George Westerman, Didier Bonnet,
Andrew McAfee (Harvard Business Review Press)
BRONZE: Bitcoin: The Future of Money? by Dominic Frisby
(Unbound)
11. ENTREPRENEURSHIP / SMALL BUSINESS
GOLD: The Social Entrepreneur’s Playbook: Pressure Test,
Plan, Launch and Scale Your Enterprise (Expanded Edition),
by Ian C. MacMillan and James D. Thompson (Wharton
Digital Press)
3
16. WOMEN / MINORITIES IN BUSINESS
Womack (Arcadia Publishing)
BRONZE: Madness Miracles Millions, by Joseph Semprevivo and Larry Semprevivo (Tate Publishing)
GOLD: The Third Law, by Tamra Ryan (Gilpin House Press)
SILVER: Work, Pump, Repeat: How to Survive Breastfeeding and Going Back to Work, by Jessica Shortall (Abrams
Books)
BRONZE: Playing Big: Find Your Voice, Your Mission, Your Message, by Tara Mohr (Gotham Books)
20. BUSINESS REFERENCE
GOLD: Presentations: Sharpen your Message, Persuade your
Audience, Gauge your Impact, 20 Minute Manager Series
(Harvard Business Review Press)
SILVER: Everyone’s a Genius: Simple Tips to Boost Your Brilliance Now, by Jen Fraser (Ideation Training)
BRONZE: Swanepoel Trends Report 2015, by Stefan
Swanepoel (RealSure, Inc.)
17. SUCCESS / MOTIVATION / COACHING
GOLD: The Resiliency rEvolution: Your Stress Solution for Life
– 60 Seconds at a Time, by Jenny C. Evans (Wise Ink)
SILVER (tie): Edgy Conversations: How Ordinary People Can
Achieve Outrageous Success, by Dan Waldschmidt (Hydra
Publishing)
Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life,
by Stewart D. Friedman (Harvard Business Review Press)
BRONZE: The Necessity of Strangers: The Intriguing Truth
About Insight, Innovation, and Success, by Alan Gregerman
(Jossey-Bass)
21. MEMOIR / BIOGRAPHY
GOLD: Winners Dream: A Journey from Corner Store to Corner Office, by Bill McDermott with Joanne Gordon (Simon
& Schuster)
SILVER (tie): Fire in the Belly: How Purdy Crawford Rescued
Canada and Changed the Way We Do Business, by Gordon
Pitts (Nimbus Publishing, Ltd.)
Sweet Success: A Journey of Change and Challenges, by
Doug Lapins (Foursome Press)
BRONZE: Inside the Founding of Newsweek: How a
Hot-Tempered, One-Legged R.A.F. Pilot Launched an American Media Giant, by Thomas J.C. Martyn (Purple Plum
Press)
18. ADVERTISING / MARKETING / PR / EVENT
PLANNING
GOLD: Targeted: How Technology Is Revolutionizing Advertising and the Way Companies Reach Consumers, by Mike
Smith (AMACOM)
SILVER: Romancing the Brand: How Brands Create Strong,
Intimate Relationships with Consumers, by Tim Halloran
(Jossey-Bass)
BRONZE (tie): The Old Rush: Marketing for Gold in the Age
of Aging, by Peter Hubbell (LID Publishing Inc.)
Trendology: Building an Advantage Through Data-Driven Real-Time Marketing, by Chris Kerns (Palgrave Macmillan)
22. BUSINESS FABLE
GOLD: The Project Manifesto: Transforming Your Life and
Work with Critical Chain Values, by Rob Newbold and Bill
Lynch (ProChain Press)
SILVER: A Forest Tale: A Startup Fable, by Bill Murphy
(iUniverse)
BRONZE: The Unexpected Tour Guide, by Jeff C. West
(The Sales Tour Guide Publishing)
19. CORPORATE HISTORY / MILESTONE
GOLD: Call of the Couch: A Family’s Love Affair with Its
Business, Schneiderman’s Furniture, by Larry Schneiderman
with Jody Mabry (Beaver’s Pond Press)
SILVER: Made to Order: The Sheetz Story, by Kenneth
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT WWW.AXIOMAWARDS.COM
The Axiom Business Book Awards are presented by Jenkins Group and Independent Publisher.
Congratulations to the medalists!
Cover skyline designed by Freepik.com
4