At this time of year, it can’t all be about work – if you’re looking for some last minute stocking-fillers, here are some of the books and podcasts that members of our consultancy team have really enjoyed in 2025.
Horrible Histories (the adult version) – Simon Cook, Senior Consultant
My summer reading was ‘A History of Britain in Ten Enemies’ (Terry Deary) which is basically Horrible Histories for adults, written by the same author about how our key conflicts and foes have shaped the country. Interesting and amusing!
For work, I find content from REBA helpful to understand trends in reward and benefits, particularly their webinars. More about Simon >
All about AI - Sarah Lardner, Director of Business Innovation, Senior Principal Consultant
For anyone interested in the AI revolution, a few books I enjoyed and would really recommend are ‘AI Agent Mandate – Reimagining work in the age of AI’ (Buchbinder), ‘Superagency’ (Reed Hoffman and Greg Beato), ‘The LinkedIn Edge’ (Jeb Blount) and ‘Armstrong's Handbook of Reward Management Practice’ (Michael Armstrong and Duncan Brown). More about Sarah >
Cyberhacks and scandals - Justine Woolf, Director of Consulting
I love listening to podcasts, for work and for relaxing. I’m not sure what my choices say about my character, but my guilty pleasure podcasts are ‘Evilcorp Cyberhack’ investigating cyber hacks and the gangs accused of carrying them out, and ‘British Scandal’ about notorious scandals and their perpetrators!
Related more to work, I enjoy ‘The bottom line’ (especially the pay transparency episode I featured in!) and ‘HBR Ideacast’, which is essentially lots of ideas and insights on the most pressing issues facing leaders and businesses at the moment. More about Justine >
“Now it all makes sense” - Holly Coe, Senior Reward Consultant
I’ve absolutely loved reading The Housemaid trilogy and now can’t wait for the film to be released! I also found it fascinating listening to the audio book of Alex Partridge’s ‘Now it all makes sense’ about coming to terms with ADHD - very insightful.
In terms of work-related, my go-to places are the CIPD, REBA and Linkedin. Between them, they always have something new and insightful. More about Holly >
Rugby and food – what more could you want? – Spencer Hughes, Senior Consultant
I have a few favourite podcasts, two of the best being about food and rugby which go together pretty well! ‘The Rugby Pod’ is with former players Jim Hamilton, Andy Goode and Dan Biggar and they basically just have guests on every time talking about all things rugby. The conversations feel like you’re in your own clubhouse just chatting about the game. I’m also a big fan of food and enjoy the humour and range of guests in ‘Off Menu’. For a more work-related podcast I would recommend ‘Diary of a CEO’. Entrepreneur Steven Bartlett has one-on-one interviews with a wide range of business experts and you learn something new every time. More about Spencer >
Find out more about the Innecto Team.
