Book Box | B-School Diaries: The leadership lessons from these 10 inspiring memoirs

You, dear Reader, may relate to my situation — have you ever needed to persuade a friend, a colleague, a spouse, or your teenage child to read? I’d love to hear what you do and how it works.

As for me, walking down hillsides in Manali, sitting in snarled-up traffic, or waiting at airport departure gates, I mull over all the memoirs I’d read. I obsess over them in my head, discarding excellent books like Educated by Tara Westover (too few linkages with the world of business) or No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix (great business story but tells you nothing about Reed Hastings the man).

Slowly, I build a book list that ticks my boxes. I have The Trading Game, a rags-to-riches tale set in Citibank in London, an unputdownable thriller that involves ethics, decision making and how to build a good life. I have Open, a sports memoir, the story of a father-son, and the son’s paradoxical love-hate relationship with tennis. I have Into Thin Air, a life-and-death story that shows what happens when teamwork fails, and when you take the physical environment around you for granted. I have the women role model stories I’d missed when I was a business school student. Plus, I have my favourite literary writer — in an easy-to-read novella! Each has a hero’s journey — from teenage car stereo thief to talk show star in Born a Crime, from poor East London boy to billionaire trader in The Trading Game, from little boy to world champion in Open, from traditional Chennai girl to multinational boss in My Life in Full.

Carrying these gift-wrapped goodies into class gets me many curious looks, till at last I invite 10 students, one from each student study group, to come and choose their package, unwrap it and each have a minute to display their gift to the would-be-readers. Each study group gets e-copies of the book their student representative had picked for the unwrapping.

Soon after a few students came to me – “Please Professor, we are a group of only guys and we have Indra Nooyi’s book. Could we exchange it for another book?" The students who picked up Indomitable by SBI former chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya have the same objection.

“Because you are guys, it is even more important that you read this book – you are going to have women colleagues and women bosses. It’s important you listen to their stories”, I say declining both requests, praying I don’t sound preachy and pedantic — how else can I put this point across? Thankfully, the students accept my decision with good grace.

A few days later, I asked the class how their reading was going. They seem fazed by the enormity of 250-plus pages.

“Can you give each of us 10 pages to read?”, suggests an earnest young lady in the first row. I quote Harvard Business Review on why those who want to lead in business must-read books, agreeing that reading books is challenging, and promising the rewards of such investment will be large.

Finally dawns the day of the book project presentation.

I am as nervous as my students. Have I managed to persuade them to read their books? Have they enjoyed the exercise? Or will we be mired in ChatGPT-speak, rolling around phrases like ‘delving deeper into a multifaceted journey’ and ‘emulating the spirit of resilience and courage in the face of adversity’?

The presentations turn out inspiring; this is from final year students who are balancing studying Statistical Inferences for Businesses with Storytelling for Business, and preparing for job interviews too.

The presenters dig deep Into Thin Air, they analyse the significance of objects in Knife, they relate to Phil Knight’s story of founding Nike in Shoe Dog, and they are awed at how Arundhati Bhattacharya transforms SBI and cares for her special needs child.

Afterwards, they offer me suggestions for more effective reading the next time around — ‘Give students ten minutes in class to read in silence together’, ‘Read aloud an exciting extract from the book’, ‘Allow students to choose a fiction book instead so we gradually build up our reading’.

What about you, dear Reader? Are there any other memoirs that I could add to my shortlist of ten? Do write in with recommendations.

In other news of the week, here are some uplifting medical stories for Doctors Day celebrated earlier this week. And for World Chocolate Day this Sunday, pick up The Eighth Life a fabulous saga set in Tbilisi, Georgia about a family of chocolate makers, and the magical havoc caused by their chocolate.

And on that sweet note, adieu. Until next week, happy reading.

Sonya Dutta Choudhury is a Mumbai-based journalist and the founder of Sonya’s Book Box, a bespoke book service. Each week, she brings you specially curated books to give you an immersive understanding of people and places. If you have any reading recommendations or suggestions, write to her at sonyasbookbox@gmail.com

The views expressed are personal

Books referred to in this edition of Book Box

Educated by Tara Westover

No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakaeur

Knife by Salman Rushdie

Open by Andre Agassi

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

My Life in Full by Indra Nooyi

Indomitable by Arundhati Bhattacharya

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

Private Equity by Carrie Sun

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili