Management Book of the Year

Celebrating the best Management and Leadership literature

2021 Winner Announced

Take a look at our 2021 Management Book of the Year winner, The Future Leader by Jacob Morgan.

What is the Management Book of the Year Award?

Whether you're a new manager looking for some expert guidance, or a seasoned CEO looking for innovative new ways to lead your organisation into a successful future - our Management Book of the Year competition is sure to inspire.

Best in class

Showcase and celebrate your achievements

Motivation and Reward

Being nominated for the CMI Awards is a huge achievement in itself, celebrating hard work and the impact being made

Judges

Our prestigious judging panel will review and determine who is exemplifying best practice and the highest standards the profession can offer

Recognition

The CMI Awards are globally recognised, offering great exposure with our global community

Awards Timeline

Competition closed: Nominations now closed

Competition opens 11th Nov 2021
Competition closes 3rd Mar 2022
Longlist announced 23rd May 2022
Shortlist announced 25th Jul 2022
Winner announced Nov 2022

Meet the judges

Entries for the CMI Awards come from a wide range of organisations and individuals across a variety of sectors and fields therefore, we select our judges to be able to reflect this experience. The Management Book of the Year judges are hand-picked and are all senior experts in their fields

Steve Acklam
CMgr CCMI
Chair, Carer Council & Methodist Regional Working Group

Steve Acklam CMgr CCMI

Steve Acklam graduated from St Johns’ College Cambridge with an Honours Degree in English (MA Cantab). From university he joined Procter and Gamble, moving subsequently to a management role for Carr’s Biscuits. Following their takeover by United Biscuits Steve worked in many different areas and between 1986 and 1991 he was McVities Export Sales and Marketing Director with a worldwide remit and a team generating over £50m sales and £17m of profit per year.

Offered the opportunity of paid secondment to the Community, Steve initially joined The London Enterprise Agency as Chief Operating Officer, and was then invited to set up and lead the School Governors’ One-Stop Shop. He was Chief Executive of the Charity from that time until his retirement in September 2012, leading it from a pilot initiative in 26 areas to a highly successful organisation with an England-wide remit. The organisation continues to flourish.

Steve is is a Companion of the CMI and holds the Chartered Manager qualification. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and has for a number of years been a member of the CMI’S Management Book of the Year judging panel. He remains extremely active on a voluntary basis and currently is Chair of a Carer Council and a Methodist Regional Working Group. He is a school governor at the Vine Inter-church School in Cambourne; a carer representative on the multi-disciplinary dementia strategy group at Addenbrookes Hospital; and works with UEA on a research project called RadioMe exploring the opportunities to utilise technology & music to calm dementia patients experiencing anxiety

Delroy Beverley
CMgr CCMI
Non-Executive Director and Trustee on the Board of The British Library and Ofqual

Delroy Beverley CMgr CCMI

Delroy is Managing Director for an independent commercial facilities service provider for the NHS.

With over three decades of executive leadership experience, spanning housing, arts, local government and the private sector. He also serves as Non-Executive Director and Trustee on the Board of The British Library and Ofqual.

He also serves as a member of Huddersfield University Council and the University’s Estates and Finance Committee.

A keen advocate of management books, and a longstanding, CMI judge, Delroy says, I have learned a lot about my own reading through being a judge, which is very insightful and has probably changed my reading habits for good. Some books get better with distance, others burn out. There are lots of ‘very good management books’ the ones you really love and want to hug are few and far between, this is no bad thing!

Dr Thesara Jayawardane
CMgr FCMI
Head of Dept of Industrial Management, University of Moratuwa

Dr Thesara Jayawardane CMgr FCMI

Dr. Thesara Jayawardane is the Head of the Department of Industrial Management and is also the Director of Business Research Unit of the Faculty of Business of the University of Moratuwa.

She obtained her BSc (Engineering) degree in Materials and Process Engineering from the University of Waikato, New Zealand. She obtained the PhD and MPhil in Entrepreneurship from the University of Aldersgate. She is an Attorney at Law of Sri Lanka with a LLB (Honours) from the University of London and, has a Master of Arts in Drama and Theater from the University of Kelaniya. She is a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Marketing-UK, a Chartered Manager and Fellow of Chartered Management Institute-UK. She is a Member of the Bar Association-SL, SL Institute of Marketing, American Marketing Association, and an Associate member of the Institute of Engineers SL and Engineering Council of Sri Lanka.

Thesara is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka and a Founder member of Aramuna organisation SL. She is the Treasurer of the University of Moratuwa Teachers’ Association, Senior Treasurer of Drama Society of UoM, Senior Treasurer of Faculty of Business Student Union and an Executive Committee member of Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and Chartered Management Institute-SL.

Thesara is an award-winning actress who has starred in a few chosen movies and tele dramas who won the Best Actress Award at UNDA OCIC and State Tele Awards Festival. She is an Author with three novels and four famous Translations published in Sinhalese and also a Television Presenter currently hosting a morning show in ART TV.

Dilshad Sheikh
CMgr CCMI
Dean of the Faculty of Business, Arden University

Dilshad Sheikh CMgr CCMI

I have over 20 years of experience in the Higher Education sector gained from multiple roles – these have ranged from teaching in the classroom right through to senior management positions.

