EKMH Innovators Interview Series
An interview series spotlighting global tech influencers, disruptors, visionaries, and of course, innovators.
What are you reading? Which podcasts and films do you recommend?
In the AI age, reading and writing remain fundamental for a plethora of essential reasons, among them sharpening critical thinking, effective debating, memorization and thought leadership skills. While the research proves new, is it that surprising that utilizing AI chatbots for creating vacation itineraries to CVs to (infuriatingly) personal essays to (pathetically) research papers to (personal pet-peeve) interview responses to (guilty as charged) translations to art to just about everything, engenders apathy, incomprehension and loneliness?
In yesterday’s CNN interview, MIT Media Lab Research Scientist Dr. Nataliya Kosmyna shared details from her team’s fascinating LLM vs brain only neuroconnectivity findings from their new study, “Your Brain on ChatGPT,” indicating that relying solely on AI for tasks like writing reduces brain activity and memory. Dr. Kosmyna encourages humans to “use our brains.” According to the study’s abstract:
“EEG revealed significant differences in brain connectivity: Brain-only participants exhibited the strongest, most distributed networks; Search Engine users showed moderate engagement; and LLM users displayed the weakest connectivity. Cognitive activity scaled down in relation to external tool use…While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning.”
As of June 20, 2025, no AI chat platforms agreed to participate in this study, a study whose name may remind readers of the memorable 1980’s “Your Brain on Drugs” campaign. Considering these jarring results, why not avoid groupthink and use our brains to think, read, write and (re)connect? Readers, to err is human…and errors often lead to exciting discoveries, thrilling innovations and unforgettable adventures.
Each year I ask innovators and entrepreneurs for their reading, listening and viewing recommendations and always look forward to engaging follow up conversations and new items to add to my own lists. And yes, reading fiction also offers invaluable work place skills. Turn off your phone, treat yourself to a new notebook (make mine a Moleskin) and free write, check out books from your local library and/or buy these books to support authors and your local bookshop. Who knows, your writing may be featured in next year’s compilation.
Many thanks for those who shared and continue to share their favorites each year. Let’s stay connected!
Barnes & Thornburg LLP Partner Elizabeth S. Fenton:
Books: This Strange Eventful History, Claire Messud; Grief is for People, Sloane Crosley; The Friday Afternoon Club, Griffin Dunne
TV/Movies: Caregiving (PBS); Abbott Elementary (ABC); The Diplomat (Netflix); A Complete Unknown
Podcasts: 10% Happier, Dan Harris; Men Yell at Me, Lyz Lenz; Litigation Radio, Legal Talk Network
Associate Professor at Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals Fulya Apaydin:
Books: I do have several books on my list and pretty much all are non-fiction, but here we go:
1. The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius, Patchen Barss 2. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI, Karen Hao 3. Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler, Philip Ball 4. The Ordinal Society, Marion Fourcade, Kieran Healy
*Bonus, I recently finished these and found them particularly engaging:
1.The Pope of Physics: Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age, Gino Segrè, Bettina Hoerlin; 2. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism, Sarah Wynn-Williams
Women's Health Writer Amy Harris:
Books: James, Percival; The Measure, Nikki Erlick; Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson; The Menopause Brain, Lisa Mosconi
Podcasts: Tested the Choice and The Good Whale
Books: The Heart's Invisible Furies, John Boyne; Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara; Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Geoffrey L. Cohen; Arise: The Art of Transformational Coaching, Elena Aguilar; Hidden Potential, Adam Grant
Podcasts: How to Be a Better Human, hosted by Chris Duffy; The Diary of a CEO, hosted by Steven Bartlett; Cracking Open, hosted by my dear friend Molly Carroll
Alpha COO Taylor Margis-Noguera: A bit of an unconventional recommendation, but if you've been deep in the non-fiction AI rabbit hole like I have, consuming everything about artificial intelligence and the future of work, try picking up Void Star by Zachary Mason. It's a refreshing shift to fiction that imagines one possible AI-infused future. A welcome break from white papers and think pieces, while still scratching that same itch.
