LID Book Win Leadership Award at the Business Book Awards 2026

LID Book Win Leadership Award at the Business Book Awards 2026

Two LID books were recognised at last night’s Business Book Awards in the event’s ninth year where a record 340 books were entered across 14 categories.

Shadows At Work by Steven D’Souza won the Leadership Book Award – the third time in recent years that a LID book has won in this prestigious category.

The judges commented Shadows At Work is:

“An ambitious, distinctive and a substantial contribution… the book offers a more complete understanding of leadership, self-awareness and personal responsibility.”

The author said:

“I’m delighted that Shadows At Work has been named Leadership Book of the Year. We are living through precarious times. In them, leadership development is incomplete unless we are willing to turn towards our Shadows, both individually and collectively. What we avoid does not disappear. It shapes our decisions, our cultures and our relationships. Yet the Shadow holds more than what we fear. It also holds our hidden potential. This book is an invitation to meet both, and to lead from a fuller place.”

Shadows At Work examines workplace relationships and is essential reading for leaders seeking self-awareness and to foster inclusive organizational cultures.

In the International Business Book category Todd Irwin’s De-Positioning was highly commended by the judges.

The author said:

“I’m honored that De-Positioning: The Secret Brand Strategy for Creating Competitive Advantage was Highly Commended for International Business Book of the Year, second place to McKinsey. For forty years, brand strategy has told companies to be different. Customers never asked for different. They want the brand that solves their biggest pain point more clearly than anybody else, and they choose it fast. De-Positioning is the method for becoming that brand. My thanks to Martin, Alec, and the whole team at LID for backing an argument that takes on the orthodoxy of an entire industry. The best brand wins. This book shows how.”

De-Positioning reveals six proven strategies used by some of the world’s leading brands to turn customer pain into power.

Martin Liu, COO and Publisher at LID said:

“We are immensely proud of Steven D’Souza and his book, Shadows At Work, winning the Leadership Book award. It’s a highly thoughtful and modern book that challenges leaders to

understand and confront their vulnerabilities, biases and other often unseen forces that shape performance, careers and lives. This is the third time in the past four years that a LID author has won the Best Leadership Book category (Michael Stanford with Leadership Transition in 2025 and Nicholas Janni with Leader As Healer in 2023).

“And Todd Irwin was deservedly commended for writing De-Positioning, a book that has redefined our understanding of branding and marketing.

“I also want to congratulate our other finalists – Sangeeta Waldron, Diederick van Thiel, Danny Gal, Bob Sheard and Kevin Mark-Watts – for their outstanding achievement in being shortlisted. Last night’s recognition is a testament to the quality and importance of their work.”

The Business Book Awards Gala took place on 16 September 2026 at The Drum, Wembley in London.

Notes to editors:

For all media enquiries contact Simon Wooldridge on: M +44 (0)7377954763; E: simon.wooldridge@lidbusinessmedia.com
LID Publishing is an award-winning business book publishing house. To find out more visit: https://lidpublishing.com/

Suggested Reading