Pan Macmillan UK and South Africa acquire definitive guide to exponential success by Adrian Gore, Founder and CEO of Discovery

In a joint acquisition, Senior Commissioning Editor Kate Walsh at Pan Macmillan UK and Managing Director Terry Morris at Pan Macmillan South Africa, have acquired World rights to Adrian Gore’s forthcoming book, The Four Principles: Multiply Your Impact in Life and Leadership from Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein on behalf of Jim Levine at LGR Literary.

The book will be published on the Macmillan Business imprint in hardcopy, ebook, and audio on 6 August 2026.

From visionary entrepreneur Adrian Gore – the force behind Discovery’s transformation from a bold South African start-up into a global leader serving over 40-million customers – this book is a masterclass in creating impact in business and life. It is illustrated with engaging stories of his personal leadership of a global business built on powerful innovations backed by science. While based in South Africa, Gore’s impact is global: Discovery is the parent company of Vitality Group, which has rapidly ascended to become a major life and health insurer in the UK, and runs global operations that span 40 countries worldwide. The Group’s business model – the Vitality Shared-Value model – has placed Discovery on Fortune’s Change the World list for achieving significant social impact. The brand is championed by ambassadors including Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Jonny Wilkinson, and Luke Donald in the UK, and Vitality has partnered with leading global companies such as Apple, Asics, Garmin, Oura, and Virgin Active to reward people for getting healthier.

The Group also recently partnered with Google to launch a revolutionary AI-supported healthcare platform, cementing its status as a global leader in health innovation.

The Four Principles explores why some people, regardless of their underlying ability, have such a dramatic and vastly different impact – in building and scaling businesses and in affecting society. The Four Principles argues that the answer cannot be based on talent alone, but rather on how it is applied. Gore proposes that we are ‘evolutionarily miscoded’ for a world that no longer exists – physical threats have given way to systemic threats, and our linear clan environment has been replaced by a fast-moving, interconnected world, where actions and consequences are no longer proportional and tightly linked in time and space. By clinging to safe but pessimistic views and linear thinking, the instincts that once kept us alive now often mislead us. What feels rational is frequently maladaptive, undermining our ability to succeed, achieve happiness, and make an impact in our complex, networked age. By recognising these limitations, we can have exponentially more impact than we realise.

Drawing on behavioural science, network theory, and other fields of science, as well as his experience in creating and scaling the Vitality Shared-Value model – a system that was so innovative it is taught as a case study at Harvard Business School – Gore provides a rigorous framework for remedying our miscoding by optimising the dimensions of impact – The Four Principles.

Gore said: ‘I am delighted to be partnering with Pan Macmillan. This book has been shaped by a three-decade journey of building Discovery and Vitality. I became fascinated with what makes some people succeed beyond expectation. My research led me to the Four Principles that enable people to multiply their impact. What excites me is that they are teachable and tactical. They are also fundamental; they fly in the face of our perception of common sense – appearing simplistic when they are not; and they are also demonstrably exponential in their effect – grounded in science and shown to multiply our impact individually, and even more so when applied together. They’re capable of transforming a life’s trajectory. I’m excited to bring them to readers worldwide.’

Walsh said: ‘Adrian is a titan of industry who has proven that business can be a force for profound social good. The Four Principles isn’t a memoir of that success, but a rigorous, scientifically-backed manual on how to replicate it. It is a vital, eye-opening book that offers a completely new lens on how to lead and live effectively.’

Morris, MD of Pan Macmillan South Africa said: ‘Adrian Gore is one of the most influential leaders to emerge from South Africa and we’re so proud to partner with our UK colleagues to bring Adrian’s The Four Principles to the world. Together, the principles provide a framework built not only from rigorous business strategy and implementation, but from many inspiring moments and insights that shaped his journey. This book offers powerful lessons for anyone seeking to grow in life and leadership.’