(Reading time: 7 minutes)
You wait for this all year…it’s the third annual eclectic round up of books that I’m reading, thinking about, and recommend. These make great gifts for the reader and future leader in your life. They’re also a great way to pass the time during the quiet period between Christmas and the New Year.
As I have written before, much of my “reading” is actually done by listening. I am an avid user of Audible, and increasingly Libby, the library’s app. I’ve done quite a bit of Libby, in fact, and default to it whenever it’s available. It can time out, and sometimes you have to wait a very long time for your turn, but if I’m not in a rush, I’ll save my Audible credits.
This year’s list has very few business-specific books on it. As you’ll see, I’ve been on a Hilary Mantel kick lately, and her books dominated a lot of my reading. So, without further ado, here’s this year’s list:
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager by David Grann
Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan by William Dalrymple
Some other books I read, but won’t discuss much beyond mentioning include: The Idiot by Dostoyevsky (so many long Russian names), some Stephen Hawking on black holes (you need to do some Hawking occasionally; I never understand it but I keep trying), The Wisdom of the Bullfrog by William H. McRaven (lessons on leadership from an admiral in the American navy), The Big Short by Michael Lewis (an oldie but goodie), and Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak (another Russian, but I much preferred the movie).
(Interested in my previous year’s lists? You can find them both on Kathbern Management’s blog page. Look here for 2023 and here for 2022.)
A door-stopper tome of capriciousness and political intrigue…and it’s a series:
The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel
I have read this three-part series about Henry VIII out of order. I started with the first book, Wolf Hall, but gave up because I couldn’t keep track of all the names. Then later on I stumbled on the second book in the series, Bring up the Bodies, and started on it not realizing it was the continuation of the first book.
I got a lot more out of it and I found it a lot more interesting, and thought it was great. So I carried on right into this book, the third one, and I’m halfway through it. Once I’m done, I’ll go back and tackle Wolf Hall again.
I’m finding the capriciousness of Henry VIII surprisingly relevant to today. He just did whatever he wanted, without restraint, and that fits our current environment. And there are some lessons there, because it shows how important it is to have restraints on the leader of a company or country. You can’t just have a dictator. Even in Henry’s time, some 300 years after the signing of the Magna Carta that supposedly placed limits on the power of a monarch, the King wielded tremendous power, closing parliament, for example, if it wasn’t going the way he wanted it to go.
You also had Cromwell running around trying to facilitate. He was amoral as well, but practical, and trying to keep Henry happy by bending the law, lying, cheating, stealing, or whatever was required. All the fruits of unrestrained, whimsical, capricious power.
I also find the focus on religion extremely fascinating. Because if you’re only talking about one thing, what are you not talking about or not doing? If one thing is crowding everything else out, there’s not enough money or time to deal with other issues.
The book that’s stayed with me the most:
The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland
The story of Rudolf Vrba, the first Jew (and one of only four people ever) to escape from Auschwitz, is a vivid and incredible read. So many things struck me, like, how average Vrba was as a young guy. He could have been any teenager. Followed by his willingness to risk everything to change the status quo of a terrible place marked by death and destruction. And finally, how that experience stayed with him for his whole life. It’s compelling.
I was also struck – again – by how complicit governments and religious institutions were in facilitating the Nazis in places like Czechoslovakia. They didn’t start out totally under the thumb of the Nazis, but were quite willing to be co-opted and do very little to support their own people.
It was appalling even though I knew most of it from many other things I’ve read, but still, it was shocking to read. That made a big a big impression on me. It’s not a new story, but a story told very, very well.
Talking about this generation:
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
In my 2022 lead to read edition, I wrote about how I’ve found myself shaking my head recently at some of the antics of the younger cohort. Then I was concerned about things like people not showing up for interviews or committing to taking a job and then not showing up. So, I read The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt in response.
