1.

Design Social Change: Take Action, Work Toward Equity, and Challenge the Status Quo
By Lesley-Ann Noel
“Who are you? What motivates you as a changemaker? What forces are preventing you (and others) from thriving?” This book asks Gen Zers confronting their own existential dread to consider these fundamental questions. Recommended by Lila Ibrahim, COO of Google DeepMind and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Design Social Change may help Gen Z readers home in on how their ethics and values can help them work toward a more just society.

2.

Possible: How We Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict
By William Ury
Gen Zers are coming of age at a time when conflict seems omnipresent—on college campuses, at work, at home, and abroad. The author, who cofounded Harvard’s Program on Negotiation, does not promise to end conflict but to harness its power for good. Them’s fightin’ words.

3.

What Went Wrong with Capitalism
By Ruchir Sharma
Are Gen Zers disillusioned with capitalism? Headlines might suggest that’s the case (Exhibits A, B, and C, your honor). But this author, chairman of Rockefeller International and founder and chief investment officer of Breakout Capital, makes the case that it’s not only Gen Zers who are interrogating capitalism, which he says has become less efficient and less fair. 

4.

2054
By Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis
This dystopian thriller, recommended by McKinsey global managing partner Bob Sternfels, paints a picture of a future state where AI, biotech, and geopolitics collide to deleterious effects. (If you can’t beat gen AI, learn it!)   

5.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
By Jonathan Haidt
Few titles on our list garnered more media attention this year than Jonathan Haidt’s, in which the social psychologist documents the epidemic of teen mental illness with a clear call to action for parents, teachers, schools, technology, business, and governments. (BTW: if you haven’t already, be sure to read our McKinsey Health Institute research on the topic, which includes a survey of 42,000 Gen Zers across the globe and uncovers how social media affects their health, helmed by McKinsey partner Erica Coe.)

6.

Der Kreativitäts-Code: 25 Erfolgsregeln für Ihre Kreativität (The Creativity Code: 25 rules for success for your creativity)
By Josef Brunner and Christian Sellmann
As generative AI becomes more prevalent, business leaders in the United States and Europe are finding that creativity and critical thinking are skills that are in high demand—and in short supply. Gen Zers who have hard and soft skills alike should consider adding this title, which functions as the pragmatist’s guide to creativity, to their bookshelves.