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Indra Nooyi's Top Book Recommendations

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Want to know what books Indra Nooyi recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Indra Nooyi's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
How to Innovate and Execute

Leaders already know that innovation calls for a different set of activities, skills, methods, metrics, mind-sets, and leadership approaches. And it is well understood that creating a new business and optimizing an already existing one are two fundamentally different management challenges. The real problem for leaders is doing both, simultaneously. How do you meet the performance requirements of the existing business—one that is still thriving—while dramatically reinventing it? How do you envision a change in your current business model...
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Recommended by Indra Nooyi, and 1 others.

Indra NooyiGreat book that discusses a balanced and essential approach to innovation. (Source)

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2
Award-winning journalist Gillian Tett “applies her anthropologist’s lens to the problem of why so many organizations still suffer from a failure to communicate. It’s a profound idea, richly analyzed” (The Wall Street Journal), about how our tendency to create functional departments—silos—hinders our work.

The Silo Effect asks a basic question: why do humans working in modern institutions collectively act in ways that sometimes seem stupid? Why do normally clever people fail to see risks and opportunities that later seem blindingly obvious? Why, as Daniel Kahnemann,...
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Recommended by Indra Nooyi, and 1 others.

Indra NooyiWhat I’m reading: "Unfinished Business" by @SlaughterAM and "The Silo Effect" by @gilliantett. Must reads! (Source)

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3

Unfinished Business

Women Men Work Family

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST, NPR, AND THE ECONOMIST • “An eye-opening call to action from someone who rethought the whole notion of ‘having it all,’ Unfinished Business could change how many of us approach our most important business: living.”—People

When Anne-Marie Slaughter accepted her dream job as the first female director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department in 2009, she was confident she could juggle the demands of her position in Washington, D.C., with the responsibilities of her family life in...
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Recommended by Arianna Huffington, Indra Nooyi, and 2 others.

Arianna HuffingtonSlaughter’s gift for illuminating large issues through everyday human stories is what makes this book so necessary for anyone who wants to be both a leader at work and a fully engaged parent at home. (Source)

Indra NooyiWhat I’m reading: "Unfinished Business" by @SlaughterAM and "The Silo Effect" by @gilliantett. Must reads! (Source)

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4
"Technology is a great servant but a terrible master. This is the most important book ever written about one of the most significant aspects of our lives--the consequences of our addiction to online technology and how we can liberate ourselves and our children from it."
--Dean Ornish, M.D. Founder & President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF, Author, The Spectrum


Technology: your master, or your friend? Do you feel ruled by your smartphone and enslaved by your e-mail or social-network activities? Digital...
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Recommended by Indra Nooyi, and 1 others.

Indra NooyiWith technology so present in our lives, I often wonder: have we gone too far? I recently read “Your Happiness Was Hacked” by Alex Salkever & Vivek Wadhwa, and was captivated by their take on this question — add it to your list! (Source)

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5
Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming the dangers of childbirth, injury, and disease from harrowing to manageable. But when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should.

Through eye-opening research and gripping stories of his own patients and family, Atul Gawande, a practicing surgeon, reveals the suffering this dynamic has produced. Nursing homes, devoted above all to safety, battle with residents over the food they are allowed to eat and the choices they are allowed to make. Doctors,...
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Malcolm GladwellAmerican medicine, Being Mortal reminds us, has prepared itself for life but not for death. This is Atul Gawande's most powerful--and moving--book. (Source)

Barack ObamaPresident Obama is spending his Hawaiian vacation playing golf, getting together with high school friends and reading a handful of dark novels set in foreign lands, according to a book list released by the White House Wednesday. The presidential reading list includes [...] two works of non-fiction for the trip: [...] "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by Dr. Atul Gawande. (Source)

Indra NooyiJust finished "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande. A beautifully written book. Captivating. (Source)

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6

The Road to Character

“I wrote this book not sure I could follow the road to character, but I wanted at least to know what the road looks like and how other people have trodden it.”—David Brooks
 
With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he...
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Bill GatesThe insightful New York Times columnist examines the contrasting values that motivate all of us. He argues that American society does a good job of cultivating the “résumé virtues” (the traits that lead to external success) but not our “eulogy virtues” (the traits that lead to internal peace of mind). Brooks profiles various historical figures who were paragons of character. I thought his... (Source)

Howard SchultzA fantastic journey of learning from the lives of some of the greatest leaders and thinkers of our time. (Source)

Indra NooyiBeyond provoking valuable self-reflection and introspection, it sparked a wonderful discussion with my two daughters about why building inner character is just as important as building a career. In fact, the two go hand in hand—the moral compass of our lives must also be the moral compass of our livelihoods. (Source)

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7
Recalling pivotal moments from her dynamic career on the front lines of American diplomacy and foreign policy, Susan E. Rice--National Security Advisor to President Barack Obama and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations--delivers an inspiring account of a life in service to family and country.

Although you may think you know Susan Rice--whose name became synonymous with Benghazi following her Sunday news show appearances after the deadly 2012 terrorist attacks in Libya--in Tough Love, the author reveals the truth of her surprising story with unflinching honesty. Often...
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Indra NooyiIn her book, “Tough Love” @AmbassadorRice reminds us that through even the greatest professional challenges, the lessons that our families impart on us are what we use to guide us. She has shown a relentless dedication to the pursuit of service that we can all work to replicate. https://t.co/T8HUl6BLKX (Source)

Shonda RhimesFrom the State Department to the UN to the West Wing, @ambsusanrice has an inspiring story to share with the world. Her new book #ToughLove hits shelves today! I hope you'll read it: https://t.co/kP08FMOgMC https://t.co/kHzqsA1nfj https://t.co/R9BzMZrF6s (Source)

Alyssa Merry Prankster Mastromonacome and @AmbassadorRice talking about life and the world very casually! I love her book #toughlove https://t.co/PYPBAgPyoF (Source)

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