I continue to be curious about how different generations are faring in different situations, and this year read Haidt’s Anxious Generation. A social psychologist, Haidt presents lots of evidence from around the world that suggests the confluence of smart phones, social media, and overprotective parenting is rewiring young minds and causing a mental health epidemic.
He really takes on the smart phone and shows that giving too much access to the Internet to kids too early is creating serious problems. He has all kinds of factual data that I’ve seen from other sources that from 2010 there’s a sudden dislocation in the graph of teenage angst. Both girls and boys, but particularly girls.
The angst begins when the smartphone comes out, and Facebook becomes readily accessible everywhere, not just on the family computer, which in the past may have been strategically positioned in the living room where everybody can see what’s going on. Now it’s in a child’s pocket, day and night, luring them with likes and comments about physical characteristics.
With Australia banning social media for children under the age of 16, and other jurisdictions considering smartphone bans, it’s certainly very timely, and I found it fascinating.
At the intersection of business and religion
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. by Ron Chernow
This is another big doorstopper of a book, but it was an amazing, worthwhile read. Rockefeller was quite an interesting character.
I didn’t realize how long ago he was born and how long he lived, from 1840 to 1937. He exemplified quite a dichotomy between being cutthroat in business and prolific philanthropically. This was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time, and the first recorded billionaire in the United States.
He’s a bit of a paradox, though, because he was such a ruthless businessman, but also fanatical about religion. He was a teetotaler, wouldn’t go out anywhere socially…no dancing, no theatre, nothing. His business practices weren’t against any laws at the time, but were pretty amoral: managing prices to remove competition, using kickbacks to secure contracts, and building monopolies.
Then at the end of the day, after crucifying his business competitors, he would go home and study the bible. He quietly donated more money than anyone else at the time, often to causes that weren’t aimed at promoting himself or his own business interests.
And then there is his son, John D. junior, who was not fit for business, and uncomfortable with the cutthroat business practices of his father, so he managed the foundation.
The book behind the movie
Killers of the Flower Moon and The Wager by David Grann
The oil business made a lot of people extremely wealthy in the early days. For the Osage people of Osage County in Oklahoma, the oil deposits on their land were both a blessing and curse as at least 20 were murdered for their ties to the black gold. Killers of the Flower Moon, which was made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, tells the story of the investigation into those murders in the early days of the FBI.
David Grann, the author, also wrote an equally fascinating book called The Wager. It tells the story of the shipwreck and subsequent mutiny of the HMS Wager in 1741 while it was trying to sail around Cape Horn. (I suppose this is the risk you take when your main mission is plunder.)
These are both well-written non-fiction historical thrillers that offer a window into nearly forgotten pieces of history.
On ignoring advice and a place that refuses to be conquered
Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan by William Dalrymple
How many times has Afghanistan been invaded now? All…all have eventually failed. Return of a King is the story of the first Anglo-Afghan War, which raged from 1838-1842. This was an ill-fated and disastrous mission for the British Empire.
It was a war that was pursued for all the wrong reasons, and then on top of it, leaders had good advice, but ignored it because the person giving the advice was thought to be too junior and not worth listening to.
So, the British Empire went on to invade and spend an absolute fortune and lose a lot of people for no good reason. And then when they finally realize that it’s time to go, and are trying to retreat from the so-called Afghan adventure through India, they are cut off and slaughtered there. Only one person survived that retreat.
For me, this is not just a story about a specific time and place in history, but an object lesson in hubris and focusing too much on rank and hierarchy instead of knowledge and experience. It was a great read.
Larry Smith is the founder and president of Kathbern Management, an executive search firm based in Toronto. Kathbern helps companies find the executives and senior managers who not only have the experience and credentials to fulfill their responsibilities, but also have the emotional and “fit” requirements that will enable them to be successful in a particular environment. Kathbern simplifies the process and, through deep research, brings more and better candidates forward than would ever be possible through a do-it-yourself passive advertising campaign.
Learn more at www.kathbern.com, or contact us today for a free consultation about your key person search. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.