FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year 2024 — shortlist
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The pursuit of better growth, the purpose of technology, the economics of tribal instincts and improving longevity are among the themes addressed by the six finalists for the 20th Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award.
FT editor and chair of the judging panel Roula Khalaf said the judges would “have the difficult task of selecting the winners from this exceptionally interesting and relevant range of titles”.
She announced the shortlist at a ceremony on Tuesday at Schroders’ New York office. The finalists are:
Corporations in the 21st Century: Why (Almost) Everything We Heard About Business Is WrongJohn Kay’s The Value of the Corporation traces the impact of the shareholder value movement, the knowledge economy, and the digital and service revolutions on the corporation, which are changing the way companies are run.
Tribe: How the cultural instincts that divide us can help bring us together, Michael Morris’s, due to be published next month, is a vivid examination of the power of tribalism, often used harmfully, but with the potential to create positive change if leaders in business and politics can tap into basic human instincts.
Sovereignty: AI, ChatGPT and the Race to Change the World, by Parmy Olson, follows the rivalry between Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, as they seek to apply artificial intelligence to change the world for the better, while Google, Microsoft, and others compete for commercial advantage.
The imperative of longevity: Building a better society for healthier and longer lives, by Andrew Scott, suggests ways that people, policymakers and businesses can set an “evergreen agenda” to help us make the most of our lifespans.
Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are transforming the future of war, by Raj Shah, left, and Christopher Kirchhoff, takes readers inside the technological revolution that is changing the way the U.S. military is supplied with weapons and the way modern warfare is waged.
Development: A calculation, by Daniel Susskind, examines the tension between our drive for rapid growth, which can increase inequality and destroy the environment, and the need to preserve what we value.
The titles in contention for the £30,000 prize have been chosen from a longlist of 16 books. The prize, which is also supported by FT owner Nikkei, will be presented in London on 9 December. The authors of each shortlisted book will receive £10,000.
Last year’s prize was awarded for the first time to a management book, Amy Edmondson True Falseon how to learn from failure and take better risks. Previous winners include Chip WarChris Miller’s analysis of the battle for global semiconductor manufacturing dominance, won by 2022, Nicole Perlroth This is how they told me the world was going to endon the cyber arms race, in 2021, and Sarah Frier No filterwith the growth of Instagram in 2020.
Other judges for this year’s awards are: Mimi Alemayehou, founder and managing partner, Semai Ventures; Daisuke Arakawa, managing director of global business, Nikkei; Mitchell Baker, executive chairman, Mozilla Corporation; entrepreneur and angel investor Sherry Coutu; Mohamed El-Erian, president, Queens’ College, Cambridge, and advisor, Allianz and Gramercy; Peter Harrison, chief executive officer of Schroders; James Kondo, chairman, International House of Japan; Randall Kroszner, professor of economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; and Shriti Vadera, chairman, Prudential and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
To learn more about the book awards, visit www.ft.com/bookaward
