WHAT THE NEXUS TEAM IS READING OVER CHRISTMAS (AND WHY YOU SHOULD TOO)

 NICK CAMPBELL – CHAIR AND CEO

Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don’t Matter by Scott Adams

https://www.amazon.com.au/Win-Bigly-Persuasion-World-Matter/dp/0735219710

 The world-famous comic strip artist (Dilbert) and trained hypnotist, Scott Adams, recognized Donald Trump’s powers of persuasion before nearly anyone else.   Soon after Donald Trump declared his presidential candidacy, when most experts dismissed him as a joke who’d be gone before Iowa Scott Adams called Trump a master communicator in the same league as Abraham Lincoln and Steve Jobs.

As a student of the art and science of persuasion, Adams recognized Trump’s deep toolbox for persuasion. On his popular blog, Adams predicted that Trump could go all the way. The public response was ridicule, scorn, and even calls to boycott Dilbert. But ultimately, Adams was right and his critics were wrong. So what did Adams see that the pundits missed? The short answer is the power of irrationality.

 “As we enter 2020 and the upcoming US Presidential election campaign, this book has some interesting theories on how Donald Trump communicates and persuades his voters.  If you are a Republican, Democrat or just interested in communications in a disrupted world – this book provides some interesting insights into an area of much debate!” – Nick

CATHY DUNCAN – DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales

https://www.booktopia.com.au/any-ordinary-day-leigh-sales/book/9780143789963.html

The day that turns a life upside down usually starts like any other, but what happens the day after? Dual Walkley Award-winner Leigh Sales investigates how ordinary people endure the unthinkable.

As a journalist, Leigh Sales often encounters people experiencing the worst moments of their lives in the full glare of the media. But one particular string of bad news stories – and a terrifying brush with her own mortality – sent her looking for answers about how vulnerable each of us is to a life-changing event. What are our chances of actually experiencing one? What do we fear most and why? And when the worst does happen, what comes next?

In this wise and layered book, Leigh talks intimately with people who’ve faced the unimaginable, from terrorism to natural disaster to simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Expecting broken lives, she instead finds strength, hope, even humour. Leigh brilliantly condenses the cutting-edge research on the way the human brain processes fear and grief and poses the questions we too often ignore out of awkwardness. Along the way, she offers an unguarded account of her own challenges and what she’s learned about coping with life’s unexpected blows.

 “Being fascinated in how incredibly different our reactions can be to the same or similar events, there is no better way to learn and understand ourselves and others than from people’s real life experiences. I’m looking forward to how Leigh explores the human side of these life changing events and what happens afterwards. I am sure to learn a lot along the way.” – Cathy

SARAH CULLENS – MANAGING DIRECTOR

Becoming by Michelle Obama

https://www.booktopia.com.au/becoming-michelle-obama/book/9780241334140.html

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America-the first African-American to serve in that role-she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her-from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it-in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations-and whose story inspires us to do the same.

“As a keen observer of American politics and the rise of influential female leaders around the world, I’m interested to learn more about Former President Obama’s partner in life and politics, and how she worked her way up with her husband from relative austerity to the highest office in the free world.  I believe there is something we can all learn from Mrs Obama’s positive, can-do and optimistic approach to life.” – Sarah

GREG HOLLAND – SPECIAL COUNSEL

James Cook: The Story Behind the Man who Mapped the World by Peter Fitzsimmons

The name Captain James Cook is one of the most recognisable in Australian history – an almost mythic figure who is often discussed, celebrated, reviled and debated.

But who was the real James Cook?

This Yorkshire farm boy would go on to become the foremost mariner, navigator and cartographer of his era, and to personally map a third of the globe. His great voyages of discovery were incredible feats of seamanship and navigation. Leading a crew of men into uncharted territories, Cook would face the best and worst of humanity as he took himself and his crew to the edge of the known world – and beyond.

