Expanding horizons through books
Books are very empowering and can shape the human mindset. Nicole Junkermann recommends three books which are outstanding
Ever since she sold her first business back in the early 2000s, entrepreneur and investor Nicole Junkermann has been involved in major, cutting-edge plays in the venture capital space, investing in FinTech, BioTech, Web3, AgriTech, Space, Software as a Service (SaaS) and other exciting new technologies. Junkermann shares three books that she would recommend to anyone who wants to expand their mind and horizons.
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
“It’s hard to quite explain the premise behind Sapiens,” says Nicole, “which is a hugely ambitious book spanning all of human existence, in a way. But if I had to pick out one lesson from the book it would be this: the importance of multi-disciplinary thinking. Yuval Noah Harari is a historian, officially, but his interests in the book intersect as much with natural sciences – i.e. biology and evolution – and with other social sciences. This is a mindset that is essential in business, too. If you can see things through many different lenses, not just one, then you will always have a better idea of the lay of the land.”
- Moneyball by Michael Lewis
“I love sports. The first business I established straight out of university was an online sports gaming platform, and I later worked in the sports media business and raised a private equity fund with a sports focus. While soccer is my first passion – Hala Madrid! – I was captivated by Michael Lewis’s Moneyball, the original book that gave rise to the Brad Pitt film, and which explains how clever data use can give an underdog the edge over bigger and better-funded rivals.”
- Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
“Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most consistently interesting figures in public discourse and academia at the moment, and his books are always thought-provoking in the most unpredictable ways. Outliers is particularly relevant from a business perspective because Gladwell outlines what he thinks leads to situations in which people achieve unusually impressive results regarding their goals: think Bill Gates founding Microsoft, but also why the Beatles were so successful. That is a great instinct to train for someone investing money in ambitious start-ups.”
Happy reading!
