When business magnate Warren Buffett was asked about the key to success, he pointed to a stack of books, saying “Read 500 pages like this every day. That’s how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it.” Thousands of books are published every year on the various subjects of business leadership so here is a selection of recommendations by world famous CEOs to ease your selection process.
Warren Buffett
THE INTELLIGENT INVESTOR
”To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information. ‘What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework. This book precisely and clearly prescribes the proper framework. You must provide the emotional discipline.”
Bill Gates
EVICTED: POVERTY AND PROFIT IN THE AMERICAN CITY
”Evicted helped me understand one piece of that very complex question, and it made me want to learn more about the systemic problems that make housing unaffordable, as well as the various government programs designed to help.”
– Bill Gates via gatesnotes
Steve Jobs
THE INNOVATOR’S DILEMMA: THE REVOLUTIONARY BOOK THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU DO BUSINESS
Jobs used this book as an explanation for one reason Apple needed to embrace cloud computing, saying: “It’s important that we make this transformation, because of what Clayton Christensen calls ‘the innovator’s dilemma,’ where people who invent something are usually the last ones to see past it, and we certainly don’t want to be left behind.”
Elon Musk
SUPERINTELLIGENCE: PATHS, DANGERS, STRATEGIES
It’s worth reading “Superintelligence” by Bostrom. We need to be super careful with AI.
Abby Joseph Cohen
BEING WRONG: ADVENTURES IN THE MARGIN OF ERROR
“Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error” by Kathryn Schulz is a deceptively easy read which tackles one of the most critical issues for decision makers: understanding how we form opinions. Importantly, she discusses how to revise those opinions when new information becomes available, rather than clinging to earlier views.
