Our interviewees—academics and practitioners—recommend the best books on business. Thomas Hellmann, Professor at Oxford's Said Business School, recommends his best books on entrepreneurship, arguing that it's something that can be learned. He describes one of his choices, The Lean Startup by Eric Reis, as “the Bible of the modern entrepreneur”. Emma Gannon, author of the bestselling book The Multi-hyphen Method, talks about creating a career you love around doing what you want to do, rather than what you think you should do. William Hopper—author, politician and founder/chairman of the Institute for Fiscal Studies—chooses his best books on the culture of management, arguing that a good management culture is just as important to a flourishing business environment as free markets.
Seth Godin, the entrepreneur author and ‘king of marketing’ chooses his best books on marketing. At its core, he argues, is “telling true stories to the right people”. Robert Jones, a strategist at Wolff Olins, gives us his best books on branding and tells us that a brand is what a company stands for in the minds of not only its customers—but also its employees, investors and the media. Steve Lance, an author with 30 years of experience working in the business, chooses his best books on the future of advertising.
-
1
The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World
by Judy Samuelson -
2
The Sustainability Scorecard: How to Implement and Profit from Unexpected Solutions
by Paul Anastas & Urvashi Bhatnagar -
3
Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
by Kate Raworth -
4
Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
by Bill McKibben -
5
The Value of Everything: Making & Taking in the Global Economy
by Mariana Mazzucato
The best books on Responsible Business, recommended by Vincent Stanley
The best books on Responsible Business, recommended by Vincent Stanley
The long-term interests of business often coincide with the long-term interests of nature and society but the short-term interests are a different story, says Vincent Stanley of Patagonia, a multi-billion dollar apparel company owned by a non-profit trust. He recommends five books on sustainable, ethical business, showing that a stock price needn’t be a company’s primary product.
-
1
Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World’s Most Secretive Industry
by Kit Chellel & Matthew Campbell -
2
Influence Empire: The Story of Tencent and China’s Tech Ambition
by Lulu Chen -
3
The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
by Gary Gerstle -
4
The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption
by Sebastian Mallaby -
5
Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology
by Chris Miller -
6
Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century
by Helen Thompson
The Best Business Books of 2022: the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
The Best Business Books of 2022: the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
For its annual book award, the Financial Times looks beyond books that might be filed under business in a bookshop, picking out books that are compelling and enjoyable, explains Andrew Hill, the newspaper’s senior business writer. He talks us through the 2022 shortlist: books that shine a light on obscure but immensely important companies or industries, or address some of the bigger challenges facing our capitalist economies.
-
1
The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself
by Daniel Boorstin -
2
Steve Jobs
by Walter Isaacson -
3
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
by Eric Ries -
4
The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
by Noam Wasserman -
5
Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed
by Josh Lerner
The best books on Entrepreneurship, recommended by Thomas Hellmann
The best books on Entrepreneurship, recommended by Thomas Hellmann
What are the best books to read if you want to be an entrepreneur? Oxford Saïd Business School’s Thomas Hellmann, DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, shares his top five books—and explains what entrepreneurs can learn from them.
-
1
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment
by Cass Sunstein, Daniel Kahneman & Olivier Sibony -
2
But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past
by Chuck Klosterman -
3
The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win
by Maria Konnikova -
4
Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea's Most Iconic Bank
by Weijian Shan -
5
Exhalation
by Ted Chiang
The best books on Making Good Decisions, recommended by Sebastian Park
The best books on Making Good Decisions, recommended by Sebastian Park
Good decision-making is a crucial skill not only in business but in life. In this interview, entrepreneur, investor and poker player Sebastian Park advises how to make good decisions in a world of uncertainty, how to evaluate past decisions for future improvement, and how fiction can help us reflect on the choices we make.
-
1
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
by Erving Goffman -
2
Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World
by Mitch Prinstein -
3
Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away
by Annie Duke -
4
The Person You Mean to Be: How Good People Fight Bias
by Dolly Chugh -
5
The Odyssey
by Homer and translated by Emily Wilson
The best books on Making A Good Impression, recommended by Övül Sezer
The best books on Making A Good Impression, recommended by Övül Sezer
From the classroom to the boardroom, everybody tries (and sometimes fails) to be liked and admired by others. In this interview, Övül Sezer—Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at Cornell University—recommends five books that can help you make a good impression on everybody, including yourself.
-
1
Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green
by Henry Sanderson -
2
The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World
by Steve LeVine -
3
The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
by Daniel Yergin -
4
Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future
by James Morton Turner -
5
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
by Siddharth Kara
The best books on Batteries, recommended by Lukasz Bednarski
The best books on Batteries, recommended by Lukasz Bednarski
As the world turns to electric vehicles and renewable energy to help stave off a climate crisis, there will be huge changes for individuals, industries and even the world geopolitical order. Lukasz Bednarski, a battery analyst, former rare metals trader, and author of Lithium, The Global Race for Battery Dominance, talks us through some of the books that shed light on what’s going on, from the cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the high-tech labs where the latest battery technology is being developed.
