By Lindsey Munson, editor, Plastics Business
January 2026 came and went in a blur. I’m sure, like many of you, we have had little time to pause and reflect on what we’d like to accomplish this year – both professionally and personally. Still, I am someone who appreciates a good plan (hello, Type A), loves to learn and strives to be the best version of myself. Rather than set one or two resolutions and already feeling behind, I’m focusing on a different approach this year: a new mindset.
Over the past year, particularly at conferences and industry events, one theme stood out among plastics processors and manufacturing leaders: 2026 will demand sharper thinking, more creative leadership responses and a more direct, strategic approach. Whether you’re tackling workforce challenges, pushing operational efficiency, evaluating new technology (AI, anyone?) or planning for succession, the right ideas can lead to better decisions and change. Here are three books worth adding to your Kindle, iPad, desk or leadership team reading list.
Never Lead Alone: 10 Shifts from Leadership to Teamship
Author: Keith Ferrazzi
Released: November 12, 2024
In today’s volatile, fast-paced and decentralized business environment, even the most talented leaders can’t succeed alone – they need to mobilize the full potential of the team and build a resilient workplace culture. The world’s highest-performing organizations understand they need more than leadership to win – they need teamship. Teamship is a profound shift from today’s hierarchical model to sharing the load among a team that elevates one another and the organization to achieve exponential results. Based on more than 20 years of research with over 3,000 teams, world-renowned coach and bestselling author Keith Ferrazzi has cracked the code for what defines the top 15 percent of high-performing teams. In Never Lead Alone, Ferrazzi brings to life what is expected of teammates in teamship’s new agile, inclusive, innovative and challenging culture.
Leaders Make the Future, Third Edition: 10 New Skills to Humanize Leadership with Generative AI
Authors: Bob Johansen, Jeremy Kirshbaum and Gabe Cervantes
Released: March 4, 2025
In a world of chaos, how can generative AI help leaders lead? Over the next decade, all leaders will be augmented with some form of generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI. For the best leaders, this will mean dramatic improvement. For mediocre leaders, this will mean persistent confusion, distraction and pretense. With futureback thinking – looking 10 years ahead, then planning backward from future to next to now – this third edition of Leaders Make the Future shows how people can improve their leadership skills while expanding their human perspective. Now 75% revised and expanded with resources from the Institute for the Future, this new edition is organized around ten future leadership skills. AI-augmented leadership will be key for any organization to tackle the uncertainty of the future.
Rebel Talent: Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work and in Life (2025 edition)
Author: Francesca Gino
Released: May 1, 2018
Rebels have a bad reputation. We think of them as troublemakers, outcasts, contrarians: those colleagues, friends and family members who complicate seemingly straightforward decisions, create chaos and disagree when everyone else is in agreement. But in truth, rebels are also among us, changing the world for the better with their unconventional outlooks. Instead of clinging to what is safe and familiar, and falling back on routines and tradition, rebels defy the status quo. They are masters of innovation and reinvention, and they have a lot to teach us. Francesca Gino, a behavioral scientist and professor at Harvard Business School, has spent more than a decade studying rebels at organizations around the world. In her work, she has identified leaders and employees who exemplify “rebel talent,” and whose examples we can all learn to embrace. Whether you want to inspire others to action, build a business or build more meaningful relationships, Rebel Talent will show you how to succeed – by breaking all the rules.