Looking for some light reading or easy-listening podcasts for the summer break? We asked some of the industry’s leaders for their recommendations and their reading lists as they kick-back over the Christmas break.
Whether your weeks ahead contain languid days on the beach or just lazier days than usual, our list of recommendations has ideas for everyone.
Peter Allen, Scentre Group’s CEO, recommends Don Watson’s The Bush, which explores the story of the great Australian outback and what it says about our national character.
Mirvac’s chief and Property Council president Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz plans to immerse herself in Michael Palin’s Erebus: The Story of a Ship, which plots the ill-fated voyage of the nineteenth century warship.
The Property Council’s chief executive Ken Morrison will be finishing Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, “which I picked up when he died”.
“If someone could go over quantum mechanics one more time for me, that would be great,” Morrison says.
Mark Steinert, chief executive officer and managing director at Stockland, is looking forward to relaxing with several podcasts over the holidays.
“We recently asked Stockland employees for their best podcast recommendations and received some great suggestions. I am particularly looking forward to having time over the holidays to start listening to Worklife with Adam Grant and Conversations with Richard Fidler as well as catching up on the latest episodes of the Harvard Business Review’s HBR IdeaCast, which focuses on the ways to get the best out of people. If I have time, I like to start the day with the NAB Morning Call Podcast.”
Steinert says his daughters bought him a copy of the latest Dan Brown novel, Origin, “so I plan on reading this while I’m relaxing in Sydney over Christmas with my family enjoying a much needed ‘stay-cation’.”
Alison Quinn’s Christmas read is The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History by Boris Johnson.
“I am sure it will be interesting to see how a charismatic mayor of London and now ex-MP tells that story,” Quinn, CEO of RetireAustralia and Retirement Living Council president says.
Dr Jamie Alcock, associate professor of finance at the University of Sydney Business School, recommends a proptech podcast in which he, Paul Heller, Cliffbrook Capital’s founder, and the University of Oxford’s Professor Andrew Baum take a deep dive into its disruptive influence in 2019.
EY’s managing partner for real estate and construction Selina Short will be re-reading Marty Neumeier’s Metaskills: Five Talents for the Robotic Age. “I read it when it was first released and remember being impressed by the insight about how to be human in an increasingly robotised age. I’m keen to re-read five years on to see how things are panning out.”
Virginia Briggs, MinterEllison’s partner and infrastructure, construction and property leader, is a “huge audio book fan – especially when spending hours in the car”. With road trips on the horizon, Briggs will be getting stuck into Michael McGirr’s Books that Saved My Life.
“It’s a collection of short essays about the many personal encounters with some of the greatest books, from the classics to the bestsellers, including JK Rowling’s Harry Potter, George Eliot’s Middlemarch and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I hear the collection is memory-evoking,” she says.
“I will also be spending lots of time in the kitchen drawing my holiday food inspiration from Ottolenghi’s Simple and finally getting around to listening to The Teacher’s Pet podcast by Hedley Thomas,” Briggs adds.
Carmel Hourigan, AMP Capital’s global head of real estate, was also “gripped” by The Teacher’s Pet. She also likes to check in to the Harvard Business Review’s HBR IdeaCast.
“It’s a fascinating weekly podcast which explores the ideas of leading professionals and academics and their views on business, culture, strategy and leadership challenges.”
Hourigan is also looking forward to finishing the books on her bedside table, particularly Circe by Madeline Miller, “a beautiful interpretation of a Greek mythological tale” that “tells the story of what it is to be a passionate, strong, unconventional woman in a world ruled by men”.
Jason Cannock, ANZ’s head of property, recommends The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape – a book full of stories from everyday Australians who have achieved life-changing financial success. “Scott shares with his audience the challenges and opportunity this wonderful country has to offer,” Cannock says.
Top of Kathy Mac Dermott’s pile is Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things are Better Than You Think by Ann Rosling Ronnlund, Hans Rosling, and Ola Rosling.
“It’s a fascinating book that dives into how we think,” says the Property Council’s chief operating officer, “in particular the problem of not knowing what we don’t know and guessing on instinct which is informed by layers of biases. An optimistic read.”
Factfulness is one of two books Rod Fehring, Frasers Property Australia’s CEO, hopes to finish over the Christmas break.
“I’m half way through – but there’s only so much reading I can get done on planes. I like books that rethink and reframe established arguments, and Factfulness is topical in the age of fake news.”
Fehring’s other choice is 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari, which unpacks the technological, political, social and existential quandaries facing humankind.
Mac Dermott also recommends the Property Puzzle podcast series, designed to help young property professionals “put the pieces together” to further their careers.
Finally, Carolyn Viney, Vicinity Centres group executive for development, is craving George Megalogenis’ The Football Solution: How Richmond’s Premiership Can Save Australia.
“I take the chance to relive the Tigers’ win in 2017 at any opportunity I get, and this book will help me do that,” Viney says. “But more than that, it’s apparently a great essay about Australia and how we’ve grown. What’s not to like?!”