-
1
The Conversation: How Seeking and Speaking the Truth About Racism Can Radically Transform Individuals and Organizations
by Robert Livingston -
2
The World For Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources
by Jack Farchy & Javier Blas -
3
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
by Patrick Radden Keefe -
4
The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet
by Michael E Mann -
5
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race
by Nicole Perlroth -
6
The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World
by Adrian Wooldridge
The Best Business Books: the 2021 FT & McKinsey Book Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
The Best Business Books: the 2021 FT & McKinsey Book Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
Every year the Financial Times’s management editor, Andrew Hill, helps organize its ‘Business Book of the Year’ award, which celebrates outstanding books relating to business in the broadest sense. Here, he talks us through the 2021 shortlist, six books that will draw you in and open your eyes to how events happening in the world of business affect all of us–sometimes in very profound ways.
-
1
Debt: The First 5000 Years
by David Graeber -
2
The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau
by Honoré de Balzac -
3
Capitalizing on Crisis: The Political Origins of the Rise of Finance
by Greta Krippner -
4
The Two-Income Trap
by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi -
5
Other People's Houses: How Decades of Bailouts, Captive Regulators, and Toxic Bankers Made Home Mortgages a Thrilling Business
by Jennifer Taub
The best books on Bankruptcy, recommended by John Ayer
The best books on Bankruptcy, recommended by John Ayer
Like the perfume seller in Balzac’s Human Comedy, many people still fear the moral stigma of bankruptcy. But while modern bankruptcy laws allow people to walk away from their debts, they do not address the underlying issues that can all too easily leave hardworking people in dire financial straits. Jack Ayer, emeritus professor and former bankruptcy judge, recommends his top bankruptcy books.
-
1
No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
by Erin Meyer & Reed Hastings -
2
Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism
by Angus Deaton & Anne Case -
3
A World Without Work: Technology, Automation, and How We Should Respond
by Daniel Susskind -
4
If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future
by Jill Lepore -
5
No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram
by Sarah Frier -
6
Reimagining Capitalism: How Business Can Save the World
by Rebecca Henderson
The Best Business Books of 2020: the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
The Best Business Books of 2020: the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
Whether you’re looking for ideas on how to run a successful business or books that look at the various challenges facing capitalist society, the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award is a great place to start. Andrew Hill, who with colleagues at the Financial Times sifted through hundreds of entries to compile the award’s longlist, talks us through the books that made the 2020 shortlist—as well as offering some predictions for the year ahead.
-
1
A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend them Back
by Bruce Schneier -
2
Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires
by Douglas Rushkoff -
3
Responding to the Right: Brief Replies to 25 Conservative Arguments
by Nathan Robinson -
4
Monopolized: Life in the Age of Corporate Power
by David Dayen -
5
Break 'Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money
by Zephyr Teachout
The best books on Chokepoint Capitalism, recommended by Cory Doctorow
The best books on Chokepoint Capitalism, recommended by Cory Doctorow
Modern market economies face a growing malaise, says activist and science fiction author Cory Doctorow: powerful actors creating ‘chokepoints’ between producers and consumers, causing untenable conditions for both. Here he picks out the best books he’s reviewed over the last two years and explains why they’re important.
-
1
Kochland: The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America
by Christopher Leonard -
2
The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind
by Raghuram G Rajan -
3
The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution
by Gregory Zuckerman -
4
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
by Shoshana Zuboff -
5
Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
by Caroline Criado Perez -
6
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
by David Epstein
The Best Business Books of 2019: the Financial Times & McKinsey Book of the Year Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
The Best Business Books of 2019: the Financial Times & McKinsey Book of the Year Award, recommended by Andrew Hill
Confused about which of the thousands of business books published in 2019 to read? Fortunately, the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award has sifted through hundreds of entries to pick the very best. Andrew Hill, the FT’s management editor and author of Ruskinland, talks us through the six brilliant books that made this year’s shortlist.
-
1
The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design
by Marty Neumeier -
2
Brand Society: How Brands Transform Management and Lifestyle
by Martin Kornberger -
3
Ways of Seeing
by John Berger -
4
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari -
5
Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft - 200 Years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry
by Deborah Cadbury
The best books on Branding, recommended by Robert Jones
The best books on Branding, recommended by Robert Jones
To brand is human, says practitioner and professor Robert Jones. He recommends the five best books on branding.
The best books on The Culture of Management, recommended by William Hopper
The Chairman of the Institute for Fiscal Studies in London selects his top five books on managerial culture. He discusses decline in American traditional management excellence but remains optimistic for the future.
The Changing Business of Journalism, recommended by Richard Tofel
Richard Tofel, general manager of the non-profit newsroom ProPublica and former assistant publisher of the Wall Street Journal, explains why the printed newspaper is doomed. He recommends the best books to read to better understand the changing business of journalism.