On the eve of the 2020 US Presidential elections, I am choosing the Plot Against America by Philip Roth, a work of fiction that imagines what would have happened if the 1940 US Presidential elections had gone a different way. In this book, the US elects Charles Lindbergh who sets America on an isolationist, anti-Semitic path. 

The Plot Against America is an essential read even if you are not an American because it drives home the importance and fragility of the democratic process. Citizens and businesses need to understand the role they play in the democratic process and exercise their right to vote responsibly. 

Other than this being a gripping read, you will also learn a lot about the American political and business leaders in the early 1940s, and realise just how many of them, such as Henry Ford, were anti-Semitics in real life. It is the history lesson that I wish I had gotten about the Second World War. 

For Black History Month, I am introducing Franchise The Golden Arches in Black America by Marcia Chatelain. It is a fascinating look at the complex relationship between McDonalds and the black community in America and the naive hope that black capitalism would magically solve racial inequality in the absence of a major change in policies and attitudes. This is a story of how a global icon reluctantly embraced black franchisees and customers, and found that this became a huge driver of profits in their American operations. While McDonalds did a lot to support local communities, they are also guilty of drinking their Kool Aid and believing that they occupy a privileged position in the black community. 

 At a time when businesses are rightly asked to take on a greater role to solve social issues, this is a useful reminder that businesses can’t achieve racial equality by themselves. 

I am recording this in October 2020 when most of the world is at some stage of returning to work after the largest experiment ever in remote working. But what kind of office are we returning to? Why is an office built the way it is? Why do we even need offices if most of us will work sometime in the week at home?

To understand all this, we have to learn about how the modern office got to where it is. 

Cubed by Nikil Saval brings us on a fascinating journey through the evolution of the office. From rail companies to the skyscraper and how the office reflected social attitudes. How did grand designs for the office get distorted into cubicle farms and open plan hell? 

This episode and Saval’s book will change the way you look at your office desk/cubicle/room. Hopefully you can change your office for the better. 

If top athletes spend hours every day perfecting their skills, why do we spend so little time improving our writing skills when everyone knows written communication is a vital skill for leadership?

Ann Handley gives you practical tips to write better, whether you are writing a letter to shareholders, a blog post, a tweet or your great American novel. There are also tips on how to improve your LinkedIn profile and posts which are so important now. 

How many times do we consider the impact that business decisions have on the local communities? In the book Janesville, Amy Goldstein shows how the closure of the General Motors plant in the city of Janesville has deep, long-lasting effects on the community. You become a fly on the wall as families make some very painful decisions. You will feel sad, angry and inspired by the end of the book. And if you think this is a story of white middle America being abandoned and supporting Trump, think again. 

You can find me on twitter @chuakh16 or on Instagram @chuakh

Is there more to the story of the large corporate incumbent than a bureaucratic monolith crushing more deserving startups? Gary Pisano thinks so. He argues that an innovative culture can exist regardless of the size of an organisation. In this book, he describes the innovation DNA, how they exist in pairs that not everyone likes. He also talks about how existing technologies can survive and even flourish for a surprisingly long time in the face of new exciting but unproven technologies. 

In the Do You Know section, you learn about product innovation strategies that you can use at your next business case study. And my author question for Gary Pisano is about how creative construction in a large organisation applies to decisions about anti-trust. 

Finance has developed a bad reputation since the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, with even many insiders decrying the very questionable practices within the industry. But can finance be principled and noble? Mihir Desai certainly thinks so. Drawing on a wealth of knowledge of finance, classic novels and popular culture, he shows how finance addresses the key issues that individuals and societies have faced over the centuries. Whether that be how to finance a very costly war, to guarding against living too long, or the marriage choices of an 18th century woman. 

The Wisdom of Finance is a must-read book for anyone who is interested in business, regardless if you are a finance practitioner. 

Have you tried to convince someone to change their behaviour or viewpoint lately? It happens more often than you think. Whether it be giving feedback at a performance appraisal, discussing which projects to cut at an annual review, or just getting your child to eat their vegetables. Did it work?

Jonah Berger (@j1berger) gives you a framework to try the next time you fail to get someone to change. His latest book the Catalyst introduces the REDUCE framework :-

• reduce Reactance
• ease Endowment
• shrink Distance
• alleviate Uncertainty
• find Corroborating Evidence

He also has some great case studies to illustrate these points. I highlight the example of a rabbi persuading the leader of the local Klu Klux Klan to resign. 

These, and more, are useful lessons if you are in business, or in business school. 

A brand new podcast introducing books that you should read if you want to get ahead in business. If you are a student in business school, consider this your essential reading list. I've lost count of the number of students who get stumped when asked at an interview what books they are reading. I am not giving you the Cliff Notes to business books but you will get my handpicked curation of the books you should read.