“Representing the Federal Member for Cook, Hon Scott Morrison, as a Member of the Australian and New South Wales Board of the 2020 Kamay Project, commemorating  the Gweagal community of the Dharawal Nation and the first encounter with James Cook and the crew of the HM Endeavour who landed at Kurnell in 1770 it’s important to understand the historical context of both the man, his voyage and the original inhabitants.” – Greg

RICHARD BROOKS – PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

In July 2015, a young black woman named Sandra Bland was pulled over for a minor traffic violation in rural Texas. Minutes later she was arrested and jailed. Three days later, she committed suicide in her cell. What went wrong? Talking to Strangers is all about what happens when we encounter people we don’t know, why it often goes awry, and what it says about us.

How do we make sense of the unfamiliar? Why are we so bad at judging someone, reading a face, or detecting a lie? Why do we so often fail to ‘get’ other people?

Through a series of puzzles, encounters and misunderstandings, from little-known stories to infamous legal cases, Gladwell takes us on a journey through the unexpected. You will read about the spy who spent years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the man who saw through the fraudster Bernie Madoff, the suicide of the poet Sylvia Plath and the false conviction of Amanda Knox. You will discover that strangers are never simple.

No one shows us who we are like Malcolm Gladwell. Here he sets out to understand why we act the way we do, and how we all might know a little more about those we don’t.

“Malcolm Gladwell is a great writer! This book looks interesting as it explores the biases and challenges that people face in communicating with one another which hopefully can provide some insights into how to achieve even more positive communications’ – Richard

NARI CLAYTON – PUBLIC AFFAIRS COORDINATOR

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

 Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, is a modern classic. Now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel.

More than fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, the theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead maintains its grip on power, but there are signs it is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, the lives of three radically different women converge, with potentially explosive results.

Two have grown up as part of the first generation to come of age in the new order. The testimonies of these two young women are joined by a third voice: a woman who wields power through the ruthless accumulation and deployment of secrets.

As Atwood unfolds The Testaments, she opens up the innermost workings of Gilead as each woman is forced to come to terms with who she is, and how far she will go for what she believes.

Is there anything better than finally having a nagging question answered? Like most, what happens to often has been a question I’ve wanted answered since I first started reading Margaret Atwood. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting an answer and seeing how Atwood has used more recent political events to influence her writing. 

 ALEX KNOOP – ANALYST

The PM Years by Kevin Rudd

It was the coup that killed Australian politics.

Less than three years after taking government in a landslide election victory, Kevin Rudd was betrayed by his deputy and the factional powerbrokers of the Australian Labor Party, the ‘Faceless Men’, despite enjoying historically high personal and party approval ratings.

The betrayal of June 2010 is the most significant Australian political event of the century. No prime minister including Rudd has since seen out a full term before being dethroned by their own caucus. But how did party games in Canberra spiral so catastrophically out of control?

“My first memory of federal politics was of Kevin Rudd giving his winning speech in 2007 following the ‘Kevin07’ campaign. The change in the Labor leadership was the next one. For me, the leadership instability at the beginning of the decade has appeared to set a precedent for the years proceeding it, with 5 Prime Ministers in this decade alone. It will be interesting to read the thoughts of the man at the start of it all.”  – Alex

HAMISH WRIGHT – RESEARCHER

Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption by Stephen J. Harper

 The world is in flux. Disruptive technologies, ideas, and politicians are challenging business models, norms, and political conventions everywhere. How we, as leaders in business and politics, choose to respond matters greatly. Some voices refuse to concede the need for any change, while others advocate for radical realignment. But neither of these positions can sustainably address the legitimate concerns of disaffected citizens.

Right Here, Right Now sets out a pragmatic, forward-looking vision for leaders in business and politics by analyzing how economic, social, and public policy trends–including globalized movements of capital, goods and services, and labour–have affected our economies, communities, and governments. Harper contends that Donald Trump’s surprise election and governing agenda clearly signal that political, economic, and social institutions must be more responsive to legitimate concerns about public policy, market regulation, immigration, and technology.

“As governments and business attempt to grasp an increasingly populist and protectionist economic landscape, Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper provides valuable insight in this book, drawing from an extensive background in Economics and from his distinguished tenue as Canada’s 22nd Prime Minister.” – Hamish