Alchemy Crew Ventures Co-founder, CEO & Venture Partner and Scouting for Growth host Sabine VanderLinden:
Books: Rethinking Innovation, Katie Ledingham, Sarah Hartley, Richard Owen; The Authority Gap, Mary Ann Sieghart; Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World, Parmy Olson; Rewired: A Bold New Approach To Addiction and Recovery, Erica Spiegelman; The Economic Singularity: Artificial intelligence and the death of capitalism, Calum Chace
Series: The Capture
Music: Burna Boy, Black Coffee
Move with Myah Founder and LinkedIn Top Voice Myah Payel Mitra:
Books: Becoming, Michelle Obama; Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg; My Life in Full, Indra Nooyi
Podcasts: Hurry Slowly hosted by Jocelyn K. Glei, Feel Better Live More hosted by Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, The School of Greatness hosted by Lewis Howes
EKMH Innovators Founder Erin Hobey: Per request, please find a few short lists below:
Books: Books for Living, We Should Not Be Friends and The End of Your Life Book Club, Will Schwalbe; When All Is Said, Anne Griffen; A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara; Kairos, Jen Erpenbeck; Open City, Teju Cole; The Nickel Boys, Colson Whitehead; Heart Lamp, Banu Mushtaq; Far from the Tree, Andrew Solomon; A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry; The Heart’s Invisible Furies, John Boyne; Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan; The Hand That First Held Mine, Maggie O’Farrell; Prophet Song, Paul Lynch; Homage to Barcelona and the Enniscorthy series, Colm Tóibín; Koli, As the Great World Spins, Twist, Apeirogon and Transatlantic, Colum McCann; Looking for Jane, Heather Marshall; Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood; Moderate Becoming Good Later, Katie Carr and Toby Carr; Sin azúcar, Mireia Estrada Gelabert; East of Eden and Travels with Charlie, John Steinbeck; Les Miserables, Victor Hugo; The Best American Essays 2025, edited by Jia Tolentino; Letters to a Young Poet, Rainer Maria Rilke; The Shadow of the Wind series, Carlos Ruiz Zafón; Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides; All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr; Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh; The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion; The Dutch House, Ann Patchett; The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, Andrew Sean Greer; Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison; Another Country, James Baldwin; Body of Work, Christine Elaine Montross; Monogamy: A Novel, Sue Miller; Wind Sand, Stars, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; About Alice, Calvin Trillin; My Education, Susan Choi; Being Mortal, Azul Gawande; The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee; 20,000 Leagues under the Sea and Around the World in 80 Days, Jules Verne; Charlotte’s Web and Here is New York, E.B. White…
Films: Rocky; Rambo; Coda; Casablanca; It’s a Wonderful Life; Tous les matins du monde; Joyeux Noël; Trois couleurs; Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios; Wings of Desire; Vertigo; Sabrina; The Hours; Pride and Prejudice; Life is Beautiful; Amour…
When driving, my go-to podcasts include anything NPR, Acquired hosted by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, This American Life hosted by Ira Glass, and The Rest Is History hosted by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland.
From the AI bots:
Books: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee; 1984, George Orwell; Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen; The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien; Dune, Frank Herbert; The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss; Neuromancer, William Gibson; The Midnight Library, Matt Haig; A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara; Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens; Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari; Educated, Tara Westover; Atomic Habits, James Clear; Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl
Deep AI: Here are some highly recommended books for an Innovation CEO to inspire leadership, foster creativity, and drive transformative change:
Books: 1. The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton M. Christensen 2. Creative Confidence, Tom Kelley and David Kelley 3. Blue Ocean Strategym, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne 4. Lean Startup, Eric Ries 5. The Innovator's DNA, Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen 6. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Innovation, Harvard Business Review 7. Play Bigger, Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, and Kevin Maney 8. The Lean CEO, Jacob Stoller 9. The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Steve Blank 10. Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter F. Drucker
CoPilot: If you're a CEO looking to supercharge innovation, here’s a curated list of standout books that blend strategy, disruption, and leadership insight:
The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen; Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne; Competing in the Age of AI, Marco Iansiti & Karim R. Lakhani; Disrupt-It-Yourself, Simone Brummelhuis; Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur; The Lean Startup, Eric Ries; Creative Confidence; Tom & David Kelley; Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Peter Drucker; Competing Against Luck, Clayton Christensen; The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz
But wait, there’s more: The Economist’s “Summer Reads”, The NYRB Staff’s Favorite Reads, FT’s “Summer books 2025: the best titles of the year so far”, The New York Times’ “Summer Reading Bucket List””, The Atlantic’s “Summer Reading Guide”, NPR’s “What to read this summer” and Literary Hub’s “The Ultimate Summer 2025 Reading List” (don’t miss the List of Lists).
