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 from gender imbalance in business 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:
The Financial Times and McKinsey & Company also announced Nora Rosendahl as the winner of the 2016 Bracken Bower Prize, an award that encourages young authors to tackle emerging business themes, with a focus on the challenges and opportunities presented by growth. 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.