The Best Books to Put On Your Radar According to Business Leaders

The leader: Mark Scott, Vice-chancellor and principal professor, The University of Sydney

Why it resonated “Roger Federer is just one case study of many people who face the challenge of coming to the end of their career, their life or the contribution they can make. The author is in his 60s and reflects on how he wants to use the time he’s got left. As the aphorism goes, the days are long but the years are short. This is a real challenge for leaders – you can have days that are extraordinarily demanding and long and complex but when you get to the end of a year, a job or a career, you can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. Even when Roger Federer’s game may have been past its prime, his contribution seemed richer, more generous and more powerful – so there was this shared grief when his career was over. How to become that kind of person, that kind of leader? It’s about being deeply reflective about changing as you get older and how not to be tossed around by the incessant daily demands but to think about the contribution you want to make so what you’re building can endure.”

The leader: Kate Pounder CEO, Technology Council of Australia

Why it resonated “Most management advice isn’t written for people from a minority background so Stacey Abrams wrote her own. When you’re a person who isn’t the usual leader, how do you step up, find your place and become comfortable in that role? When I read it as a woman coming to lead in the tech industry, which still isn’t common, it made me reflect on how to do that graciously and make sure you’re inclusive. You have to think about your own hiring practices and how you design your organisation. The tech industry is fast-growing, highly paid and has secure jobs so how do we make sure that opportunity is open to as many people as possible? It’s about working with the people who are already in place. Adams has good advice on how to step up into that leadership moment, be respectful to the people who are there and make space for others.”

The leader: Ross McEwan Group CEO and managing director, NAB

Why it resonated “We need to be better at heeding the lessons of history. Conflicts have been happening for thousands of years and they happen over similar issues – and for similar reasons – yet we don’t learn or we haven’t learnt. The human costs are terrible, the economic costs are terrible and it takes years to recover, if you recover at all. Sometimes, what we learn from history will be a tough lesson, not a popular one. We can do better at dealing with tough realities. In 2023, I’ll look back before I look forward more regularly and I’ll encourage those around me to do the same.”

The leader: Sue Kench Global chief executive, King & Wood Mallesons

Why it resonated “This book is just magic. If you work internationally, you need to know about the differences and how to build trust-based relationships across countries. Erin Meyer plots different relationships across spectrums and where particular countries fall in those spectrums. We’re all conditioned to see the world from our own culture’s perspective. This is about understanding the differences so that you don’t misunderstand cues. For instance, business relationships in China are very personal and about emotional connections; relations are built over time. In the West or in the United States, you’d describe them as more transactional. This book makes you stop and think about how you work across these cultures and not make assumptions about them.”

The leader: Tim Fung, Founder and CEO, Airtasker

Why it resonated “An interesting learning I’ve taken onboard this year is to default to curiosity over judgement. It can be easy to see something and react quickly to it, based on our own assumptions and perspective, rather than seeking to understand the situation and the perspectives of others. This can often lead to conflict or poor decision-making. This lesson is well-articulated in this quirky sports-coaching book that has turned into a business classic. Rather than react emotionally or be judgemental, the author encourages players to simply observe whether the ball goes in or out then be curious about how we can make the ball go in next time. There’s been so much change and conflict in the world this year. It feels like we could all be less reactive and pause, to try and understand the perspectives of others more.”

The leader: Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla, Director, the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology at UNSW

Why they resonated “I was born in Mumbai and a lot of social injustices were there in front of my very eyes. We can never afford to forget that when it comes to sustainability, the social side of it is going to be extremely important. We’ve got the recognition of ESG but people still struggle with, ‘What does the ‘S’ mean? The social side of it?’ My inspiration is Mahatma Gandhi. From the early years of my childhood, his teachings have stuck with me. It’s about our responsibility to people on this planet – to all people on this planet. As a scientist and an engineer, there must be a clear objective for the environment and economic benefits to society and social benefits for disadvantaged communities, whether it’s in India, Africa or right here at home in Australia. How do we make sure it’s going to be more than just talk? It’s not always economies of scale – it’s also economies of purpose.”

The leader: Nyadol Nyuon, Executive director, Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, Victoria University

Why it resonated “If the challenge of the 21st century so far – in the context of equality – has been about gender and race, the next challenge is about the tyranny of merit. We build societies around a very strict idea of merit. I’m now conscious of what I take to be an automatic measure of merit and I question who is being kept out by it. This was a personally challenging book because it was the same version of ‘success’ that I’d followed – and you inherently believe the system you follow is just and fair. It has taught me how much luck and grace and things we have no control over have a huge impact. It forces you to have a real sense of curiosity and also humility about what you have and how you interact with others.”

