This year on the Technovation podcast, Peter High asked technology and digital leaders about the books they read, TV shows they watched, and podcasts they listened to that fueled their leadership and personal growth. The answers ranged widely across genres and mediums, reflecting the diverse inspirations that leaders draw from. Here are a few highlights of their recommendations and reflections.
Rob Carter, CIO, FedEx
Nothing Like It in the World by Stephen Ambrose
“I like to read about military conflicts. I grew up in a military family, but innovations to me are fascinating to read about… The tycoons of the era weren’t the tech guys like we see them today. They were the railroad barons, and that’s why train stations were so opulent, because it’s where all the money was.”
David Burns, CIO, General Electric, GE Aerospace
The Fog of War (Documentary)
“It’s an incredible documentary about Robert McNamara—his time, his life, and his career. It’s his 11 lessons through his life. I won’t give away the secrets, but from his time as the CEO of Ford to the Secretary of Defense of the U.S. government, there are just a lot of valuable insights that I always take away from that documentary when I watch it.”
Diane Morais, President of Consumer and Commercial Banking, Ally Financial
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
“It’s all about how you spend your time on the things that matter the most and not get distracted by things that, quite frankly, are not going to move the needle or are not important. That mindset at the beginning of COVID really helped us clear the decks of things we might’ve been working on that weren’t really going to be big enough to matter.”
Brad Miller, CIO, Moderna
The Martian by Andy Weir
“You might say, ‘Wow, that’s really not a very insightful type of book or movie.’ However, when you look at what happened with someone being left on Mars, albeit fictional, what that person had to do was figure out how to survive and decompose problems to identify constraints. That resonated with me the most. I love sharing it with others to think about how you attack problems—how you start decomposing them to understand constraints and dependencies and how to unlock them. As a leader, our job is to bring results and operate and, for me, having that skillset has been very powerful in my career.”
Jason Strle, CIO, Discover Financial Services
Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman and Joe Knight
“It’s really important for us to understand how the work we do impacts the company. It provides a lot of very important insight for me to understand how the work we do affects what our shareholders and the investment community see, as well as our employees and our community.”
Sesh Tirumala, CIO, Western Digital
Working Backwards by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr
“One of the things in IT is always about how you tell the story with the end in mind and then work your plan backward. To me, I think that’s a good read, in general, to talk about a finished product in mind and launch. Work your way backward and iron out all the kinks.”
Shri Santhanam, CIO, Experian
The Hidden Brain by Shankar Vedantam (Podcast)
“It’s a podcast about human behavior and how we think and act, particularly in the context of artificial intelligence and understanding the behavior of AI. It’s quite interesting to compare and contrast how we as humans behave, as well as the choices we make.”
Carissa Rollins, Global CIO, Illumina
Wisdom at Work by Chip Conley
“[Conley] talks about those of us who are kind of in our elder stages of our careers. It’s about transitioning from being that person that’s executing and doing the day-to-day to also being this modern elder and helping other professionals through their careers, sharing your wisdom. Often, those of us who have been around for a long time bring a lot of emotional intelligence and perspective and opportunities to mentor others to the workplace.”
Greg Fancher, CIO, PetSmart
Super Communicators by Charles Duhigg
“The concepts laid out are truly about human connection and how driving the right kind of human connection will really allow you to communicate with other people and get through really tough decisions in really tough moments.”
Nand Mulchandani, CIO, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Spies, Lies, and Algorithms by Amy Zegart
“A perpetual favorite is Spies, Lies, and Algorithms by Amy Zegart from Stanford. She’s just an amazing thinker. I recommend that book heavily to folks who want to learn about the CIA, NSA, and other intel organizations. It’s just a great book. I have my son and kids reading it.”
Muneer Mirza, Head of End-User Computing, AWS
My Turn by Johan Cruyff
“The work that Johan Cruyff did was most fundamentally to create advantages for your team on the pitch. As a leader, I think that is one of the most important things you could be asking yourself regularly: ‘What advantages am I creating for my team to be super successful?’ There has to be some way to create that advantage to win in the moments that are super critical for you.”
Leo Bodden, CIO, New York Presbyterian
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
“Outliers is a phenomenal book because it really changes your perspective on just about everything that you do and know, and he does it in a data-driven way, which was life-changing for me.”
Dolores Mears, CIO, Hensel Phelps
The Singularity is Nearer by Ray Kurzweil
“You may agree with Kurzweil, you may not, but the knowledge that he has in that book and the data he provides are really good data points that you should consider and think about, especially if you’re thinking about long-term strategy. If you’re thinking ahead 10 or 15 years, pick up his book and pay attention to the data he has.”
Mike Clifton, Co-CEO, Alorica Inc.
CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish the Best Leaders from the Rest by Carolyn Dewar, Scott Keller, and Vikram Malhotra
“When I was told this is the job we’d like you and (co-CEO Max Schwendner) to do, the first thing I always do is turn to where I can ingest large amounts of data to put a plan together and get my head around the right kind of thinking. It had a lot of great examples of dimensional thinking—how problems were broken down and what you really need to do for your company to set the right path.”
Harry Folloder, CIO, Alorica Inc.
One Second After by William R. Forstchen
“It talks about a connected world where an EMP device goes off in the sub-atmosphere, and within a moment, everything that has a chip in it no longer works. What does society do that’s been so reliant on tech operating everything? If that tech goes away in a moment’s notice, what happens to society? How does it recover?”
Graeme Thompson, CIO, Informatica
Politics, Silos, and Turf Wars by Patrick Lencioni
“It’s a great one to remind us that we need to rally our people around a common objective, not just individual brilliance in their function. That’s one that I’ve read over and over again.”
Ajit Jagtap, CIO, MODE Global
Radical Candor by Kim Scott
“The theme of the book is how can you care personally while also challenging directly. It’s about empathy and action and how it leads to compassion, but it’s not a ruinous empathy where you’re just crying with the person as opposed to trying to help them get over the hump.”
Michael Lucas, CIO, Wilson Sonsini
Hit Refresh by Satya Nadella
“I find [Nadella] to be an extraordinarily insightful human being, not to mention a brave soul, someone who really cares about people. His ability to rally teams of all shapes and sizes and unify them under one vision in this big, huge, behemoth global company is truly outstanding.”
Saul Klein, Founder, Phoenix Court
Start-up Nation and The Genius of Israel by Saul Singer
“I would recommend Start-up Nation, which is probably 12 years old now. It tells the story of tech in Israel and how tech became 40% of GDP. I find Saul’s latest book, The Genius of Israel, even more interesting because it talks about how, at a societal level, Israel has remarkable resilience despite everything that’s going on there.”
