Leaders are Readers - Summer 2026 Book Recommendations

Every year, my family comes back to exactly the same place. Same coastline, same restaurants, same walk along the beach.

My children have grown up and spent every summer holiday here.

Friends often ask why we don't try somewhere new. The truth is, once you find something that works, you should probably stick with it.

Sitting on the balcony this week with a coffee and a book, I was struck by how reading works exactly the same way. The books that have had the biggest impact on my life aren't usually the newest bestsellers or the ones everyone breathlessly talks about on LinkedIn.

They're the ones I keep returning to—the dog-eared ones, covered in highlights and scribbled notes; the ones I recommend so often I end up buying replacement copies after lending mine out.

This week, I decided to settle the ‘best books’ argument properly rather than trust memory. I ran my entire Kindle library—years of highlights and margin notes—through an AI tool to analyse and find the ten books I've actually annotated the most.

Not the cliched favourites. Not the ones that sound cool if you mention them. The ones I made the most highlights in, without thinking about it.

That's a more honest signal than memory, and the results were quite revealing.

I often say that the work we do at Capital Partners sits at the intersection of four areas:

Business + Money + Family + Life.

We believe true wealth is created when all four are aligned. These books have helped shape my own thinking across these four pillars and are worth adding to your reading list.

1. Build a better business

Traction by Gino Wickman changed how I think about running a business, full stop: great businesses aren't built by heroic founders; they're built by systems.

It names the five frustrations every growing company hits—lack of control, lack of profit, people friction, growth ceilings, and endless firefighting.

And then hands you the fix: a weekly Level 10 meeting, quarterly "Rocks," and a two-page Vision/Traction Organiser that replaces the 40-slide strategy deck that nobody remembers.

Simple beats complicated every time.

StoryBrand by Donald Miller made me realise a basic truth: most businesses spend far too much time talking about themselves— “We were formed in 2009; we are highly qualified, professional blah blah blah!”

Your client isn't interested in your story — they're interested in theirs. You're not the hero; you're the guide.

Miller's "grunt test" is worth stealing: could a caveman look at your website for five seconds and know what you do and why it matters to them?

Most firms fail that test, and that single idea changed how I think about marketing.

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz flips the usual equation — most businesses hope they'll make a profit eventually.

This book has you take the profit first before a penny touches expenses, even if it's only 1% to start, and build the business around what's left.

One small behavioural change, huge long-term consequences.

These three books, read together, form a complete business operating system—marketing, operations, and finance. Simple and effective.

2. Think differently about money

The Art of Spending Money by Morgan Housel has that rare gift of explaining an obvious truth you've never quite articulated: money isn't there to impress people; it's there to buy freedom—freedom over your time, your choices, and your life.

His clearest test is to spend on experiences and relationships rather than on things you'll stop noticing within a month—book the family adventure rather than the new watch or iPhone.

Memories last a lifetime. It took me years to learn that.

Broken Money by Lynn Alden is probably the most important book I've read on the evolution of money—from bartering and gold through fiat to digital networks and the Cantillon effect:

Whether or not you agree with every conclusion, you won't think about inflation and long-term wealth preservation the same way again.

And Die With Zero by Bill Perkins challenged me and my thinking around wealth building. We're conditioned to save relentlessly, but Perkins asks, what if the bigger risk isn't running out of money—it's running out of time?

His framing of the three resources—health, money, and time—is the one that hits hardest.

You have time and health when you're young and broke; money and health in middle age—but no time - and you have money when you're old—but not the time or health to enjoy either.

Most of us over-save against a "longevity risk" we wildly overestimate, and end up dying with money we never spent.

3. Build more than a business

Founders schedule board meetings, quarterly reviews, and client calls—but never schedule uninterrupted time with the people who matter most.

The Family Board Meeting by Jim Sheils is built around a simple idea: quarterly one-on-one time with your kids. No phones, devices, or distractions and their choice of activity.

It sounds almost too small to matter—that's exactly why it works for entrepreneurs who've become too focused on their business to give dedicated time to the reason they're in business in the first place!

The 3 Alarms by Eric Partaker applies the same instinct daily: three alarms on your phone, each one a check-in on health, wealth, or relationships, so none of the three consumes the other two while you're head-down working.

I like simple systems that I can action straight away. The 3 Alarms is exactly that.

4. Remember what actually matters

Few books have hit me quite as hard as When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.

He was a Stanford neurosurgeon, months from finishing a decade of training, when a scan showed his lungs full of tumours.

What he wrote in the time he had left isn't really about dying—it's about whether you're climbing the right mountain in the first place.

It will reorder your sense of what's urgent versus what's merely loud.

Pair it with The Road to Character by David Brooks, perhaps the most profound idea on this whole list: the distinction between résumé virtues—the ones that get you promoted, the ones that get you the big exit—and eulogy virtues, the ones people actually stand up and talk about at your funeral.

Brooks's line hits hard—'most of us have a clearer strategy for career success than we do for building a profound character.’

Which one are you spending more time developing?

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time—none, zero.” Charlie Munger

After interviewing founders who've built businesses worth millions — some worth billions — I always arrive at the same conclusion: the greatest investment you'll ever make isn't in a company, a property, or even the stock market.

It's in improving the quality of your own thinking.

Every business is eventually limited by the quality of its founder's decisions, and books remain one of the cheapest unfair advantages available.

One of my early guests, high-profile entrepreneur Timo Armoo, said it simply: "Reading is a cheat code for life."

Check out my conversation with him here.​

What book has made the biggest impact on you?

Hit reply and tell me the one book that's changed how you think — some of my best discoveries have come from readers of this newsletter.

Until next time, have a fantastic summer!

Alan

P.S. — A huge thank you to everyone who's joined the newsletter recently; we've now got around 2,000 ambitious entrepreneurs and business leaders dropping by every Saturday morning. If you find it helpful, do me a favour and forward it to a friend or colleague.

It might just make a difference to them.

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