Juergen Fitschen, co-CEO of Deutsche Bank AG

The Innovation Paradox: Why Good Businesses Kill Breakthroughs and How They Can Change by Tony Davila and Marc J. Epstein. How to successfully marry disruptive ideas and innovative thinking is one of the key challenges for established corporations. Davila and Epstein convincingly describe how incremental innovation can coexist with breakthrough thinking, and how the benefits of pursuing operational excellence do not turn into liabilities for breakthrough innovation.

Carolyn A. Wilkins, senior deputy governor, Bank of Canada

I read quite a few books this year, both fiction and non- fiction. Here are my favorites: 1) Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life.”There is something irresistible in the possibility of renewal and alternative paths. Kate Atkinson brings this possibility to life in Ursula and the other characters in her book in a way that makes turning pages feel like opening doors to new places. The compelling art of her work is that she does this without resorting to predictable second chances, but rather by showing the power of determination. 2) Martin Wolf’s The Shifts and the Shocks. It takes a knowledgeable and confident hand to add value to all the work we have seen so far on the lessons from the financial crisis, and Martin Wolf pulls it off. Some of the messages are tough for policy makers to read, and some of the recommendations are controversial. But the clarity and boldness of his analysis, his comprehensive perspective and acknowledgment that the financial crisis has had more insidious and long-lasting effects that need to be addressed, makes this a valuable contribution to what is bound to be a conversation that spans many years to come. And the number of pages devoted to notes made me smile.

Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of WPP Plc

Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang proves that as some Chinese believe the last two hundred years or so have been a blip in history. It also proves why gender equality could be very productive.

Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank

Cheryl Strayed’s Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Any writer’s ability to be that honest is striking. I also really appreciated her own persistence in finishing the hike. It helped her deal with such profound issues, and it was a reminder to readers that there is a kind of a deep, sometime therapeutic value to persist in the face of an almost impossible task until you are done.
 

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