8/8/2014

Books we will need tomorrow - FT.com

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May 20, 2014 7:56 pm

Books we will need tomorrow

By Andrew Hill

History has some potent lessons for business, but it is the future that really excites most corporate leaders, entrepreneurs and investors.
That is not only because the future offers fresh opportunities to make money, but because it gives the ambitious and talented the chance
to write their own new chapter in the lore of management, finance and economics.
This week the Financial Times and McKinsey launch the 10th edition of the Business Book of the Year Award and a new initiative to
identify promising young authors. The 15,000 Bracken Bower Prize named after Brendan Bracken and Marvin Bower, respective
architects of the modern FT and McKinsey will go to the best proposal for a book on the challenges and opportunities of growth.
We invited high-profile people from the worlds of business, economics, academia and publishing to identify themes they hope the next
wave of business writers will tackle. Their suggestions were dominated by the changes that new generations of workers, entrepreneurs
and technology could bring about.
The Gen X CEO: Mark Preston
Mark Preston, chief executive of Grosvenor, which runs the property interests of the Duke of Westminster, singled out Generation Z
communication as the most promising theme for a new business book. Born in 1968 and a Generation Xer himself, he says it is clear that
the biggest difference between his generation and that of his Gen Z children is their use of digital communication and media, which spills
over into their relationships and social attitudes. Understanding how this will then affect them as consumers, clients and employees would
be fascinating from our perspective, as a company looking at the long term.
The author: Mohamed El-Erian
The democratising power of young entrepreneurs in established sectors such as consumer finance is a subject that excites Mohamed ElErian, former chief executive of Pimco and author of When Markets Collide, the 2008 business book of the year. Operating with fewer
real and perceived constraints, their perspective can do more than disrupt, says Mr El-Erian, who is a judge of this years book award.
They can succeed in materially improving access, lowering costs, enhancing collaboration and dismantling some of the barriers that limit
delivery [of goods and services] to less privileged segments of society.
The entrepreneur: Sean Gourley
What would young entrepreneurs like to read? Sean Gourley, co-founder and chief technology officer of Quid, a Silicon Valley data
analytics software company, is hoping for an update of The Art of War by Sun Tzu (left), including lessons from the past decade and a half
of insurgent fighting in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. He also believes there is a gap in the market for a book about augmented
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8/8/2014

Books we will need tomorrow - FT.com

intelligence and the ethical issues around how people are now using immersive 3D visualisation, designer chemicals and artificial
intelligence to improve their strategic decision-making.
The academic: Herminia Ibarra
Inseads Herminia Ibarra is waiting for a book on how robots are changing the nature of work and how humans work alongside them. She
is also hoping LinkedIns statisticians will eventually produce a book to update Mark Granovetters groundbreaking 1973 paper on the
importance of weak network links in creating job opportunities for individuals.
Prof Ibarra, who joins the book award judging panel this year, also called on writers to put a human face on the massive open online
courses that are disrupting the academic world. Id love to read a great journalistic account that actually takes us into the life of different
Mooc-takers, she says one that ranges from the precocious kids who home-school themselves with such courses, to the women who
want to beef up credentials to get back into the workforce after a hiatus at home.
The chairman: Simon Murray
Even in a discussion of what future trends may emerge, it is hard perhaps even dangerous to dodge the lessons of the past. As Liaquat
Ahamed, author of the 2009 business book of the year The Lords of Finance, pointed out in his account of how central bankers created the
conditions for the Great Depression, breakdowns in trust in the financial system are not some historical curiosity.
Simon Murray, chairman of GEMS, an Asian private equity group, and a former director of companies including Vodafone and Glencore,
would agree. He remains compelled by monetary policy, inflation and exchange rates, having experienced the Hong Kong currency crisis in
1983. Mr Murray says an easy to understand book on how money functions would be a best-seller.
How do exchange rates work? The Chinese fix their rate every day. The Americans print paper every day. The euro doesnt work...
What would really happen to the German economy if the euro collapsed and they returned to the old currencies. Should we be going back
to the gold standard? Is cash always in danger? Is property the answer?
The literary agent: Caroline Michel
Caroline Michel, chief executive of literary agency Peters Fraser & Dunlop, is enthusiastic about the value of looking back in order to look
forward. She points out that Jesse Norman, a Conservative member of the British parliament and one her agencys authors, is embarking
on a new book about the lessons of the economist Adam Smith in the current age of inequality. In general, she says, tracing the history of
ideas through remarkable individuals sets the lessons of the past within a strong narrative. It can often lead to a book that stands the test
of time which, coincidentally, will be one of the measures of what constitutes a worthy business book of the year.
More details about the FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award
Further information on how to enter the new Bracken Bower Prize

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