Hi, this is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. At fall reunions, we set up shop on campus and asked alumni about what media moved them this year. What changed their minds or their hearts. And their answers ran the gamut—from podcasts to newsletters, to books, to movies, to streaming mini-series—essentially any, and every platform. And in this special end of the year episode of Skydeck, we offer you their must-reads, must-listens, and must-watches of 2023. Enjoy.

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Allison Phillips (MBA 1988): Allison Phillips, and I'm class of 1988. The book is called The Empire of the Summer Moon by S. C. Gwynne, and it's all about the Indian Wars and how it aligns with the Civil War and that time period. While it's about the Comanche and the settlers and all that was going on at that time and the politics of that era, it felt timeless to me because it felt there were so many lessons that we could learn today. Whether it's business or politics or just international relations I just found it very interesting.

Marcus Wedner (MBA 1988): Marcus Wedner, 1988. The book is called The Shards by Brett Easton Ellis. It's a terrific, fictional account, although told in the first person of growing up wealthy, dysfunctional in Beverly Hills, California. I grew up not there, but near there and right around that same period. And the level of detail around places and what was going on historically at the time is just brilliant.

Kelly Mackey (AMP 1999, 2021): My name is Kelly Mackey, AMP 2021. My favorite podcast has to be Deep Purpose by Ranjay Gulati. I read his book, I joined one of his classes last year, and it's been fantastic. So much so that my company is now leveraging his material to train our employees. I work for Global Healthcare Exchange, where our purpose is to help reduce the cost of doing health care for citizens across the United States and in Europe, and bringing his Deep Purpose messaging to all of our employees creates so much engagement and excitement among our company that it's been fantastic.

Brian Crombie (MBA 1988): Brian Crombie. I'm 1988, section E. I think Oppenheimer is one of the best movies I've ever seen, and I think to understand that history, and how even the gentleman that invented, effectively, the atomic age, questioned the ethics of it.

And so I think it's a great movie to watch.

Munir Merali (AMP 184, 2013): This is Munir Merali graduate of AMP 184 in 2014. I recently saw with my family the Oppenheimer movie, and what was moving in that was the struggle that the scientists were having developing this technology. And today, we see the same issues coming up every day in the sense of the technology and where it's going—and while there are a lot of good things … It's going to improve our quality of life. It's going to make things easier. But at the same time, it can easily be misused as now we see what has happened to that technology which was developed so many years ago.

Teresa H. Clarke (MBA 1988/JD 1989): Teresa Clarke, JD MBA, MBA class of 1988. I have a good friend who went to the Law School, who ran the Ford Foundation's Global Human Rights Program. And he gave away hundreds of millions of dollars in every corner of the world to try to advance human rights, women's rights. And his big conclusion was that there isn't enough money in the world to change a society that doesn't respect women.

That this is something that happens through mass communications. And I think it's probably one of the reasons that many people have issues with rap music because we know that the misogyny that comes through the music has to affect the brains of those who are listening to it. And I really thought that Barbie was pink and fun and inviting. But the messages that it gives to the millions of people who watched it are all around women's empowerment. And I think that was what made it so dynamic.

Jagruti Oza (MBA 1988): I'm Jagruti Oza, class of 88. Oh, I love Barbie. I love Barbie. I'm not a Barbie fan. I wasn't a Barbie doll fan, I should say. But the movie was brilliant in how, with the context of Barbie's physique and the caricature of the ideal woman, but then translated that into a world where she had to deal with a lot of discrimination.

I think it was the humor that did it. I think if it had just been the pink outfits and their dolls and this sort of, this message, I don't think it would have resonated. Because then it would have seemed like a lecture or some righteous perspective.

Dan Morrell: We'll be right back.

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Karen Hung (MBA 1998): Hi, I'm Karen Hung with the class of 98, the mighty class of 98. One of my favorite recommendations for 2023 is the continuation of some of the Star Wars saga, including the latest, Ashoka, because it features a female, as the lead who is dauntless and just amazing in multiple skills in terms of her brains and her brawn.

Scott O'Neil (MBA 1998): Scott O'Neill, class of My recommendation for 2023 is Ted Lasso. It's the greatest show in the history of television. It's about inspiration, building teams, and how to overcome adversity. All those things are so pertinent today.

Guy Spier (MBA 1993): Guy Spier, class of 1993, Section E. The Chris Miller book on chip wars. That book really opened my mind up to what's going on in the semiconductor space, because it's not an easy space to understand, especially if you're a layperson.

And I didn't realize how many choke points there are, and how critical this technology is for just about everything that we're going to be looking at going forwards. We talk about wars over oil, for example, or wars over natural resources, but in this case, the ability to produce these really fast chips in large volume at low cost is something that very few people have.

Jeff Brown (MBA 1983): Jeff Brown, Class of 83, Section H. My recommendation for 2023, and this came from my son, is a set of podcasts called Revolutions by an amateur historian by the name of Mike Duncan, and it is awesome.

It's every bit of history that I didn't know, basically starting with the French Revolution and through the Russian Revolution, and it is just fabulous. And it's given me insights into where we are now. And I was just traveling through Europe, through Croatia, and Slovenia. It gave me incredible insights I would have never had, just in terms of why their cultures are the way they are.

Michael Depatie (MBA 1983): MIke Depatie, class of 1983, section G. I've discovered a podcast series called Founders. I've listened to a lot of 'em. But what this guy decided to do that did this podcast is to basically summarize about a thousand business biographies. And it's not only, that's historical figures as well. And as one comes out every week and it is like a mini Harvard MBA. It's all the people you might expect.

And it's an hour summary of maybe a thousand page book of people in business that have been successful and about their business strategy, about them as people. And I find it really, really kind of fun.

Elizabeth Pulver Castleman (MBA 1993): Elizabeth Pulver Castleman, 93. I've always been really interested in Arthur Brooks's articles and books that he's written. From Strength to Strength, it was my favorite book of 2023. Listening to him read that book was just so powerful to me. And now his new book also just reiterates a lot of themes that were really important for me to know, especially at this time in my life and career. He makes it so incredibly interesting and easy to understand and make changes and take actions to improve relationships and outcomes.

Linda Cardillo Platzer (MBA 1978): This is Linda Cardillo Platzer. I am class of 1978, section G. I read, every day, Heather Cox Richardson's Letter from an American. She's a professor of history who places current events in the context of our American history and she's fascinating and profound.

I never miss reading her, so I strongly recommend it. As for books, I finished Dennis Lehane's Small Mercies a few weeks ago. It brought me right back to … I was in Boston at that time. And remember vividly what the city was like. And I think he captures so much of that complexity of o ur city and the city's life.

Roberta Sydney (MBA 1983): Roberta Sydney, Class of 1983, Section I. My recommendation is The Four Factors of Trust, How Organizations Can Earn Lifelong Loyalty, written by Ashley Reicheld and Amelia Dunlop. It breaks down how important trust is for organizations and, most importantly, how to build it and how to measure if you're actually achieving what you need to. It's short. It's sweet. 310 pages. You can read it in a weekend.

Skydeck is the Harvard Business School alumni podcast, featuring interviews and insights from across the world of business. It’s produced by the External Relations Department at HBS. Our audio engineer is Craig McDonald.

It is available on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your favorite podcasts. And If you could take a moment to rate and review us, we’d be grateful.

For more information, or to find archived episodes, visit alumni-dot-hbs-dot-edu-slash-skydeck.

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