Melbourne Business School’s Summer Reading List 2024
From how to craft communication so that people pay attention, to tips for brand new CEOs and insights to evoke creativity, we hope these books inspire you over the holidays to become an even better leader in 2025.
Likeable Badass by Alison Fragale
Recommended by Jen Overbeck, Professor of Management, Associate Dean, Research: This book was published in 2024 and is an incredibly wise, practical, and humorous primer on how to be more successful and effective by paying attention to how people respect or admire you. The book is aimed at women but is absolutely useful for anyone (Adam Grant said so, in his endorsement)—it delivers many of the key points I teach in my influence workshops, but with even more specific strategies. And the research/evidence foundation is watertight.
The New CEO: Lessons from CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly by Ty Wiggins
Recommended by Will Harvey, Director Social Purpose Centre and Professor of Leadership: Alistair Macrae, an MBS alum and leader of the Australia practice for Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA) gave me a copy of The New CEO this year. The book is written by Ty Wiggins, a global lead of the CEO and Executive Transition Practice at RRA. It is a highly practical read for leaders moving into the CEO role. Particularly insightful was how to stop acting like a COO or CFO, moving swiftly on the composition of your senior leadership team, spending more time than you think with the Board in meetings and outside, getting your organisation’s culture right and acting with humility. There are lots of further tips and insights from current and past CEOs.
May Contain Lies: How stories, statistics and studies exploit our biases - and what we can do about it by Professor Alex Edmans
Recommended by Andrea North-Samardzic, Associate Professor, Associate Dean Executive Degree Programs: Professor Edmans is an Economist and Professor at London Business School (with whom we have an exchange program) and I will be recommending this to all our Executive and Senior Executive MBA students. We advocate for evidence-based decision-making but how can we determine if the evidence is valid and accurate? This book demonstrates the essential nature of critical thinking in a time where misinformation is on the rise. I also recommend this book to all academic colleagues. We need to hold ourselves (and each other) to the highest of standards and make sure our research and teaching enables individuals, organisations and societies to 'think smarter.'
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
Recommended by Don O’Sullivan, Professor of Marketing: Rick Rubin—record producer, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records—has been a creative force in music and other art forms for decades. The Creative Act is a fascinating read – a world away from the usual insights proffered in management / marketing textbooks on innovation and creativity. Melding psychology, philosophy, spirituality and his not inconsiderable lived experience – what’s not to like.
Writing for Busy Readers, by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink
Recommended by Jen Overbeck, Professor of Management, Associate Dean, Research: How many emails do you get in a day? How many Teams messages, text messages, Messenger, WhatsApp, LinkedIn messages…? Most of us are overwhelmed by too much incoming communication, making us vulnerable to missing important information in the comms we receive. This book speaks to us as senders of messages, showing how to craft our communications to make it easier for readers to pay attention, see everything we’re saying, and deliver what we ask for. I hope everyone in the MBS community will read and use it!
The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati
Recommended by Dr Julie Tucker, Research Fellow, Social Purpose Centre: Written in 1938 as the world waited for war, the Tartar Steppe may well be one of the great novels you have never heard of! Dino Buzzati tells the story of an idealistic young officer dispatched to a bleak border station in the Tartar desert. What is expected to be a short assignment becomes a 30-year wait sustained by the vain hope of an enemy attack and with it one great, glorious and life-defining battle. The Tartar Steppe is a compelling mix of horror, humour and a Kafka-esque sense of life’s absurdity, and a story that poses way more questions than it answers. In my mind that’s the almost perfect recipe for a satisfying summer read.
The Confidante: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Helped Win WWII and Shape Modern America, by Christopher Gorham
Recommended by Isabel Metz, Professor of Organisational Behaviour: Sadly, few women have been recognised for their role in history. Gorham contributes to filling this gap while simultaneously giving us an insight into historical events, political machinations, and social movements. The official description reads - "The Confidante is the first-ever biography of Anna Marie Rosenberg, the Hungarian Jewish immigrant who became FDR's closest advisor during World War II and, according to Life, 'the most important official woman in the world'. A woman of many firsts, whose story, forgotten for too long, is extraordinary, inspiring, and uniquely American. Her life ran parallel to the front lines of history yet her influence on 20th century America, from the New Deal to the Cold War and beyond, has never before been told."
The Murderbot Diaries series, by Martha Wells
Recommended by Tava Olsen, Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, Deputy Dean, Academic: I thoroughly enjoyed the The Murderbot Diaries book series by Martha Wells. The series is highly topical because it makes one think about the future of AI. In it, the main character, a security cyborg who has tongue-in-cheek named himself Murderbot, is on a journey of self-discovery after hacking his own regulator. He also spends a large amount of time watching soap operas, because what else is a bored AI security unit to do?
The Chairman's Lounge, by Joe Aston
Recommended by Julie Catanach, Chief People and Culture Officer: Written by former AFR Rear Window columnist Joe Auston, in the hard-hitting, no-holds -barred style synonymous with the column, it is a book that is hard to put down. Joe tells the story of how QANTAS went from Australia’s strongest and most trusted brand to second most distrusted brand in just five years. It is a book that should be on every MBA student's reading list and speaks beautifully to the value of a customer centered culture.