The books every new graduate should read, according to a dozen business leaders

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From Quartz:

New graduates may think they’re ready for the world, but even after all that learning, there’s still room in their heads for some wisdom. We asked a dozen business leaders—from CEOs of big companies and startups, to deans of leading business schools—what books they would put in the hands of a newly minted graduate. Here’s what they recommended:

The Boys in the Boat

Daniel James Brown’s account of an underdog rowing team beating the elite squads of the US and Europe on its way to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin is “a vivid description of grit, hustle and, perseverance,” said Mark Hoplamazian, CEO of Hyatt, the hotel company. “If you want to be part of a team, you have to be willing to give up some of your self.”

. . . .

Churchill

This 2001 biography of the UK prime minister, written by Roy Jenkins, is “a great tale of failure, perseverance, the importance of timing, and overcoming adversity,” said Peter Todd, dean of HEC, a top-ranked business school in Paris.

. . . .

1984 and The Weapons Shops of Isher

These two works of speculative fiction— the 1949 classic by George Orwell and an out-of-print 1951 novel by A.E. van Vogt—offer two visions of a dystopian future. “New graduates are charged with developing their relationships with society: family, co-workers, government,” said Jeff Jonas, CEO of SAGE Therapeutics, a biotechnology company. “While 1984 is embraced nowadays as being more prophetic, the Isher stories provide an alternative view of how one can deal with an oppressive government.”

Link to the rest at Quartz

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12 thoughts on “The books every new graduate should read, according to a dozen business leaders”

  1. a lot of limp books. Middlemarch, high school 1984, lesson already received, be a spartan, be a rower on a team, be churchill who gave an enomrous number of e eu nations to a murderer, stalin, ‘seeing it through’, hardly.

    I thought these on their list might be worth reading and I agree, ask Bezos, who is missing from the pile: the heros joiurney, the innovators, the end of power. sci fi [good author]

    their list didnt inspire much confidence that most of the picks come from in depth readers in biz. More like go read this, it’s an allegory for whatever

  3. There was the original magazine version of the Weapon Shops, and then at least two different novelized versions. While I found them fascinating, they don’t make a great deal of sense.

    The original short story works a lot better than the longer versions.

    I could easily list a dozen different SF novels that would be more relevant to modern business than any of van Vogt’s work.

    Saying this as a fan who has read most of AEvV’s stuff.

    • “I could easily list a dozen different SF novels that would be more relevant to modern business than any of van Vogt’s work.”

      How about Robert Bloch’s short story A Toy for Juliette? 🙂

      And also Harlan Ellison’s sequel The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World? Both are in Dangerous Visions.

  6. Hmmm, did that crazy CEO over at Amazon suggest anything?

    (Or were they afraid to ask him? 😉 )

  7. Some love for A.E. VanVogt!
    Outside the genre, no less.
    That’s a new development.

    Especially for Weapon Shops.
    There may still be hope for civilization. 😉

    • Back when I was just starting my writing/editing career, in 1979, I had the opportunity to interview a series of science fiction writers. I was absolutely thrilled since I’d been reading SF almost exclusively from the age of 11. To meet authors I’d grown up reading, been heavily influence by, and be able to ask them anything, was a dream come true.

      The first writer I interviewed, and my second ever published article, was Van Vogt. He talked at length about his unique writing technique (most of which didn’t make the pubbed article, unfortunately), which I found fascinating, illuminating, and useful. The two novels that he discussed in greatest detail were Slan and the Darwin-inspired The Voyage of the Space Beagle.

      Very fond memories of that encounter. 🙂

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