Below are the reading selections of 14 CEOs from the world’s top companies, according to McKinsey.
Dominic Barton, global managing director of New York City-based McKinsey
- The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de’ Medici by Catherine Fletcher, PhD
- The European Identity: Historical and Cultural Realities We Cannot Deny by Stephen Green
- China’s Mobile Economy: Opportunities in the Largest and Fastest Information Consumption Boom by Winston Ma
- The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks by Joshua Cooper Ramo
Carl Bass, president and CEO of San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk
- Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko
- Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
- Our Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
- Fundamentals of Press Brake Tooling by Ben Rapien
Hakeem Belo-Osagie, chairman of Etisalat Nigeria (Lagos)
- Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy by Robert H. Frank, PhD
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight
- History’s People: Personalities and the Past by Margaret MacMillan
- The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism by Theda Skocpol, PhD, and Vanessa Williamson, PhD
Jamie Dimon, president and CEO of New York City-based JPMorgan Chase
- The Conservative Heart: How to Build a Fairer, Happier, and More Prosperous America by Arthur C. Brooks, PhD
- Ronald Reagan by Jacob Weisberg
Reid Hoffman, co-founder and executive chairman of Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn
- The Inner Lives of Markets: How People Shape Them — And They Shape Us by Ray Fisman, PhD, and Tim Sullivan
- More Human: Designing a World Where People Come First by Steve Hilton with Jason and Scott Bade
- The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer
- This Brave New World: India, China and the United States by Anja Manuel, JD
- The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, DPhil
- The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks by Joshua Cooper Ramo
Andrew Liveris, CEO of Midland, Mich.-based The Dow Chemical Company
- The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing by Benjamin Graham
- The First Clash: The Miraculous Greek Victory at Marathon and Its Impact on Western Civilization by James Lacey
- Australia’s Second Chance by George Megalogenis
Carlo Messina, CEO and managing director of Turin, Italy-based Intesa Sanpaolo
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, MD
Phuthuma Nhleko, executive chairman of Johannesburg-based Mobile Telephone Networks
- The Life of the Mind by Hannah Arendt, PhD
- The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy by Mervyn King
Walter Robb, co-CEO of Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market
- The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time by Arianna Huffington
- Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela
- The Politicians and the Egalitarians: The Hidden History of American Politics by Sean Wilentz, PhD
Chuck Robbins, CEO of San Jose, Calif.-based Cisco
- Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Father Gregory Boyle
- Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford by Clint Hill and Lisa McCubbin
- The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks by Joshua Cooper Ramo
David Seaton, CEO of Irving, Texas-based Fluor
- Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World by Tim Marshall
- Dealing with China: An Insider Unmasks the New Economic Superpower by Henry M. Paulson
Roberto Setubal, CEO of São Paulo-based Itaú Unibanco
- The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura
- Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World Economy by Raghuram G. Rajan, PhD
- The Spinoza Problem by Irvin D. Yalom, MD
Risto Siilasmaa, chairman of Espoo, Finland-based Nokia
- Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom, PhD
- Who Gets What — and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design by Alvin E. Roth, PhD
- Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
- Global Energy Interconnection by Zhenya Liu
- 花木兰 (the Chinese folk tale of Mulan)
Wendell Weeks, CEO of Corning, N.Y-based Corning
- The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks by Joshua Cooper Ramo
- The Gilead trilogy (Gilead, Home and Lila) by Marilynne Robinson, PhD
- Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace) by Chade-Meng Tan
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