From the EKMH Innovators’ Archive:
YouHodler Founder / CEO Ilya Volkov:
Books: Antifragile and Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb
Movies: Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga; The Billion Dollar Code
MetaJuice Web3 Partnerships + Strategy Guru Peg Samuel:
Podcast: Archetypes
Documentaries and Docuseries: Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields and She Said
ReelStar Co-Founder / CEO Nick Bahl:
Book: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Film: The Pursuit of Happiness
Bitget Managing Director Gracy Chen:
Books: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari; Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
The Visible Voices Podcast Creator / Emergency Medicine / Radiology Professor Resa E. Lewiss, MD:
Films: The Color of Paradise and Hiroshima mon amour.
Podcasts: Pod Save the People, Born in June, Raised in April: What Adoption Can Teach the World, Jill on Money, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, Marketplace Morning Report
Series: The Human Doctor, The Nocturnists, Getting Even with Anita Hill, The L word, Doctors and Litigation, and Crimetown Season 1 Providence
Wilson Library, University of North Carolina
As a language model, I do not have the capability to read books or have personal preferences. However, I can provide you with information on books that are considered to be important, influential, or widely enjoyed by readers.
Some classic books that are considered to be must-reads include: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1984 by George Orwell, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Some more recent books that are considered to be must-reads include: The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Syngrafii Co-Founder / President / CEO Matthew Gibson:
Books: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Stand and The Gunslinger series, Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman
Suspense and classic and smart horror films: Nosferatu Original title: Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens silent film, 1922; Let the Right One In, a Swedish romantic horror based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist; Rear Window directed by Alfred Hitchcock with James Stewart and Grace Kelly
George Peabody Library, Johns Hopkins University
Book: Future of Capitalism: Facing the New Anxieties by Paul Collier
Audio books: from authors who I have admired over the years, including Peter Drucker, Brian Tracy, and Anthony Robbins
ImpactVC Co-Founder / General Partner Eric Ball:
Books: Zero to One by Peter Thiel, Noise by Dani Kahneman, Oliver Subony and Cass Sunstein, Thinking Fast and Slow by Dani Kahneman
Space opera: some of the best include Foundation (Asimov), Dune (Herbert) and The Expanse (Corey)
Founder/ Investor / Advisor/ Innovation Expert Deb Mills-Scofield:
Books: Mystery/thrillers including Baldacci, Jussi Alder-Olsen, Jo Nesbo, Camilla Läckberg, Tana French, Arnaldur Indriðason and Louise Penny; Metaphors We Live By, The Power Broker by Caro, Ignorance by Firestein, What a Body Can Do? by Sara Hendren. Click here for my Goodreads’ recommendations.
Climate Expert Laura Faye Tenenbaum:
Podcasts: Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us and Ira Glass’ This American Life
Films: My Octopus Teacher and Chasing Coral
Book: Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
Imprint Energy Co-Founder/ CEO Dr. Christine Ho:
Podcast: Watt It Takes
CoinFantasy CEO / Co-Founder HarishKarthik Gunalan:
Book: The Alamnack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness by Eric Jorgenson
Podcast: Lex Fridman Podcast
Take Haven Founder and Creative Director Sara Tuminello:
Podcasts: Sounds True, Rich Roll, The Light Watkins Show
Series: Ted Lasso
Apto Global Founder / CEO Traci Snowden: Right now I can’t get enough of Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman. I feel like the episodes just keep putting out consistently relevant content - relevant to the times, relevant to me as a CEO and even relevant to things happening in my industry or the stakeholders we serve.
I was inspired to revisit Utopia by Thomas Moore, thinking about our socio-political climate and the evolutions of thought throughout history around the topic. I’m also reading Lunch with Lucy, by Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, a mentor and friend. That book is chock full of anecdotes, experiences and hacks for creating great employee culture and teaming.
And because my brain is constantly percolating and needs different types of stimuli at different times, I am also reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. I am discovering that he and I share some worldview perspectives on very “human” challenges, ranging from the individual to collective. It’s interesting to read his take and how he arrived there.
Founder / Serial Entrepreneur / Author Sherry Deutschmann: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown haunts me. I want to read it again today! John Warrilow’s Built to Sell is not out yet, but I got an Advance Readers copy and found it really valuable for any entrepreneur who want to sell their company. Other books that have inspired and challenged me include: Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday (a MUST!), and all of Patrick Lencioni’s books, but especially The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.
