Bookomi

Greg Hoffman turned up to Nike HQ in a borrowed van in 1992. Twenty seven years later, he left the building as a creative giant, having worked alongside the heroes of his youth at the highest level of sport. During his time as Global CMO, he led iconic campaigns across football, basketball, tennis and athletics, always looking outside himself, always listening and always trying to do better for himself and his team. His book Emotion By Design, distills that experience into an accessible manual for creative leaders. In this episode he sits down with Bookomi founder Richard Kilgarriff after a Books for Breakfast members' event at Soho House in London. To join Bookomi's mailing list - please apply HERE. 

Hepzhi Pemberton has her work cut out: With a clear mission to prove that business (and society) does better when it embraces diversity, she's up against a self-harming system that starts at the top. For instance, in March 2021 there were more FTSE 100 CEO's called "Andy" or "Steve" than there were female CEO's and CEO's from ethnic minorities combined. But it's not just race and gender bias that can get in the way of progress. Socio-economic barriers built up over decades still persist today.  For free guidance and advice, Hephzi recommends connecting with The Social Mobility Network . Meanwhile, The Diversity Playbook can be purchased via our independent book shop partner HERE.

This week Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with two brilliant minds: England Rugby World Cup champion, Sky broadcaster and club coach Will Greenwood and his friend of 30 years Ben Fennell, whose stellar career in advertising taught him how to learn, lead and grow at an elite level. Together, Will and Ben have produced a book for leaders who want to blend their own personal development with the growth of the people around them. In WORLD CLASS HOW TO LEAD, LEARN AND GROW LIKE A CHAMPION They celebrate and demonstrate the power of diverse minds, abilities and attitudes at work – as seen through the lens of hard-won experiences in sport and business. Get your copy of the book with free UK shipping HERE Sign up to Bookomi's Most Wanted HERE

In Wonderworks – Literary Invention and The Science of Stories – dual trained neuroscientist and doctor of literature Angus Fletcher explains how mankind's most enduring technology makes our past, present and future worth living. From Aristotle Poetic's  to Mario Puzo's Godfather, he explores why such inventions were needed, how they work on the human brain and helpfully, where you can find them to make your own life better and more meaningful. Get a copy of Wonderworks from an indie bookseller with free UK shipping HERE

As the founder of Bookomi - the UK's leading independent connector of authors to audiences in clubs and companies -  I've met some of the world's most wanted minds in new non-fiction. Bookomi celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2022, and its longest running event series - Books for Breakfast at Soho House in London - was one of the first to introduce Yuval Harari and Sapiens. Since then we've connected hundreds of other brilliant minds in great companies : From tech titans like Peter Thiel to multi-talented musicians like Tim Minchin, Bookomi has access to the deepest, widest, range of author intelligence in the world. If you need help getting brilliant minds into your company for, events, talks, off-sites and retreats - online and offline - contact Richard on hello@bookomi.com or sign up for Bookomi's Most Wanted newsletter HERE Richard Kilgarriff Founder, Bookomi

This week's Bookomi title is recommended by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, who says it will help you see risk in an "entirely new way." In Choose Possibility, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy debunks the "myth of the single choice," (the belief that big decisions rule our future) in favour of making many incremental decisions which move our career (and our life) forward every day. Get your copy of the book HERE Join Bookomi HERE

This week we're sharing OMI with the award-winning anti-racism activist, educator, entrepreneur, TED speaker, media commentator and author Nova Reid. It's high time, she says, for white people to confront the “ugliness of anti-blackness” in Britain's colonial history, to own  their shame and move towards a future of “mutual transformation” and “collective healing” Get your copy of THE GOOD ALLY from Primrose Hill Books HERE

Between 2005 and 2019 Lionel Barber led the digital transformation of the most important business newspaper in the world – The Financial Times -  taking it from the stands to the screen with over one million paying subscribers. The Powerful and The Damned (buy your copy from Primrose Hill Books HERE) opens up the pages of his private diaries during that turbulent time, exposing off the record chats with the men and women who make and break economies around the world. In this intimate conversation with Richard Kilgarriff, former FT Editor Lionel Barber talks candidly about his opinion of  Donald Trump (like Tony Soprano) and Dominic Cummings (viewed the British public with contempt). As FT Editor, could he, should he, have done more to prevent Brexit? Which living newspaper editor does he admire most and what does he think about the way Boris Johnson runs the country? Join Bookomi HERE

