2016 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award

THE MAN WHO KNEW

by Sebastian Mallaby

wins the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2016

Nora Rosendahl wins the Bracken Bower Prize 2016

22 November 2016: The Financial Times and McKinsey & Company today announce that Sebastian Mallaby is the winner of the 2016 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award for The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan, published by Bloomsbury and Penguin Press. The biography of one of the titans of recent financial history brilliantly shows the subtlety and complexity of Alan Greenspan's legacy.

The award recognises the book that provides the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues. It was presented this evening to Sebastian Mallaby at a ceremony at The National Gallery in London by Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times and chair of the panel of judges, and Vivian Hunt, managing partner, UK & Ireland, McKinsey & Company. The keynote speaker at the ceremony was Baroness Dido Harding, CEO of the TalkTalk Group.

 Sebastian Mallaby saw off strong competition from a shortlist of titles that ranged in theme from the gender imbalance to the productivity gap, to win the £30,000 prize. Each of the five runners-up received a cheque for £10,000. 

Lionel Barber said, "The Man Who Knew is an impressive work of scholarship. It is a masterpiece of political economy, and above all it is a great and enjoyable read."

 Vivian Hunt commented, “The Man Who Knew casts a bright light on the life and times of a central banker who shaped our modern economy. This book marries the biographer's humanising touch with a fascinating inside look at how policy decisions are actually reached in the real world.”

The distinguished judging panel for the 2016 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award comprised: 

·         Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor, Allianz; Chair, President Obama’s Global Development Council (winner, 2008, When Markets Collide)

·         Herminia Ibarra, Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning; Professor of Organizational Behavior, INSEAD

·         Rik Kirkland, Partner and Director of Publishing, McKinsey & Company

·         Dambisa Moyo, Global Economist and Author; Non-Executive Director, Barrick Gold, Barclays, SAB Miller, and Seagate Technology

·         Shriti Vadera, Chairman, Santander UK; Senior Independent Director, BHP Billiton and Non-Executive Director, AstraZeneca 

The Financial Times and McKinsey & Company also announced Nora Rosendahl as the winner of the 2016 Bracken Bower Prize. The award is designed to encourage young authors to tackle emerging business themes, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities presented by growth.  

Nora Rosendahl’s book proposal, Mental Meltdown, which examines the impact of work-generated stress and exhaustion, was awarded £15,000. It beat a record number of entries from 22 countries on topics ranging from technology, to gender, to the future of work.  

Jorma Ollila, Chairman, Outokumpu, said, “We had a shortlist of excellent entries with Nora Rosendahl´s original proposal for a book on mental health of the millennial generation emerging as the winner in a close race.”