Nicole Perlroth’s thought-provoking investigation into the computer arms race, This is how they tell me the end of the world, was named Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year for 2021.
The judges praised Perlroth’s unprecedented in-depth analysis, which they said opened eyes to the potential for a cyber disaster.
Roula Khalaf, editor-in-chief of FT and president of the judges, declared: “Cybersecurity is not present enough on the agenda of CEOs. I hope this award will inspire them to read and pay attention to this book.
In his prologue to the book, published by Bloomsbury, Perlroth hopes he will shine “a glimmer of light on the highly secretive and largely invisible cyber weapons industry for us.” . . can have some of the necessary conversations now, before it’s too late ”.
The £ 30,000 prize, first awarded in 2005, goes to the book that presents “the most compelling and pleasant glimpse” of business problems.
Magnus Tyreman, managing partner of McKinsey Europe, who presented the award to Perlroth at a ceremony in London, said it was an “alarming book” which “presents a compelling, granular and compelling case. pragmatics of the vulnerability of global computer systems. , even if it is also accompanied by an urgent call for specific and systematic action ”.
At the same ceremony, academics Ines Lee and Eileen Tipoe received the Bracken Bower Prize of £ 15,000 for the best business book proposal by authors under the age of 35 for Class failure, on the future of higher education.
Tony Danker, Managing Director of CBI, the UK business association, was the guest speaker.
Authors of five other shortlisted books received £ 10,000. The other finalists were: The world for sale, by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, on the commodities boom; Empire of Pain, by Patrick Radden Keefe, on Purdue Pharma, the Sackler Family and the Opioid Epidemic; The conversation, by Robert Livingston, on race and racism in the workplace and in society; The new climate war, by Michael E Mann, on how to tackle climate change; and The aristocracy of talent, by Adrian Wooldridge, on the backlash against meritocracy.
Last year’s winner was Sarah Frier for No filter, his analysis of the growth of the social media business Instagram and its takeover by Facebook.
The other judges for the 2021 prize are: Mimi Alemayehou, senior vice-president of public-private partnerships in the humanitarian and development group of Mastercard; Mitchell Baker, Managing Director, Mozilla Corporation; Mohamed El-Erian, President, Queens’ College, Cambridge, and Advisor to Allianz and Gramercy; Herminia Ibarra, professor of organizational behavior, London Business School; James Kondo, President, International House of Japan; Randall Kroszner, professor of economics and associate dean of executive programs at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago; Raju Narisetti, Editor, Global Publishing, McKinsey; and Shriti Vadera, President, Prudential.
