Ten best business books of 2019
What Uber, Netflix and Walt Disney Company show us about thriving in a tech world; leadership skills for sustainable success; and how human behaviour shapes decisions
D Shivakumar
Operating Partner
Advent International
Shivakumar is Operating Partner at Advent International. Before this, he was President (Corporate Strategy and Business Development) at Aditya Birla Group. Earlier assignments include: Chairman & CEO at Pepsico India and prior to that, Managing Director at Nokia India. Before joining Nokia, he worked with consumer electronics maker Philips and top consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever. He is an engineer from IIT Chennai and an MBA from IIM Calcutta.
Shivakumar has written three books: Reflections - a collection of Shivs articles; The Right Choice - Resolving Ten Career Dilemmas; and The Art of Management. The latter two are business bestsellers.
My contributions
71 articles written
Becoming indistractable
Nir Eyal wrote the definitive book on how to design tech products that will get people hooked. His latest book ‘Indistractable’ has advice on how to avoid digital distractions and hold our own in this war for our attention. Some insights from the book
Bosses need to be coaches in the new workplace
Insights from Jim Clifton and Jim Harter’s book ‘It’s the Manager’. The book is based on the largest global study by Gallup on the future of work
‘The power of coaching is to offer a different perspective’
Google’s Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle share what they learnt from their mentor, legendary coach Bill Campbell, in their book ‘Trillion Dollar Coach’
Must reads: Five books on the surprising traits of best employees & leaders
The best books of 2019 (so far) on finding people with unique strengths, coaching, productive meetings, and bad bosses
Forging strong, compassionate leaders
In their book, ‘Character Carved in Stone’, Pat Williams and Jim Denney talk about the values the United States Military Academy at West Point cultivates to make strong leaders
Top 10 Business Books of 2018
Books about the evolution of India's billionaires, understanding data, shared values, the economy, organisational culture, the risks and rewards of technology, and the rise of strongmen
Talent drives strategy in the digital era. Is HR ready?
Today business strategy means sensing new opportunities, and people are the key to creating value. So how do you approach human capital in this new era? Corporate guru Ram Charan, McKinsey’s Dominic Barton and Korn Ferry’s Dennis Carey explore in their book ‘Talent Wins’
The trends to watch in 2018
Insights into the forces that will shape the world, from The Economist report, ‘The World in 2018’
Disruptive tech: There’s hope for the future. But fear too
We are facing an avalanche of disruptive technologies. But adapting to change will not be easy. Sometimes it will even seem traumatic. Some insights from Vivek Wadhwa with Alex Salkever's book ‘The Driver in the Driverless Car’