Retail Latin America: 27 Business Leaders Name Their Favorite Books

Business leaders didn't get to where they are today without a bit of wisdom guiding them along the way.

Many of them cite books — whether strategy guides or novels — that inspired them or changed the way they think.

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer

Yahoo

In an interview with LittlePinkBook.com, Mayer revealed her favorite book as "The Design of Everyday Things" (2002) by Donald Norman. She said:

"I think a lot about design and products and how things should work. But it makes you notice things that can be infuriating. Like, why does my sandwich shop have meat all the way over there? At the same time, it makes you think about design in new ways, because when you use something everyday it needs to be absolutely efficient and not get in your way. It’s cool to be able to articulate and discuss that on a level that is really accessible and interesting."

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Reuters/Kimberly White

Zuckerberg named "The Aeneid" by Virgil as one of his favorite books in a 2010 New Yorker profile:

He first read the Aeneid while he was studying Latin in high school, and he recounted the story of Aeneas’s quest and his desire to build a city that, he said, quoting the text in English, “knows no boundaries in time and greatness.”

Trump Organization CEO Donald Trump

Trump named "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale as his favorite book, according to ShortList Magazine. This book inspired Trump at his lowest moment when he was billions of dollars in debt. He told Psychology Today:

"My father was friends with Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, and I had read his famous book, 'The Power of Positive Thinking.' I'm a cautious optimist but also a firm believer in the power of being positive. I think that helped. I refused to be sucked into negative thinking on any level, even when the indications weren't great. That was a good lesson because I emerged on a very victorious level. It's a good way to go."

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

Hsieh told USA Today that one of his favorite books is "Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization" by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright.

"'Tribal Leadership' codifies a lot of what we've been doing instinctually and provides a great framework for all companies to bring company culture to the next level," he said.

Hsieh's other favorites include "Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow" by Chip Conley and "The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom" by Jonathan Haidt.

OWN Network CEO Oprah Winfrey

YouTube/Stanford

Winfrey has said "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee is her all-time favorite book. She was even featured in Mary McDonagh Murphy's documentary on the book.

"I remember reading this book and then going to class and not being able to shut up about it," she said, according to The Baltimore Sun. "I read it in eighth or ninth grade, and I was trying to push the book off on other kids. So it makes sense to me that now I have a book club, because I have been doing that since probably this book."

Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick

Lutnick's favorite book is "The Tender Bar: A Memoir" by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist J.R. Moehringer.

“It’s an uplifting story in a place and manor you’d never expect," he told Fox Business News.

IMAX Ceo Richard Gelfond

Youtube/PresidentialConf

Gelfond's favorite book is "Life," the autobiography of Rolling Stones musician Keith Richards.

"The guy’s had an incredibly eclectic and interesting life that no one else has ever lived," he told Fox Business News.

Renault, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn

Wikimedia Commons

Ghosn's favorite book is "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink, a novel set in post-war Germany about a young boy's affair with a woman twice his age.

“My son gave it to me and I love it," he told Fox Business News.

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent

Kent's favorite book is "The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World" by Niall Ferguson, a non-fiction work that chronicles the evolution of the financial system.

“I love books on economic observations," he told Fox Business News. "This is one of the best.”

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman

MS CEO James Gorman told Bloomberg Markets Magazine that one of his favorite pastimes is reading spy novels by John le Carre, the author behind "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold."

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Sandberg flipped the script in a 2013 New York Times interview when she spoke about other authors' books, not just her own.

Among her favorites:

"Bossy Pants"

"Now, Discover Your Strengths"

"The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses"

"The Big Short"

"A Short Guide To A Happy Life"

"Home Game"

"Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution"

"Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values"

"A Wrinkle in Time"

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson

Richard's Blog

Branson wrote in his book "Screw It, Let's Do It" that his favorite books "are 'Stalingrad' by Antony Beevor and 'Wild Swans' by Jung Chang."

He has also cited Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk To Freedom" as a major inspiration. As a kid his favorite book was 'Swallows and Amazons,' which he called "a lovely kids' adventure book."

