Five Books I Took On Holidays This Summer

This summer, we asked our founder, Adriaan Hoogduijn, what his reading list looks like.

"Whereas I used to be an avid reader, the honest answer is that I don't read nearly as much as I'd like throughout the year. Between running businesses and raising a young family, uninterrupted reading time has become something of a luxury."

"That's one of the reasons I value the summer. It's a chance to slow down—not necessarily to do less, but to think more. To zoom out from the day-to-day, reflect on where technology and business are heading, gain new perspectives and return with fresh energy for the months ahead."

"I've found that the books with the greatest impact aren't necessarily the ones that tell you how to run a business. They're the ones that change the questions you ask. They challenge assumptions, broaden your perspective and often influence decisions long after you've finished reading them."

"With that in mind, these are five books I'd recommend to any CEO, CIO or entrepreneur looking to better understand where technology, AI and modern business are heading."

1. Competing in the Age of AI – Marco Iansiti & Karim Lakhani

If I had to recommend one book to a CEO today, this would probably be it.

Too many leaders still approach Artificial Intelligence as another technology trend—a new tool to improve productivity or automate existing processes. This book argues something far more profound: AI is not simply another layer of technology; it fundamentally changes how organisations create value, compete and scale.

The central message is that we're entering an era where competitive advantage will no longer come from optimising individual departments. Instead, organisations will need to rethink their entire operating model. AI doesn't just improve existing processes—it enables businesses to redesign them from first principles. It changes decision-making, organisational structures, customer interactions and ultimately the economics of the business itself.For me, that's the biggest lesson from this book. The organisations that will lead over the next decade won't necessarily be those with access to the best AI. They'll be the ones willing to rethink how their business should operate in a world where intelligence is embedded into every process.

2. Power and Prediction – Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans & Avi Goldfarb

This is probably the book that most changed the way I think about the economics of AI.

The authors make a deceptively simple observation: AI dramatically reduces the cost of prediction. That may sound abstract at first, but once you understand it, you start seeing its implications everywhere. Demand forecasting, pricing, sales prioritisation, capacity planning, fraud detection, inventory management and even strategic decision-making all become prediction problems.

What makes the book so valuable is that it shifts the conversation away from technology and towards business design. Rather than asking "Where can we use AI?", it encourages leaders to ask "Which decisions in our organisation are constrained by uncertainty?" and "What happens if we can make those decisions faster and more accurately?"

That is a fundamentally different way of looking at AI. Instead of treating it as another software investment, you begin to see it as an economic force that changes the cost structure of decision-making itself.

3. Co-Intelligence – Ethan Mollick

If the first two books explain why AI will reshape business, Co-Intelligence is one of the best books I've read on how leaders should respond.What I appreciate most is that Ethan Mollick avoids both extremes. He neither overstates AI's capabilities nor dismisses it as another passing trend. Instead, he introduces a much more practical mindset: the organisations that will benefit most from AI are those that learn to work with it, rather than simply deploying it.

That may sound obvious, but it represents a fundamental shift in leadership. AI is no longer something that sits within the IT department. It is becoming a capability that every knowledge worker—from sales and finance to consultants and executives—needs to incorporate into their daily work. The challenge is therefore not one of technology, but of organisational adaptation.

This closely reflects what we experience with our own clients. The greatest returns rarely come from replacing people with AI. They come from redesigning the way people work, enabling them to make better decisions, move faster and spend more time on activities where human judgement creates the greatest value.

4. The Coming Wave – Mustafa Suleyman

This is probably the most thought-provoking book on the list.

Mustafa Suleyman doesn't just write about Artificial Intelligence. He places AI alongside other breakthrough technologies and argues that we're entering a period of change unlike anything we've experienced before. His central thesis is that these technologies won't simply improve existing industries - they will fundamentally reshape economies, labour markets, governments and society itself.

Whether you agree with all of his conclusions is somewhat irrelevant. The value of the book lies in the perspective it offers. It forces you to step outside the quarterly planning cycle and consider what your business might look like in five, ten or even twenty years.

As business leaders, we naturally spend most of our time executing against today's priorities. Customers need attention, targets need to be met and operational issues demand immediate decisions. Books like this remind us that one of the most important responsibilities of leadership is creating space to think beyond the immediate horizon.

For me, The Coming Wave reinforced the importance of long-term strategic thinking. The organisations that will thrive over the coming decade won't simply be those that adopt new technologies first. They'll be the ones that recognise how those technologies fundamentally change markets, customer expectations and business models—and are willing to adapt before everyone else does.

5. The Nvidia Way – Tae Kim

I picked up this book expecting a story about one of the world's most valuable technology companies. What I found was a masterclass in long-term strategic conviction.

NVIDIA's success is often attributed to the AI boom, but the reality is very different. Jensen Huang spent more than two decades investing in capabilities, products and an ecosystem for a market that barely existed at the time. While others optimised for quarterly performance, NVIDIA consistently invested in a future it believed would eventually arrive. That lesson extends far beyond semiconductors.

As leaders, we're constantly balancing short-term execution with long-term positioning. Shareholders, customers and employees all demand results today, yet the most meaningful competitive advantages are often created by decisions whose value only becomes visible years later.

Reading The Nvidia Way reinforced my belief that strategy is ultimately an exercise in conviction. It's about recognising structural shifts early, making deliberate choices and having the discipline to stay the course while others remain focused on the present.

One common thread

Looking back at these five books, what strikes me most is that none of them are really about AI. They are about how leaders respond when technology fundamentally changes the rules of competition. They challenge the way we think about strategy, organisational design, decision-making and long-term value creation. AI is simply the catalyst that forces those conversations to happen. That's also why I find myself recommending these books more often than technical AI literature. They help you understand the implications of AI, rather than the technology itself.

Organisations rarely need another presentation about AI capabilities; they need to rethink how their business should operate in a world where intelligence is becoming embedded into every process. The companies that will emerge as leaders won't necessarily be those with access to the most advanced AI, they'll be the ones that adapt their operating model, connect their business platforms and have the courage to make long-term strategic decisions before the rest of the market catches up.