Power Play was picked by Publicis UK CEO Annette King, get your copy today from our indie bookshop partner Primrose Hill Books. Elon Musk's impossible dream - to make a desirable, sustainable, mass market electric car - has become a multibillion dollar reality in Tesla - the most valuable automative company in the world. Today, with a market valuation of $630 billion, Tesla's shares are worth more than Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, and General Motors combined. To many he embodies the “contemporary electric car zeitgeist” to some he is an underdog, to others an anti-hero or a conman – what's certain is that few people understand Elon Musk and Tesla better than Wall Street tech and automotive journalist Tim Higgins, who shares his OMI with Richard Kilgarriff. Join Bookomi for updates and OMI from the most wanted minds in business, science, technology by email every week HERE.

What type of leader are you? Are you an Alpha or a Lover even? Top city journalist James Ashton has met hundreds of CEO's and has come up with nine, distinct, types that classify the species in an original, memorable and insightful way. In this episode we hear about tycoon Richard Desmond's transition from cigars to bananas and why people don't necessarily want the leader of the country to be the same type as the leader of their company. Get your copy of NINE TYPES OF LEADER HERE Join Bookomi HERE

Neuroscientist, musician, educator and best-selling author (Your Brain on Music, The Organised Mind, The Changing Mind) Daniel Levitin picks a book by young British activist and entrepreneur Jeremiah Emmanuel. Daniel wants to know more about Jeremiah's story: growing up in Brixton, often homeless but always hopeful that life can get better, he ends up joining the UK youth parliament rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous and being awarded a British Empire Medal before he's 21. Can we find a way through the divisions tearing society apart. Recorded in front of a live audience at Shoreditch House in London. You can get a copy for Dreaming in a Nightmare HERE You can join Bookomi HERE

Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with President Barack Obama's Ambassador to the UK (2013-18). Picked (and published) by Simon Sinek, this is a fascinating insight into the nexus of human relationships at the highest level of government and business, revealing a new way of managing power at a time when we seem more divided than together at home and abroad. Join Bookomi HERE - https://bit.ly/MOSTWANTEDsignup Get your copy of Matthew's book from Primrose Hill Books.

Alan Jope, the man in charge of leading Unilever's 149,000 employees picks a book packed with Original Memorable Insights for anyone dealing with constant digital disruption at work. Learn why the term "CEO" originally stood for "Chief Electricity Officer", how Netflix turned themselves upside down to deliver the future and what Disney boss Bob Iger did to get 100 million subscribers in the space in just over one year. You can get a copy of Nigel Vaz's book here - http://bit.ly/DBTinBookomiShop Sign up to Bookomi's free Most Wanted email here -  http://bit.ly/MOSTWANTEDsignup

FRAMERS takes the psychological concept of the “Framing Effect," whereby our decisions are influenced by the way information is presented to us – and applies it to a new mental model which will improve our lives as individuals, organisations and the world at large. Picked by Pearson Plc CEO (and Richard's former boss) Andy Bird for Bookomi club members. JOIN TODAY.

Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with Professor Robin Dunbar (famous for creating The "Dunbar Number" of 150 - the maximum number of relationships the human brain can maintain at any one time). Professor Dunbar leads the social and evolutionary neuroscience research group at Oxford University and has dedicated his career to exploring and explaining the Human Social World, possibly, he says, “the most complex phenomenon in the observed universe." His new book FRIENDS  goes deeper into the digital age to describe the power and impact of the social circles that ripple out from our most intimate relationships with family and friends to the people we just recognise in the street or on the screen.

You might want the power that comes with the top job, but would you want to be Prime Minister today? A role which, since 1945, has always started OK and ended badly. In this episode Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with the world's leading authority on the people who have inhabited No.10 Downing Street for the last 300 years. How does Boris Johnson compare to his predecessors in terms of intelligence and conviction? What can we learn about ourselves through the lens of the highest office in the land? Get your copy of Sir Anthony Seldon's book here - http://bit.ly/ImpossibleOffice If you'd like to join Bookomi Club visit -  www.bookomi.club

In this short episode of the Bookomicast for Leaders Who Are Readers, Christian Gladwell, Global Chief Executive of M&C Saatchi Performance picks Tarzan Economics by Will Page. To become a Bookomi member and get our free weekly email CLICK HERE Meanwhile, if you'd like to go deeper into Will's OMI, you can get your own copy of the book from the Bookomi section of our independent bookshop partner  HERE. 