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes

Wikipedia

Bewkes offered his reading picks to T he Wall Street Journal:

"Michael Porter's 'Competitive Strategy' if it has to be [a] business book. If anything goes, either 'James Flexner's four volume biography of George Washington' or Gore Vidal's 'Lincoln' or Doris Goodwin's 'Team of Rivals.'"

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

Reuters

In an interview with Fast Company, Bezos said his favorite book was "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro, a novel about an English butler after the WWII.

"If you read 'The Remains of the Day,' which is one of my favorite books, you can't help but come away and think, I just spent 10 hours living an alternate life and I learned something about life and about regret," he said in a 2009 interview with Newsweek.

For business books, Bezos recommended "Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies" by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras.

General Mills CEO Ken Powell

Powell loves any book by Jonathan Franzen, the author of novels like "Freedom" and "The Corrections."

"He's just a tremendous author," Powell told Fox Business News.

Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates

World Economic Forum via flickr

Gates's favorite book is J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye."

"I didn't actually read 'Catcher in the Rye' until I was 13, and ever since then I've said that's my favorite book," he said in an interview with the Academy of Achievement. "It's very clever. It acknowledges that young people are a little confused, but can be smart about things and see things that adults don't really see. So I've always loved it."

Former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond

Diamond told Fox Business News his favorite book was "Brown at 10" by Anthony Seldon and Guy Lodge, a non-fiction account of Gordon Brown's time as Prime Minster, which Diamond called "the most turbulent (time) in post-war history.”

Campbell Soup Co. CEO Denise Morrison

Morrison cited "The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, The Making of a Navy SEAL" by Eric Greitens as her favorite book, according to The Wall Street Journal.

DuPont CEO Elle Kullman

Flickr

Kullman told The Wall Street Journal that her book recommendations included "The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942-45" by Frank McLynn, "The Thomas Sowell Reader" by Thomas Sowell, and "Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System – and Themselves" by Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Bloomberg L.P. founder Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg has been known to hand out “The Innovator’s Dilemma” Harvard Business School professor Clayton M. Christensen to friends, according to the New York Times. He's also a fan of “The Power Broker,” by Robert A. Caro.

Although the Mayor doesn't read much fiction, he is a big fan of historical children's novel "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Forbes and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" by John le Carré, according to the Times.

Berkshire-Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett

Levo League

In Berkshire-Hathaway's 2003 annual report, Buffett recommended some of his favorite books, including "Bull!" by Maggie Mahar, "The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron" by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind and "In an Uncertain World: Tough Choices from Wall Street to Washington" by Robert Rubin and Jacob Weisberg.

J.C. Penney CEO Myron E. Ullman

AP Images

The Wall Street Journal published an email from Ullman, listing "Transparency—How Leaders Create A Culture of Candor" by Warren Bennis, Daniel Goleman and James O'Toole as his top book recommendation.

"Warren Bennis was an early mentor in my business career and his new book captures much of what we impact to our top talent," he wrote.

Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban

Michael Seto

In an article by US News and World Report, Cuban named his favorite business books as:

"The Gospel of Wealth" by Andrew Carnegie (1889)

"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand (1943)

"The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail" by Clayton Christensen (1997)

"The Only Investment Guide You Will Ever Need" by Andrew Tobias (1978)

"Cold Calling Techniques (That Really Work!)" by Stephan Schiffman (1987)

Advanced Nanotechnology Solutions CEO Hector Ruiz

Wikipedia

In an article by the US News World and Report, Ruiz named his favorite business books as:

"A Message to Garcia" by Elbert Hubbard (1899)

"Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't" by Jim Collins (2001)

"The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits" by C. K. Prahalad (2005)

"Five Essentials for a Winning Life: The Nutrition, Fitness, and Life Plan for Discovering the Champion Within" by Chris Carmichael (2006)

"Dilbert" by Scott Adams (ongoing)

ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson

Charlie Rose

Tillerson told Scouting Magazine that his favorite book is "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, which was named the second most influential book in America after the Bible, according to a joint survey conducted by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson

Stephenson told Scouting Magazine that his favorite book is "The Brothers Karamazov," the final novel by 19th century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.