Business books / Global
Words of wisdom
Chiara Rimella reporting from London: Lessons about how to run your firm more effectively don’t always come from straight-up business books: enlightenment and inspiration can strike at any time and be gleaned from even the least likely of tomes. Here we meet successful company leaders and entrepreneurs who share the takeaways that have helped them to achieve their career goals – with a little help from Karl Marx and Frodo Baggins.
44/100
Julien Durant
co-founder of Picture Organic Clothing
recommends —The Lord of the Rings by jrr tolkien
“This book is about how to push yourself, about partnership, how to dream big, how to never give up, how friends are the key, how the team wins when you would lose alone, and how you can always adapt.”
45 /100
Horace Luke
founder of mobility company Gogoro
recommends —Designing Design by kenya hara
“Think patiently, and deeper, to reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary. Hara’s approach is to move beyond reduction to achieve simplicity by investing more meaning in the essential.”
46 /100
Pip Jamieson
founder of professional network The Dots
recommends —Getting to Yes by roger fisher, william ury and bruce patton
“I devoured this book before heading into one of the most important meetings of my life and it has transformed the way I negotiate. It’s full of useful tips.”
47 /100
Kathrin Hamm
CEO of blanket brand Bearaby
recommends —Radical Compassion by tara brach
“I recommend it for anyone who wants to stop living life on autopilot, combat anxiety and take the leap into doing what they’ve always wanted to do. I’ve learnt to follow my intuition and it helped me start a new venture.”
48 /100
Alex Bennett-Grant
founder and CEO of brand consultancy We Are Pi
recommends —Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think by peter diamandis and steven kotler
“This book helped me rediscover the possibility in every problem, which is, after all, my job as a brand consultant.”
49 /100
Sarah Paiji Yoo
CEO of sustainable cleaning and personal care brand Blueland
recommends —Essentialism by greg mckeown
“It’s about the disciplined pursuit of less, which is relevant since start-ups are always strapped for time, money and resources. Organisations must decide what’s essential in order to make an impact.”
50 /100
Julietta Dexter
founder of brand-building company The Communications Store
recommends —The Great Work of Your Life by stephen cope
“This book is a real gamechanger. For 25 years I’ve been banging a drum for the business world being about more than a making profit. It is for anyone who wants to find fulfilment.”
51 /100
Seth Godin
author of 19 business books
recommends — Caste by isabel wilkerson
“If you want to understand culture, it’s important to see how it evolves. Wilkerson spent a decade chronicling institutional racism in the US. This book will help you see things you cannot unsee.”
52 /100
Minkyu Kim
CEO of rice wine company Boksoondoga
recommends —The Communist Manifesto by karl marx and friedrich engels
“I’m not trying to show my political persuasion; I am not a communist. But this book offers a good indication of capitalism, from which I learn what to be mindful of.”
