Debbie Sterling

Founder and CEO, GoldieBlox

American Pastoral by Philip Roth

“Every so often I decide to reread a favorite book (a hard thing to do when there are countless books on my list I have yet to read), and every time I do, I’m so glad I did it. I’m currently rereading American Pastoral by Philip Roth, and it has been fascinating because I’m experiencing the book’s themes of American identity and radical extremism in an entirely different way considering the context of today’s cultural and political climate.”

American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Bryan Stevenson

This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World, Yancey Strickler

Global LEADERS

François-Philippe Champagne
Canada Minister of Foreign Affairs

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
World Health Organization

Joseph E. Stiglitz
Nobel laureate

Business Media

Matt Murray
Wall Street Journal

Gillian Tett
Financial Times

Alan Murray
Fortune

Jessica Lessin
The Information

Adi Ignatius
Harvard Business Review

Stephanie Mehta
Fast Company

Platforms

Dan Roth
LinkedIn

Katherine Maher
Wikimedia Foundation

Richard Gingras
Google News

TV/Entertainment

Jorge Ramos
Univision

Don Lemon
CNN

Ali Velshi
MSNBC

Poorna Jagannathan
Actor

Adam Sharp
Emmys

Ilia Calderón
Univision

Civil Rights/Freedom of Expression

Anthony D. Romero
ACLU

Jameel Jaffer
Columbia University

Suzanne Nossel
PEN America

Diversity/Inclusion Activists

Ellen Pao
Project Include

Marley Dias
#1000BlackGirlBooks

Reshma Saujani
Girls Who Code

OTHER MEDIA

Radhika Jones
Vanity Fair

Edward Felsenthal
Time

Mina Al-Oraibi
The National

Danielle Belton
The Root

Emily Ramshaw
The 19th

Nabiha Syed
The Markup

TEACHERS/EXPERTS

Dan Ariely
Duke University

Ram Charan
Author

Arturo Condo
EARTH University

McKinsey Leaders

Liz Hilton Segel

Kevin Sneader
Managing Partner

Pal Erik Sjatil

Pierre Gentin

Lareina Yee

Acha Leke

Books by McKinsey Authors

McKinsey on Books

Explore this month’s best-selling business books prepared exclusively for McKinsey Publishing by Circana and a collection of books by McKinsey authors on the management issues that matter, from leadership and talent to digital transformation, corporate finance, and more.

Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies, 7th edition

At the crossroads of corporate strategy and finance lies valuation. This book enables everyone, from the budding professional to the seasoned manager, to excel at measuring and maximizing shareholder and company value.

Fast Times: How digital winners set direction, learn, and adapt

Winning in the digital age requires both lightning speed and thoughtful deliberation. Companies able to master this paradox are emerging as today's winners. Those that can't will be sold for parts.

Strategy Beyond the Hockey Stick

January 8, 2018 -

The new book on how to beat the odds with a bold strategy

Acknowledgments

It takes a village to curate amazing lists from this rather busy group of leaders from all over the world. We would like to thank Nikhil Deogun, Mitra S. Kalita, Gabriella Stern, Rebecca Lowell Edwards, Steve Lipin, Sara Blask, Karen Wickre, Ailish Campbell, Anya Schiffrin, Tom Weber, Shernaz Daver, Jose Zamora, and Judi Mackey for their help.

Within McKinsey Global Publishing, Mike Borruso, Heather Byer, Philip Mathew, Louis Vizzi, Dan Redding, and Torea Frey were instrumental in making this year’s list come alive.

And thank you to our contributors and their organizations for providing McKinsey Global Publishing with their photographs and permission to use them.