Kicking off Series 2 with a new format and a new Bookomi Club for Leaders Who Are Readers, Anne Limb (UK Scouts Association/UK Innovation) and James Devine (NHS Medway Trust) pick Clive Lewis's guide to detoxifying the poison of pressure and uncertainty at work. You can get a copy of Clive's book, with free P&P in the Bookomi section of Primrose Hill Books HERE . To hear the full conversation and find out more about the benefits of membership, visit THE BOOKOMI CLUB

For years the BBC has lost battles with right wing lobbyists, free market economists and competitors who frame the corporation as biased, bloated, elite and out of touch with the people who pay for it to exist. In The War Against The BBC,  London Business School Professor and "critical friend" of the corporation Patrick Barwise traces a line of anti-auntie gunpowder back to a surprisingly small but powerful and determined cabal of lobbyists and politicians linked to media and business interests in the UK and America.

Grace Campbell takes you on a whirlwind tour of childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, growing up in a playground of political celebrity, idiot boys and brilliant girlfriends. This is a must-listen episode for all young women and parents of daughters navigating the passion and pitfalls of teenaged life. Get your copy of Grace's book HERE.

Guy Raz has distilled hundreds of fascinating business stories into a single book HOW I BUILT THIS - The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs,  named after his massively popular NPR podcast series  in the US.

Richard Kilgarriff meets two media industry luminaries: Sue Unerman, Chief Transformation Officer at MediaCom and Kathryn Jacob OBE, Chief Executive Officer of Pearl and Dean. Together with journalist Mark Edwards they've written Belonging – The Key to Transforming and Maintaining Diversity, Inclusion and Equality at Work.

Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with George Zarkadakis. George works at the intersection of arts, science and technology to imagine new organisations and governments in the upcoming Fourth Industrial Age. His new book CYBER REPUBLIC, RE-INVENTING DEMOCRACY IN THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT MACHINES is a playbook for anyone who has lost some faith in the current system, but who sees new technology as an opportunity to change the status quo.

Thomas Erikson is the Swedish Behavioural expert whose book Surrounded By Idiots sold 2.5 million copies worldwide. In it he described four types of personality – Red, Yellow, Green and Blue - to explain why and how we see ourselves and other people. In SURROUNDED BY PSYCHOPATHS he brings first hand experience to the science of spotting and dealing with the psychopaths in your life and work. The good news is you can tell who they are. The bad news is they cannot be beaten, only avoided.

Rachel Schofield shares OMI with Tech entrepreneur Tabitha Goldstaub, whose new book HOW TO TALK TO ROBOTS: A GIRL'S GUIDE TO A FUTURE DOMINATED BY Ai aims  to break down the so-called "Tech Bro" barriers, demystify Artificial Intelligence and make sure it works for the benefit of everyone.

From the dismal dereliction of the Sex Pistols to peak-eighties gloss with Wham, coloured throughout by Margaret Thatcher's politics of self-improvement, 1979-1985 was a moment in history that made UK culture what it is today. Join Richard Kilgarriff as he shares OMI with Dylan Jones, top magazine editor (British GQ) and author of Sweet Dreams - The Story of The New Romantics.  Even if you don't want to remember the music, the keyboards and the make-up, you will no doubt appreciate the transition from tense, grim aggression to flamboyant, entrepreneurial excess at the beginning of 1980's Britain.

Rachel Schofield shares OMI with retired Superintendent Leroy Logan MBE, founder member of the Black Police Association: His 30 year career in the Metropolitan Police makes him perfectly placed to reflect on what has and hasn't changed in race relations over recent decades. In CLOSING RANKS, MY LIFE AS A COP, we hear what made a gifted scientist become a police recruit, despite the huge reservations of his Jamaican father and the mistrust of the police within his North London community. 

Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with Johan Norberg, the Swedish historian of ideas and a senior fellow at libertarian think tank The Cato Institute. Johan wants you to open your mind, your business and your borders to celebrate and build upon the progress we've made as human beings to date. OPEN - THE STORY OF HUMAN PROGRESS  describes how we are the nicest and the nastiest of species, each and every one of us a trader and a tribalist, globalist and nationalist; capable of both open, creative collaboration and closed, vicious attacks on outsiders when feeling threatened by war, recessions, outsiders and pandemics. If we don't embrace our essentially human ability to open up, are we destined to be yet another civilisation that disappears forever?