The leader: Jodie Taylor, CEO, Supply Nation

Why it resonated “Just before I went into the CEO role, I was looking to ground myself as I entered this next phase of my career and juggling being a sole parent to my 12-year-old son. I thought, ‘Let’s get back to basics.’ This book talks about mindfulness, living in the moment and finding your purpose – and stopping to reflect when everything is fast-paced. I found it so compelling. I want to lead my life to deliver value with purpose and impact. This is not a business book per se but when you have clarity, it influences how you lead others.”

The leader: Professor Raina MacIntyre Head, Biosecurity Program, and professor of Global Biosecurity at the Kirby Institute, UNSW

Why it resonated “It was given to me in 2017 by a friend, Tom Engells, a former police chief in Texas, who died in 2018. I only read it this year and it was life-changing. It’s about self-defence and how to understand whether you’re facing is life-threatening asocial violence or social violence. Social violence is guys posturing and being aggro at the pub but it’s not life-threatening; asocial violence is when you’ve crossed paths with a psychopath who wants to harm or kill you. It shows that you can’t reason your way out of every situation. Larkin says it doesn’t matter how big and powerful your opponent is, every human body has vulnerabilities. He teaches self-defence techniques to target those vulnerable parts. I’ve given this book to a lot of people because it really opened my eyes.”

The leader: Lorraine Tarabay, Philanthropist and chair, the Museum of Contemporary Art

Why it resonated “Nader has had five runs at the US presidency and founded more than 100 civic organisations, which have had an impact on tax reform, nuclear power regulation, the tobacco industry, clean air and water and food safety. He was instrumental in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. I was curious to work out what inspired him to dedicate his life to civic service. It brought home to me that the true meaning of participation in society is spending time improving it. Natural leaders are those who are inspired by a sense of justice and an eagerness to bring about change. The book’s only about 150 pages and I thought it would be interesting to read it with my children, who are 16 and 12. We read it aloud together, taking turns reading chapters. It brought us back to the simple values of a time gone by and how we can bring them home in today’s world.”

The leader: Nick Hockley CEO, Cricket Australia

Why it resonated “I’ve been fortunate to meet Indra Nooyi in her capacity as an independent director of the International Cricket Council and am totally inspired by her journey from Chennai in India to CEO and chairperson of PepsiCo, one of the biggest companies in the world. Indra leads with the brutal reality that there is no substitute for hard work and she speaks honestly about the challenge of balancing your work with family. Professional sport can be all-absorbing with lots of travel and long hours. I’m very fortunate to have wonderful family support and Indra reminds us of the empathy and compassion needed to support people’s sacrifices in pursuit of high performance.”

The leader: Dr Cathy Foley Australia’s Chief Scientist

Why it resonated “We aren’t moving the dial on getting more women into STEM – they come into science but don’t stay and there’s evidence they have to work doubly hard to get the same recognition. The authors interviewed more than 500 STEM professors and revealed that the measures of a successful scientist don’t actually align with the evidence. They found that success is brilliance, assertiveness and self-promotion so there’s a strong personality aspect, as well as privilege and background. The last couple of pages ask, ‘What do you do about it?’ It says, ‘Outmoded, biased and constraining notions of who can be excellent scientists and what excellent science looks like are not just bad for individuals, STEM professionals or science – it’s bad for all of us.’ If we’ve got a false construct supporting the wrong people, we’re not going to succeed as a human race. This was exciting because it gave me evidence and my job is to provide the best evidence.”

The leader: Andrew Yates, CEO, KPMG Australia

Why it resonated “You can have a lot of aspirations and ideas but you can’t determine the conditions that exist when you come into a role. The financial markets collapsed as Obama was in the final part of his first presidential campaign. He got elected and was confronted with the fact the economy had tanked. I’ve been at KPMG for 33 years and while I never envisaged I’d become CEO, I had a lot of hope for the organisation. I was appointed CEO in the middle of a COVID lockdown so my first day was a town hall with 6000 people, which I did from my kitchen. You have to create hope for people. Obama had to wrestle with the situation he found himself in and he always offered a vision for a better future. You’ve got to find a way to deal with the present, maintain the vision you have and find your way back to that once you’ve addressed the short-term issues.”

The leader: Professor Alan Duffy, Director, Space Technology and Industry Institute, Swinburne University of Technology

Why it resonated “Bremmer makes it his business to better understand the world, evaluate risk and provide intelligence to governments and organisations. He argues that a crisis can lead to a better future if we embrace the challenge it sets us. It’s a lesson to not just respond in a knee-jerk fashion. COVID-19 was a horrifying pandemic and caused much suffering but it brought together scientists, policy experts and government leaders in a way I’d never seen. This year will bring us challenges but if we see them as an opportunity to drive innovation and dare to do new things, we can have a beneficial outcome. Don’t just panic to survive – pause and invest to thrive.”

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