Serial Entrepreneur / OurCrowd Managing Partner Denes Ban: There are far too many! I will say, from my youth, I always had a soft spot for Herman Hesse, and particularly, Siddhartha. This story of a young man’s quest for finding true purpose and meaning in his life had an impact on my own quest for meaning as well as my business mentality. In the middle of the book Siddhartha, a young man who has less than nothing to his name and no experience in business is asked why he should be hired. His answer is: “I can think, I can wait, I can fast.” That’s it. He convinces his boss-to-be with these three qualities and goes on to become a top business man. Growing up on a bunk bed in the living room of a housing project in Communist Hungary, this struck me as profound.
“I can think” means that high value can be found in cultivating a real strategic mind and knowing how to make sound judgements in the long term - separating short term gain from long term goals. With all the information overload, one of the biggest challenges in our time is not what to focus on but knowing what NOT to focus on.
“I can wait.” Patience is one of the most undervalued traits in our society and you will unlikely learn it in any business school. If you are driven by your own ego and ambition, you will shoot yourself in the foot in the long term. Timing is one of your most valuable tools.
“I can fast.” I can fast means just that, I know how to survive for long periods on nothing at all. And if I can be entirely self sufficient, nothing can be used to force, bribe, or tempt me away from my ideals and judgements on what I think is right. I am not scared of scarcity. I know how to dance with scarcity - that is making it into an art - fasting. Which is particularly critical in business, or anything you do in life. Integrity is everything.
ExecMommyGroup Founder / CEO Joelle Murchison: I love and hate this question because time does not afford me the opportunity to read or watch as much as I would like. Because my work’s subject matter can be heavy at times, I often look for lighter things to watch and read when I have time. Books that are up next on my list are The Color of Law and How to Be an Antiracist. Recent films I have appreciated include Just Mercy and Trolls World Tour (there were actually some good diversity messages in it!). Quarantine Netflix binges have included All American, Becoming, AJ and the Queen, POSE, Sweet Magnolias, Black Earth Rising, and most recently Queen of the South.
The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, UVA
Lisk Co-Founder / CEO Max Kordek: Anything from Naval Ravikant and Balaji Srinivasan. I love these authors and have used their materials to guide my own personal journey.
SheEO Founder Vicki Saunders: Podcasts: I currently listen to Team Human, Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, and OnBeing with Krista Tippett. Books: I’ve been a lifelong fan of Dee Hock and Birth of the Chaordic Way. I am currently reading Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta. I read everything by Nora Bateson and her Warm Data work. I watch a lot of Indigenous, Maori, Aboriginal youtube videos to tap into wisdom from the ages. I have learned a lot from Manfred Max Neef and Vandana Shiva. So many things!!
FintechOS Head of Solution Architecture Andra Sonea: My favourite podcasts are 99% Invisible, On Being and RadioLab. Professionally, I listen to Aperture and Anthemis Insurtech and 11:FS Fintech Insider. I read mostly academic papers and books for my PhD. This summer I am going through the syllabus of Gabrielle Hecht on the Infrastructure and Power in the Global South. The last non-PhD related book I’ve read and would highly recommend is Thick by Tressie McMillan Cottom. I consume a lot of information through Twitter.
Boss Insights Co-Founder / CEO Keren Moynihan: Book: Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl
Music: Leonard Cohen, Cake, Tegan & Sarah, Elastica, to name a few, anything Dub like Fat Freddy’s Drop; Movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Youtube series: Shout out to The Sorry Girls - fellow Canadian Entrepreneurs who have been doing it themselves for a decade.
Entrepreneur / Take Haven Founder Sara Tuminello: Lately, I've enjoyed listening to This Jungian Life podcast and lectures by Sharon Salzberg and Eckhart Tolle. I'm often making or creating, so films and books have taken a back seat these days.
While not a university library, The Library of Congress is also under attack, n.B. this is not a lending library.
Ellevate Network CEO Kristy Wallace: I love the Ellevate Podcast, Conversations with Women Changing the Face of Business (of course I'm a bit biased). I also enjoy How I Built This and LeadershipNext -- I'm always looking for inspiration from other leaders. Some of my favorite business books are The Culture Code; Radical Candor; and the Hard Thing About Hard Things. Of course, as a lit major, I'm also a big fan of some good fictional mysteries!
