In addition to gift-giving season, each December marks the time of year that Morningstar employees pass around recommended book lists as they look to use the last of their annual education stipend benefit. This year’s selections—suitable for gift-giving or just for yourself—offer a diverse range of insights, with some books focusing on achieving excellence, nurturing innovative ideas, and overcoming challenges during periods of growth. Others encourage readers to rethink long-held assumptions and consider new perspectives. Whether you’re a reader seeking inspiration or a gift-giver looking for thoughtful ideas, we hope that these recommendations spark meaningful learning.
Hidden Potential
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things
By Adam Grant
Recommended by Todd Trubey, Senior Analyst
Grant became a national figure with his tour de force 2014 book Give and Take, and he continues to build a shelf full of scientifically grounded books about success. For Grant, success is not money, power, or fame, but it is excellence. This particular book focuses on improving at tasks you hold important. One of his primary gifts as a writer comes in boiling down concepts to their essence, often in juxtaposition: “Being polite is withholding feedback to make someone feel good today. Being kind is being candid about how they can get better tomorrow.” That quip kicks off a section about finding coaches to help you get better at hard tasks. He also excels at replacing misconceptions with correct ones: working smarter is more important than working harder; perfectionism actually degrades performance; procrastination is an emotional issue, not a time management one. It’s a great read if you’re serious about improvement.
Loonshots
Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries
By Safi Bahcall
Recommended by Alec Lucas, Director of Manager Research
This is the kind of book you read and don’t forget, or at least shouldn’t. Bahcall, a second-generation physicist turned biotech entrepreneur, proposes that changes to group structure rather than culture spur and sustain innovation. Noting that the “same person can act like a project-killing conservative in one context and a flag-waving entrepreneur in another,” leads to the metaphor of water at the edge of a phase transition to ice: There’s a delicate balance between spawning loonshots, initially dismissed ideas whose champions are written off as crazy until the ideas prove themselves, and nurturing those ideas into adulthood while widening their application.
Small groups in which each member’s stake in the outcome is high are akin to water, as ideas flow freely between them without regard to credit or rank. Such groups can birth new companies and transform old ones, but they often struggle as firms grow in size and complexity. This company phase calls for the kind of group rigidity and hierarchy akin to ice. Business leaders would do well not to choose between the two but to structure group interactions to facilitate both, just as H20 can exist as water and ice at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Bahcall includes advice for how to foster such interactions, and along the way, treats readers to engaging stories about how innovation in the world has actually taken place, such as the invention of radar, statins, and more.
How to Retire
How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement
By Christine Benz
Recommended by Todd Trubey, Senior Analyst
Let’s get this out of the way: Sure, this recommendation is one for the home team. Yet arguably the best thing about this wonderful and helpful book is that the ideas making up this book didn’t come directly from Morningstar’s own Christine Benz. Rather, her gift for pulling together disparate ideas from various experts plays out over the 20 lessons in the book; each chapter includes its own expert whom Benz interviews. Another fantastic feature of the book is that you don’t have to read the sections in order—and if Lesson 17, “What Women Need to Do Differently,” doesn’t apply, you can simply skip it. Anyone who hopes to retire or has already done so (that is, almost everyone) can find something helpful here.
The Founder’s Mentality
The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predicable Crises of Growth
By Chris Zook and James Allen
Recommended by Monika Calay, Director of Manager Research
Reading The Founder’s Mentality this year felt particularly meaningful, as Morningstar celebrated its 40th birthday in 2024. During our anniversary celebrations, we heard stories from our founders and first employees, giving us a chance to reflect on our journey. The Founder’s Mentality is timely, and as we continue to grow and evolve as a company, this book offered valuable insights on maintaining our entrepreneurial spirit while continuing to scale our offerings.
The book examines three core elements that make founder-led companies successful. First is the “insurgent mission”—having a bold vision and maintaining a limitless horizon for growth; second, is “front-line obsession”—emphasizing customer advocacy, empowering employees on the front lines, and constantly experimenting with new ideas; third, is the “owner mindset”—focusing on cash management, maintaining a bias for action, and actively resisting unnecessary bureaucracy. The lessons resonated deeply with where we are as an organization. As Morningstar grows larger, we must balance that growth with staying true to our founding principles. My key takeaways were the importance of staying laser-focused on client needs, maintaining strong industry connections, and taking an iterative, prototype-driven approach to innovation rather than investing too heavily in unproven ideas.
What I Learned About Investing From Darwin
By Pulak Prasad
Recommended by Francesco Paganelli, Strategist
The title says it best—this book is an insightful and highly enjoyable exploration of investing through the lens of evolutionary theory and biology. It emphasizes the significance of adopting a robust investment process, while drawing compelling parallels and lessons from the natural world. Packed with wisdom and thought-provoking anecdotes, this book is, in my view, an absolute must-read.
The Fund
The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
By Rob Copeland
Recommended by Dan Kemp, Chief Research and Investment Officer
The Fund by Rob Copeland was my standout reading experience of 2024. The book charts the history of Bridgewater Associates and its founder, Ray Dalio. I’ve previously read Dalio’s books and admired Bridgewater’s decision-making process for many years, so Copeland provided a devastating counterstory that shows how difficult it is to consistently implement those principles and maintain an ideas meritocracy. In a world where we are used to seeing investing heroes unmasked and revealed to be less then they purport, Copeland went for the King in spectacular fashion. In the process, he reminded us of the importance of humility among investors.
Think Again
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know
By Adam Grant
Recommended by Nour Al Twal, Associate Analyst
This book highlights the power of rethinking our assumptions, beliefs, and decisions. The book starts with a tragic story about 15 elite wildland firefighters in 1949, most of whom died. One particular firefighter, Wagner Dodge, survived because he devised a new strategy that the rest viewed as foolish then. Dodge started a new fire to deprive the primary fire from fuel as it was expanding. What is now known as an escape fire was not taught in the training at the time. Dodge survived because he was able to rethink the situation.
In general, Grant argues that intellectual humility, or the ability to be comfortable with the unknown, is important to grow and succeed. He encourages us to develop rethinking as a skill and to put an active effort into adopting new perspectives. In organizations, Grant believes leaders can welcome a culture of rethinking by encouraging employees to challenge ideas, experiment, and embrace learning from failures.
The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar's editorial policies.
