Bosses who brag by the book

31 July 2016 - 02:00 By Lucy Kellaway

Showing off if you are a chief executive has never been harder. The traditional ways of flaunting it are out.Conspicuous consumption is not only vulgar but a public relations catastrophe, given that the average CEO in the US now earns 335 times the wage of the average worker.In fact, chief executives have started talking about how little they spend. Bill Gates, who is worth $80-billion (about R1.1-trillion), likes to tell people about his $10 watch.Lloyd Blankfein goes out of his way to show everyone what the Goldman Sachs chief wears on his wrist - a Swatch.The second traditional way of showing off - through golf - is also not what it once was. CEOs still like to play, but in a workaholic age don't go on about it in the way they used to.CEOs who spend a lot of time on the golf course should keep quiet, as the lower the handicap, the worse the company performance.Trying to impress by the size of your charitable donations is still acceptable, but for most CEOs it is hard to pull off.When Gates has given $27-billion, and even the relatively stingy Michael Dell has given more than $1-billion, it's impossible for a bog-standard CEO on a mere eight-figure salary to compete. So how are they to do it?Fortunately, there is a new way for CEOs to say mine's bigger than yours. It is done through what they are reading. McKinsey has just asked 14 CEOs which books they will be taking to the beach this year - and the result is one of the most naked displays of one-upmanship I've ever seen.When I was at university we used to wander around clutching copies of Proust in French - but we had the excuse of being insecure and 19. These men are grown up and successful and have given their lives to selling something to make money, yet want to be known for what they aspire to read on the two weeks a year when they aren't doing that. It's almost tragic. The books must be varied. A mixture of history, tech and biography. A novel is OK, so long as it is obscure, difficult or literary enough The McKinsey list is kicked off by Dominic Barton, the consulting firm's CEO, who claims his holiday reading matter will include four un-fun volumes: something on the Medicis, something on China, a thumbsucker on Europe and The Seventh Sense by Joshua Cooper Ramo.Internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman takes it one step further with six books, on markets, politics, genes and the world at large, and The Seventh Sense.Themes emerge. The books must be varied. Mainly recent. A mixture of history, tech and biography. A novel is OK, so long as it is obscure, difficult or literary enough. The CEO of Corning says he is planning to tackle Marilynne Robinson's Gilead trilogy. My favourite selection is from Risto Siilasmaa at Nokia, who asserts he'll be reading the Chinese folk tale of Mulan: fiction, in Chinese.A mere eight years ago, CEOs were allowed to be honest about their reading matter. When asked by the FT, they variously mentioned the new Nick Hornby. Or the new John Grisham. Or a book about Formula One. The head of BHP admitted he'd be trying The Brothers Karamazov for the umpteenth time - every year he tried, and failed, to get through it.I just had lunch with a CEO who I trust to tell me the truth. What are you reading on holiday, I asked him. He looked at me blankly. I have no idea, he said.- The Financial Times..

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