Bone Health Technologies CEO Laura Yecies: My Kindle and Audible queue is quite backed up with books including Michael Lewis’ Premonition, A World Undone, Why We Sleep. Also on my Kindle and Audible library are The Radium Girls, New Power, Wintering and A Long Petal of the Sea.
Opportunity Network Founder / CEO Brian Pallas: When it comes to books, I highly recommend Scale from Geoffrey West (hint: is not about scaling companies!), if you haven’t read it yet Bad Blood from John Carreyrou, and if you happen to speak Italian, definitely Eden or Carnivori from Franci Conforti.
CNote Co-Founder / COO Yuliya Tarasava: This may be a bit unconventional, but I’m going to go with The Little Prince, which teaches us very essential life principles. It is a great read for kids and adults of all ages. Aligned with continuously building our own awareness around diversity and inclusion at CNote we listened and discussed as a team the podcast series “We Were So Happy: Microaggressions and Where They Happen.” I highly recommend it. Microaggressions are like microbes: starting small, they easily cause major diseases and discomfort so we’d better notice and get rid of them, “cleaning” our speech, thoughts and actions.
Thriving Elements Founder / PwC Leader Janet Phan: I love reading and listening to Audible during walks along Lake Zurich. These three top my list: A Promised Land by Barack Obama, Metahuman by Deepak Chopra, and Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.
Permission.io Chairman / CEO Charles Silver: Books: Permission Marketing, Seth Godin; Crossing the Chasm, Jeffery Moore; Good to Great, Jim Collins; Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand. Films: Gattaca, Ex Machina, and I love the X Men series.
Curatace Co-Founder / CEO Dan Grace: A book I would recommend for entrepreneurs looking to raise capital is Get Backed by Evan Baehr and Evan Loomis. It’s a really helpful resource, packed with great stories and examples. There is also no shortage of web-based content on the fundraising process – I find the field guide from Unusual Ventures particularly good. My taste in movies is not the greatest! Outside of making my way through the Disney Plus library with my kids, I am partial to movies that take place in Boston.
Fintastico Co-Founder / Head of Growth Fabrizio Villani: Lately I have discovered stoicism, a philosophy by which I am deeply fascinated. My suggestions are therefore highly influenced by this discovery. As for the book, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Simply amazing. Marcus Aurelius was the philosopher-emperor, his teachings go far beyond his victories on the battlefield and the passage of time. As for the podcast, Daily Stoic Podcast by Ryan Holiday. Ryan Holiday started his career as a growth hacker and after several professional successes where he also became the Director of Marketing for American Apparel, he left the company and began his path towards stoicism, becoming a famous writer on the topic.
Rewire Co-Founder / CEO Guy Kashtan: Everything by Dan Ariely. Starting from Predictably Irrational to his recent book Amazing Decisions. A great book with insightful thoughts about building a startup is The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Another recommendation is The Innovation Stack by Jim McKelvey, which offers a fresh and inspiring perspective about entrepreneurship. Last but definitely not least, The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim. While this is not really “professional content,” I also enjoyed watching Black Mirror. There’s something about opening your mind to disruptive versions of the world that challenges everything you know about technology, morality, and sometimes even yourself.
Diagnostic Robotics Founder Yonatan Amir: When the pandemic is over, my first trip will be to Spain to visit my sister and family who live there and whom I have not seen since early last year. Vacation is one of the few times I have a chance to dive into books so I gather recommendations before I go. Currently, I am looking forward to diving into Principles: Life & Work by Ray Dalio. I believe that a successful manager needs to constantly be learning and I find that books such as these enrich my toolbox and help inspire me with new ideas for our company and culture.
The Startup Station Founder / President Victoria Yampolsky: I love Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers, Tipping Point), and to expand my mind I am currently reading The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. It's about astrophysics and string theory.
MetLife Director / Head of Client / Business Management Darryn Lee: For podcasts, I consistently listen to The Tim Ferriss Show. For books, the next on my list after I finish Ray Dalio’s Principles are Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money and Richard Dawkins’ River Out of Eden.
Entrepreneur / Community Builder / Dot Connector Steve Vilkas: Daniel Quinn’s The Story of B is a trip, preceded by Ishmael by the same author. I’m just getting into Yiftach Reicher Atir’s The English Teacher which is really cool.
