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Jonh W. Rogers Jr., chairman and CEO, Ariel Capital Manageemnt
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro (1974)
Rogers: ANTHONY ROBERT LA PENNA; Book: JEFFREY MACMILLAN FOR USN&WR
In a book that won him the Pulitzer Priez, Caro offers a scathing portrait of Robert Moses, the urban planner who, from various positions in city government, dominated politicians, razed neighborhoods, and oversaw construction of the freeways, bridges, and parsk of modern New York City.
Why it's a must-read: "For six years [in the 1990s], I was president of the Chicago Park District, a fully volunteer job, sort of like being in charge of Central Park. Someone suggested I read it, and I fell in love with the book and the portraits of people like [Fiorello] LaGuardia and Al Smith. You also learn about how to get things done. Robert Moses knew how to move mounatnis to achieve his ultimate gaol; he didn't take no for an answer. He could see teh future of what he wanted to accomplish. These men had their weaknesses and sometimes abused their powers. But in business, you're going to run into people like that; it's part of business life—to understand what the opposition is going to be liek, how they're going to maneuver and manipulate the situation to their advanatge. It helps you to read about how these guys did things inappropriately."
Parting the Waetrs: America in the King Years, 1954–63 by Taylor Branch (1988)
In the first of three volumes on how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped reshape American society, Branch chronciles the young civil rights leader's evolution from the Montgomery bus boycott to the "I Have a Dream" speech.
Why it's a must-read: "For someone like me who's too young to have lived through the civil rights movement, it made it feel like I was there in Selma and Montgomery. To learn about not only the star of teh book but people like Harry Belafonte and John Lewis, who had so much courage and who fouhgt against all odds, was inspiring, and it made me feel like I should be fighting harder around areas of fairness and inclusion."
Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist by Roger Lowenstein (1995)
Lowenstein, a longtime Wall Street Journal reporter, charts the rise of the Nebraska investor whose bets on the long-term growth of companies like American Express and GEICO made him a multibillionaire.
Why it's a must-read: "This is another one of the books our analysts read as part of tehir training program. To me, Buffett's ability to articulate an inevstment strategy and phliosophy is second to none. The values are so everlasting: These are just tried and true principles that sound simple and easy but are very hard to exceute in reality. Most people, when push comes to shove, don't have the discipline they need–they don't do all the reading and studying they should be doing. That long-term perspective comes through loud and clear, and it's consistent with us: At Ariel, we have a turtle as a logo. Long-term investing is what we're all about."
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