I currently hold a strategic leadership position as Dean of the Faculty of Business at Arden University and I’m very proud to have been appointed as Arden’s first ever Dean, giving me the exciting opportunity to build a faculty from scratch. My previous appointments have included working for a variety of local, national, and global organisations in supervisory, management and leadership roles, predominantly in retail management, international marketing, and brand management.

The move into academia and the Higher Education sector came as a result of my aspirations to help equip individuals from all backgrounds with the skills and character to achieve their personal ambitions as well as giving them the means to make a positive impact on their communities. I have read many management books throughout my career, both in my role as an academic and also for general personal interest and professional development. Furthermore, I was featured in the publication “We are the City” as an inspirational woman, have made an appearance on BBC Radio 4 discussing digital technology in Higher Education and have also been shortlisted as a finalist in the grand prix category of the Education Investor Awards as Woman to Watch (Business Women in Education).

I am a CMI Chartered Companion and chair the combined West Midlands and North West CMI regional board. I have a keen interest in the equality, diversity and inclusivity of organisations and have delivered several keynote presentations both locally and nationally advocating the benefits of diverse and inclusive management and leadership teams. I continue to engage with audiences across a variety of sectors in my endeavours to encourage and inspire more females when it comes to attaining senior leadership roles.

Taranjeet Singh
CMgr FCMI
Chair, CMI Malaysia

Taranjeet Singh CMgr FCMI

It’s an absolute privilege and an honour to be elected and appointed as the Chair for the Regional Board of CMI Malaysia for the term of 2020/21. The need for outstanding managers and leaders is even more critical today than ever before. The uncertainties facing us as businesses and individuals alike, the lack of clarity of when the prevailing CoVid-19 Pandemic will be successfully thwarted and the ever growing pressure on the shoulders of managers to do the right thing, makes the need for a professional body like CMI Malaysia that much more relevant and crucial.

I see CMI Malaysia as being the “go-to body” for Managers and Leaders, as a reference point and a repository for knowledge. Leveraging off its global network of other Regional Boards whether within APAC or the UK, CMI members are able to learn, unlearn (as the case may be), share and act decisively. But most importantly, CMI members know that they are not alone in this journey, but instead have the collective support of all within the Network and the knowledge that the Regional Board is vested in their professional success as members of CMI.

With over two and a half decades of experience, in a variety of sectors, working and residing in various geographical regions and having the opportunity to see how different societies and cultures operate and work, it is clear to me that success for us as CMI members can only derived when we all have a genuine interest in each other’s progress, professional milestones and achievements. Our dreams rest on the wings of ambitions and are grounded by the pillars of resilience, fortitude and humility… and CMI Malaysia is here to support its members in the achievement of their professional success as managers and leaders alike.

Prof Denise Skinner
CMgr CCMI
Independent Consultant

Prof Denise Skinner CMgr CCMI

Currently working as an independent consultant Denise is a passionate believer in the need for excellent leadership and outstanding management practice in organisations. Her personal experience has been gained in a range of public and private sector organisations including having been an owner/ Director of a retail SME, a Board member of two private limited companies, a civil servant and holding academic and strategic leadership roles in Universities including Executive Dean at Coventry University. Her particular expertise lies in the fields of trust, diversity and change management. She has an international academic reputation and has published refereed journal articles, co-edited books and book chapters on these topics, regularly presented papers at international conferences and been an invited speaker at professional events. In addition to being a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management, Denise is an Emeritus Professor of Coventry University, a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) and was CMI’s Volunteer of the Year in 2020.

Phil Spence
CMgr CCMI
COO, British Library

Phil Spence CMgr CCMI

Phil Spence is the Chief Operating Officer for the British Library, one of the World’s great national research libraries and a top visitor attraction based in London and Yorkshire. He is responsible for Finance, Operations, Human Resources, Information Technology, Property, and Commercial Services. Phil has been a Director in the public and private sectors since 2000, leading major transformations in a wide range of organisations in more than 20 countries. He has a blend of deep operations management experience in high profile public sector institutions, such as the Scottish Ambulance Service where he was Director of Operations; combined with strategy development from blue chip management consulting companies, including Coopers and Lybrand (PwC), Capita Group PLC and DAI USA Inc. He has a BSc and Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Psychology having worked earlier in his career with the UK Ministry of Defence.

Dr Jean-Anne Stewart
Professor of Leadership Development, Henley Business School

Dr Jean-Anne Stewart

Jean-Anne has over 16 years’ experience of research and teaching at Henley Business School and is Programme Director for the innovative Henley MA Leadership programme, launched in 2016, and now successfully delivering its twelfth cohort, with a total of almost 400 students. The development of this programme involved extensive research into leadership, leadership development and management learning.

She has also been responsible for corporate global MBA qualification programmes, for a variety of international clients, such as Deloitte and IBM. She designs, develops, and delivers programmes and modules, specialising in leadership, facilitation, action learning, project management, change management and leadership development. She is also responsible for leading the MBA international programme consultancy visits in China, Russia and Chile.

Jean-Anne has led several European and UK research projects, particularly focused on leadership, action learning, SMEs, third sector leadership, management learning, technology-enabled learning, leadership development and evaluation.

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