Lean In Sustainability Founder / Holistic Life and Career Coach Myah Payel Mitra: Books – Entrepreneurial You by Dorie Clark, Systemic Coaching by Eve Turner & Peter Hawkins, Life Is in the Transitions by Bruce Feiler, The Buddha and the Badass by Vishen Lakhiani; Podcasts - Hurry Slowly by Jocelyn K. Glei, On Purpose by Jay Shetty and Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Global Empowerment Leader / Angel Investor Shelmina Babai Abji: As A Man Thinketh by James B. Allen; The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav; 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey; The 4 agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz; and The Prophet by Khalil Gibran.
EHealth Industry and Insurtech Expert Paolo Meciani: I will never forget the quarantine when I spent a lot of time reading. Every single early morning walking up and down from the kitchen to the sitting room, I spent a couple of hours reading business books (The Digital Health Revolution by Kevin Pereau; Health and Wellness Measurement Approaches for Mobile Healthcare by Gita Khalili Moghaddam and Christopher R. Lowe). Away from business, I enjoyed reading Homeland by Fernando Aramburu. In the evening something different: with my son I saw Michael Jordan’s “The Last Dance”, and the “The Good Place” with my daughter.
M7 / Illumyne Founder Katie Burkhart: One of my favorite books is The Hobbit. I appreciate that Tolkien elevates the story of the everyday hero and encourages us to pursue adventures that make the most of our time. I’ve read a lot of Star Wars over the years and have a penchant for YA Fantasy which stokes imagination and agency. Business-wise, I just ordered Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit by Alex Edmans. I watch (or rather listen to) altogether too much television, but it feeds my love of stories. Here’s a few of the regulars: Grey’s Anatomy, The Crown (excellent new season), Anne with an E, Star Trek: Voyager, Parenthood and Forrest Gump.
Tevel Aerobotics Founder / CEO Yaniv Maor: Tony Seba, Future of Transportation / Keynote: 2020 NC DOT Transportation Summit.
Cyabra Co-Founder / CEO Dan Brahmy: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel and The StartUp Podcast by Gimlet Media.
Keene Advisors Founder and President Travis Borden: I read for inspiration in life and in business. Here is my list of must reads:
The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer
Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Presence by Amy Cuddy
Singer/ Songwriter Lindsay Kay: I read Ottessa Moshefegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation and absolutely loved it. I bought her collection of short stories and will check that out next. I’m currently reading Eve’s Hollywood which is a biography of sorts about one of my favorite writers, Eve Babitz. I’m really enjoying it, she was a fascinating woman.
BlockRelations and CryptoLiveLeak Founder/ CEO Kenneth Garofalo: The Internet of Money, Crypto Assets, and The Book of Satoshi are some essential books to read if you are just learning about blockchain and cryptocurrency – some of my favorites. More recently I picked up The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking and How to Win Friends and Influence People that I hope to finish by the end of lockdowns.
Mann Library, Cornell University
Finch Capital Co-Founder / Partner Radboud Vlaar: I am reading the book about the Spanish Flu, called Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World by Laura Spinney. After that book, I would recommend some forward-looking books include those about holiday destinations.
DeFiner Founder and CEO Jason Wu: The book I want to recommend to everyone is Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson. I was given this book by our Techstars MD Vijay Tirathrai with the message of “Pitch Well. Raise Fast. Close Well.” The Venture Deals was recommended to all Techstars founders and I understand why it was widely recommended after finishing reading it. This book equips an entrepreneur with every piece of knowledge they ever need for fundraising. One of the most valuable lessons for entrepreneurs is to learn from others and trust experts and this book gives you a taste of both.
Blockchain Valley Ventures Founder and General Partner Heinrich Zetlmayer: I recently picked up Michael Porter’s Competitive Strategy again, as it offers a grounding in some of the basics. It is extremely helpful as I think through all the various blockchain sectors, and wonder how they will evolve, and which of them will be able to carve out leadership positions. That combined with Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffmann and Chris Yeh, which I recently read, offers a great understanding of our current market situation.
Fintual CEO and Co-Founder Pedro Pineda:
Books: A Little History of the World (Little Histories), E. H. Gombrich. You learn a lot with this, and you don’t even notice it. It’s a jewel!
Decisive Moments in History, Stefan Zweig. Any book by him is highly recommended.
Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman. It helps you to understand human behaviour with hard and replicable data.
The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair, Joel Dicker. To be amused.
I also recommend anything written by Christopher Hitchens, one of the best argumentative thinkers ever born.