'Eye-opening, important and utterly enjoyable. Come for the humour, stay for the insights.' That's what Arianna Huffington says of HUMOUR SERIOUSLY, WHY HUMOUR IS A SUPERPOWER AT WORK AND IN LIFE, the new book by Stanford lecturer / stand-up comic Naomi Bagdonas and Stanford behavioural psychologist Jennifer Aaker. Together they investigate what it means to have a laugh without losing respect in the office (or on Zoom) and why we stop having fun (at our peril) as we get older.

Abiola Ogunbiyi shares OMI with Max Dickins, the man behind Hoopla - the UK's first improvisation training school - Max teaches people how to use whatever they've got to get wherever they want in life and work. Get of Copy of Max's book HERE

Imagine trying to rebuild the world one business at a time. That's what PO BRONSON AND ARVIND GUPTA are attempting at IndieBio, the science accelerator that Arvind founded in 2014 and where Po is now Managing Director. In their book, DECODING THE WORLD, A ROADMAP FOR THE QUESTIONER, they tackle the big science stories of today and tomorrow by questioning every aspect of modern life and industry.

Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with The No.1 New York Times best-selling author who specialises in the science of sports and performance, but wants us all to explore the wider benefits of generalisation if we are to become the very best at whatever we do in life and work. Get a copy of David's book RANGE HERE

In this episode Richard Kilgarriff meets George Dyson, the science historian who presents human evolution and technology in the context of the natural world. In his latest book, ANALOGIA, The Entangled Destinies of Nature, Human Beings and Machines, George challenges the assumption that digital technology, made by human code, is naturally superior and separate to analogue design, and that the machines we imagine as our own today, may not be the machines that nature intends for tomorrow…

In this episode we meet the carbon footprint connoisseur who wants us to hone our instincts for measuring the production of harmful greenhouse gases before, during and after everything we make, eat, live and love to do… from sending an email to flying round the world…it all adds up to tonnes of trouble for life on earth as we know it today. Get a copy of Mike's book HERE

In this episode Rachel Schofield challenges you to consider how much of your behaviour is influenced by your unconscious self. On the surface you may think you are the embodiment of rational decision-making, but behavioural insights expert Elspeth Kirkman thinks otherwise. Get a copy of Elspeth's book HERE

We celebrate our 50th episode with Richard Ovenden, the director of the world famous Bodleian Library in Oxford. He reveals how knowledge has been attacked (and preserved) through the ages, telling us a great deal about culture, society and civilisation in every century, including our own. Get your Copy of Burning The Books from Primrose Hill Books HERE

In this episode, Richard Kilgarriff meets Bloomberg journalist Sarah Frier, whose job it is to explain how social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram have changed how society sees itself; looking at the future through their lens so we can understand where we are (and who we are) today… Get your copy of Sarah's book NO FILTER - THE INSIDE STORY OF INSTAGRAM HERE

Richard Kilgarriff meets the Telegraph, Economist and New York Times writer who looks deep into the business and science behind performance at the very top of professional sport. Get your copy of Tim's book HERE

In this episode Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with social anthropologist James Suzman, digging deep into the “evolutionary legacy” behind our need to work. James Suzman has lived with the Bushmen of Botswana's eastern Kalahari for more than 25 years. He is the author of Affluence Without Abundance and heads the Cambridge-based research and support organisation Anthropos.  Get a copy fo James Suzman's new book WORK: A HISTORY OF HOW WE SPEND OUR TIME HERE

Richard Kilgarriff meets the theoretical physicist, screenwriter and best-selling author who spent two decades collaborating with the world's most popular scientist, Stephen Hawking - orbiting the genius and the tragedy of a man set high on a pedestal by his peers and the public, but physically diminished by a disease that left him “at the mercy of everyone around him…” Get your copy of STEPHEN HAWKING, A MEMOIR OF FRIENDSHIP AND PHYSICS HERE

Physician turned Atlantic staff writer James Hamblin went without a shower or a bath for five years -  The experiment caused outrage and disgust in some people who see cleanliness as a social responsibility, but for many he offered a vision of liberation from dependency on hygiene products that, if over-used, may do more harm than good. In his latest book, Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less, James examines the tension at the heart of our current Covid-concerned society,  “between our need to be close to other people and the need to protect ourselves from other people..”

Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with the nurse who became an Costa award-winning, Sunday Times best-selling novelist, non-fiction writer and Professor of Medical and Health Humanities. Her memoir is a whirlwind of pain, love, life and death from the frontline of nursing, up to and including the current pandemic. Get Your copy of Christie's book COURAGE TO CARE HERE And you can support the Fair Pay for Nursing Campaign HERE

In this episode Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with Cass Sunstein - the former White House advisor to Barak Obama and now Chair of the World Health Organization's Technical Advisory Group on Behavioural Insights. He wants us to re-think the way we demand, consume and generate information and knowledge about ourselves and the world around us. Get your copy of TOO MUCH INFORMATION from our independent bookshop partner Primrose Hill books HERE

'Today I woke up on Earth. And I will fall asleep in space.' This is the story of Samantha Cristoforetti's incredible journey, from aspiring student to record-breaking astronaut: How she excelled through thousands of applicants to share a tiny cabin with her crew on the international space station for 200 days. Get a copy of The Diary of An Apprentice Astronaut HERE

He may have a PHD in tropical ecology from Cambridge University, but Merlin Sheldrake's talents as a musician, writer brewer of and eater of his own words, literally, bring the fungal universe to a wider audience of people who might never have recognised the life growing beneath their feet, floating through the air and living on their skin. Get your copy of Entangled Life from our independent bookshop partner Primrose Hill Books HERE

In this episode Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with Noreena Hertz, the influential economist, strategist and best-selling author whose vision for the future cuts through the  change and division tearing society apart today – it's time, she says, for us to come together and fight the forces that divide us to rule… Get Your Copy of The Lonely Century HERE

Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with world-famous neuroscientist David Eagleman, including an entirely new concept on why we dream. In his latest book LIVEWIRED - THE INSIDE STORY OF YOUR EVER CHANGING BRAIN, he takes us on a fantastic voyage under the cortex and into the neural networks that shape who we are from the day we're born to the end of life. Why do babies pay attention to everything, only to lose interest in adult life and how can we recreate that curiosity? How has lockdown affected our sense of time and space? Why do different parts of the brain control different parts of the body and what happens when one of them fails? Get a copy of David's book from our independent bookshop  HERE

With a BA in philosophy and a PHD in cognitive neuroscience Sam Harris is the wildly popular podcaster, meditation app creator, entrepreneur, journalist and NY Times bestselling author who helps millions of people make sense of the world and their place within it. In his latest book, MAKING SENSE ..CONVERSATIONS ON CONSCIOUSNESS, MORALITY AND THE FUTURE OF HUMANITY – he has transcribed and edited 12 of his most powerful podcast encounters with brilliant thinkers on matters that shape our past, present and future selves, asking the reader to question who, why and what they are in the current climate of  of political mayhem, violence and social uncertainty. Get a copy of Sam Harris's book HERE

Alastair Campbell - one of the most influential political strategists and communicators of his generation - has written love letter to the people and the places that have shaped who he is today…from his childhood growing up as the son of vet in Yorkshire, to the friends, family and colleagues who helped him to face his demons and make a difference to the way we look at mental health today. Get a copy of Living Better, How I Learned to Survive Depression HERE

At a time when complex issues of politics, race, gender and pandemic are bombarding our brains on a daily basis, perhaps we can be forgiven for thinking in terms of black and white. But we do so at our peril. Richard Kilgarriff shares OMI with the man who sees between the light and shade of living  in a world packed with categories so numerous that they force us to paddle in the binary shallows of our brain, rather than diving into the open seas of opportunity. Get a Copy of Kevin Dutton's book, Black and White Thinking - The Burden of a Binary Brain in a Complex World - HERE

The multi-award winning investigative journalist James Ball shares OMI with Rachel Schofield on the way the Internet runs and rules our lives, seen from the perspective of its inventors, investors, custodians, and innovators. You'll reconsider why and how you connect with the rest of the world once you've heard this Bookomi podcast. Get a copy of James Ball's book The System, Who Owns The Internet and How it Owns Us HERE