HBR’s 10 Must Reads 2025: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review.
In the closing days of 2023 I was reading HBR’s 10 Must Reads for 2024. This was a good indicator of management ideas for the coming new year. A year later, closing 2024 seems perfect to begin 2025 with HBR’s annual refresh.
This book is for both new and experienced leaders seeking insights, inspiration, and advice to propel their organizations forward in the new year.
Perhaps no other topic is the continuing role of AI impacting organizations last year and the coming impact of AI Agents. Perhaps their 2026 Must Reads will expand upon the growth of agents we will engage this year.
Why? The chapter ‘Reskilling in the Age of AI’ acknowledged ChatGPT’s impact was not predicted. As a result computer automation was already set to displace and transform the global workforce. Now LLMs, Agents, and ML will perhaps drive those numbers even higher. The message: Reskilling will be a focal point for organizations to thrive in an AI-driven environment. Yet the advice includes the challenge that organizational ups killing simply will not be enough. Worth the read alone especially for colleges and training centers.
So, how important is a bachelor’s degree in 2025?
Perhaps for ‘middle skill’ jobs not so much anymore. Perhaps an indicator in 2025 will be organizations who build a new taxonomy of skills. Think the post-pandemic impact of ChatGPT. This can in fact broaden the talent pool with a skill’s based culture.
Some hiring managers think a bachelor’s degrees serves as a good proxy for capabilities such as collaborating well, taking initiative, and thinking critically. There’s virtually no evidence to support that notion.
Yet perhaps the chapter “Rid Your Organization of ObstaclesThat Infuriate Everyone” by Stanford’s Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao is the hidden gem of this book. Having previously read Sutton’s books Good Boss, Bad Boss, and his book The No Asshole rule, the release of Scaling Up Excellence will Rao clearly establishes their long research into organizational behavior. In fact, the reference to Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow reenforces their understanding that organizational leaders are both certain or uncertain about the right things to do. Basically Sutton and Rao call for organizations to identify and remove obstacles that cause their workflows or projects to fail.
Consider Sutton’s book: Good Boss, Bad Boss. Then also consider Sutton and Rao’s Scaling Up Excellence
In conclusion, HBR’s 10 Must Reads 2025 continues to deliver insights that both employees and managers must understand in order to find success in the new year with a flurry of changes ahead.