Securrency Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Campos: Well, I imagine I’m supposed to name a few business or technology titles here that will be helpful to your readers, but I confess that I’m not an avid professional reader. If I were to recommend one book in this category, it would be Peter Thiel’s Zero to One, which I find to a be a counterintuitively practical book with great insights. A colleague of mine at a previous start-up gave me that book several years ago and I thank him for it. My reading list generally consists of books on history, philosophy, and metaphysics. I love fiction, but I’m a harsh critic, so I tend to choose carefully . . . and even then my favorites tend to be books like Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude or Rushdie’s The Moor’s Last Sigh, which turn out to be beautiful, poetic musings on, well, history, philosophy, and metaphysics.
CREBACO Founder/ Block Next Solutions CEO Sidharth Sogani:
Books: Execution by Ramcharan; One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson; Abundance by Peter Diamandis; The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy; Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki; Zero to One by Peter Thiel; and of course, The Art of Warby Sun Tzu.
Finnovista Co-Founder / Managing Partner and Rainmaking Partner Fermín Bueno: The Corporate Startup: How established companies can develop successful innovation ecosystems by Dr. Tendayi Viki. This is key reading for those who need a playbook by which they can start transforming organizations into innovation engines. This is one of the proven methodologies that Rainmaking and Finnovista use for building a culture of innovation internally and when we collaborate with the big players in several industries around the globe.
1irstcoin LLC Senior Advisor Sean Brizendine: Anything by Andreas Antonopoulos, Don Tapscott or Bitcoin/Blockchain for Dummies.
CoinSwitch.co and CRUXPay Co-Founder and CEO Ashish Singhal: For entrepreneurs, I would highly recommend, Zero to One, The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Hard Thing About Hard Things. Recently I read The Messy Middle, which is also an amazing book about how to build and grow products.
Kadena Founder and CEO Will Martino: I listen to a lot of Audible books, mostly science fiction and some non-fiction. I just finished listening to The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and The Nexus Trilogy series by Ramez Naam, both of which I highly recommend.
Tech Entrepreneur and Geeq Founder and CDO Stephanie So:
My bookshelf is eclectic: 1. The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997) Clayton M. Christensen, business classic 2. The Agony and the Ecstasy (1961) Irving Stone, biography of Michelangelo 3. A Mind at a Time (2002) Mel Levine, child development - I love his work.
Startupbootcamp Scale Fintech MD and Finnovista Partnerships Director Christine Chang: I am currently re-reading The Best Place to Work by Ron Friedman, which I have recommended to several people recently. Next on my reading list is What you do is who you are, by Ben Horowitz on creating your culture. I recommend Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh for anyone who thinks they might be a high-growth startup (you might not be a billion-dollar business and that is ok!), and for corporates who think they are moving fast (you’re not). I love and adamantly recommend reading anything by Brené Brown, who has really amazing, data-backed insights on being more authentic and more human, as well as how this translates to leadership and the corporate world. As the saying goes, investors invest in teams, not ideas so make sure you have all the tools with which to build and be the winning team, and that starts with each of us as individuals.
Vouch Insurance CEO and Founder Sam Hodges: I read more non-fiction than fiction, but am trying to re-balance that a bit. Right now I’m excited to read How Money Became Dangerous, which was written by a good friend, Chris Varelas, and am a big fan of Murakami, David Mitchell, and the full swath of magical realist fiction writers, so I’ll always have at least one book from one of them with me as well.
PeopleKeep CEO Victoria Hodgkins: I just finished and loved She Has Her Mother’s Laugh by Carl Zimmer about heredity and genetics -- it’s fascinating -- and enjoyed Michelle Obama’s Becoming autobiography as an audiobook since she’s the narrator. I am not a podcast regular but, depending on the topic, I listen to “Exchanges” by Goldman Sachs and I just discovered Mo Rocca’s “Mobituaries.” I love him on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” show.
ImagineBC CEO Erik Rind: I read quite extensively, and I alternate my reading among three broad categories. I read classic fiction, non-fiction and non-fiction that I believe is directly related to my business. The following are currently at the top of my list for each category: Fiction: Hard Times by Charles Dickens. I made it a mission of mine a while back to read through all of Dickens’ work and this is the last one on my list! Saving this one for a warm tropical island. Non-Fiction: How Change and Stupidity Have Changed History by Erik Durschmied. I’m spending New Year’s in NYC, so I will probably devour this one during that trip. Non-Fiction Business Related: The Four, The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google by Scott Galloway. I’ll try to fit this one in whenever I can, during lunch or maybe on a sleepy Sunday afternoon.
OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved: I enjoyed Ben Mezrich’s Bitcoin Billionaires, it was fun and full of great scenes from the trenches of the blockchain. I really get a kick out of Daniel Silva’s spy novels featuring Gabriel Alon, the Israeli superspy who everyone hopes actually exists, and I am quite big on reading the weekly section of the Torah (bible portion) with my growing tribe of grandchildren so we can discuss and learn from the ancient but still relevant wisdom of the Book of Books.
OKEx Head of Operations Andy Cheung: Normally you will see me working from my phone, but taking a long flight offers a moment of silence. If I bring a book with me on my next trip, Zero To One will be it. Written by Peter Thiel, it shares his experience with Paypal, and his way of thinking of entrepreneurship inspired me in how I would like to shape OKEx. This also represents my personality; I’m fascinated by revolutionary technology and innovation, which gives me the passion to lead businesses to success.
NVoicepay CEO and Co-Founder Karla Friede: Some of my all time favorites are The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, The Brothers K by David James Duncan and Lamb by Christopher Moore. As for summer reading, I’ve got Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak next up. As for podcasts, I’ve gotten plenty of recommendations, but I haven’t delved into that medium yet.
Drum Co-Founder Troy Deus: Ah, so many great books. Hard to choose. Some of my favs are: Good to Great by Jim Collins. Amazing example stories of businesses who have built great companies when others failed. The Power of Moments by Dan Heath and Chip Heath. Opportunities and rewards of delighting your customers with memorable experiences. The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz. Great practical experience for dealing with tough issues facing a business.
Idea Financial Co-Founder and CEO Justin Leto: The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra. I have read this book at least 20 times. It is intuitive, thoughtful, and simple. I have given this book as a gift to many people. Whenever my wife thinks I seem unbalanced, she says “Read your book!” My book is the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and it always brings me back to center. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is inspiring for any entrepreneur. The challenges that he overcame to make Nike the behemoth it is today will inspire anyone. Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale was originally published in 1968 and is a book that provides advice for success. After 50 years, the message remains relevant and it is a must-read for anyone who is interested in being a leader in business.
DiversiTech Hub Founder Gemma Young: If you saw the size of my bookshelves you would not have asked this as we could be here a while! Haha! I love reading and I am currently reading a lot of books to understand different points of views at the moment to aid my D&I knowledge. I recently read Somebody I Used to Know by Wendy Mitchell who talks about her career and abilities with early onset dementia, which was inspiring in terms of seeing the world through somebody else’s eyes. I also read The Source: Open Your Mind and Change Your Life by Dr. Tara Swart, when I was starting to think about setting up DiversiTech. We are so conditioned not to make big changes when it comes to career, particularly when we have a family to support, so this book was very inspiring about understanding the psychology of why we sometimes hold ourselves back and how to overcome those challenges, it inspired me enough to set up DiversiTech, so it must be good!
DM Communications Head of Global PR Adir Alon: I’m fascinated by the interrelationship between marketing and politics, which is why I’m reading Netanyahu, Master of Political Marketing by Baruch Leshem, Ph.D. Regardless of how you feel about Netanyahu’s politics, the book offers a marketing perspective of Israel’s longest-running prime minister, with professional analysis from leading communications consultants on how Netanyahu has successfully conveyed his messages while building trust with the voters.
Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange Interdax CTO Charles Phan:
Books: Bitcoin whitepaper by Satoshi Nakamoto; Mastering Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopolous; and Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond by Chris Burniske & Jack Tatar
Podcasts: “Unchained” with Laura Shin; “Off the Chain” with Anthony Pompliano; and “Bitcoin Uncensored” with Chris Derose
Capital Cell Director Daniel Oliver:
Books: Hocus Pocus by Kurt Vonnegut, For Two Thousand Years by Mihail Sebastian and Ur of the Chaldees by Leonard Woolley.
Utrust Co-Founder and CIO Filipe Castro:
Podcasts: “Unchained” with Laura Shin and “The ECB Podcast”
Book: Cryptoassets: The innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond by Chris Burniske & Jack Tatar
*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this series are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
Search below and read more interviews in the EKMH Innovators Interview Archive or via MuckRack. Don’t miss an interview or prediction. Be a part of the conversation.