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CFO readers, a few announcements to kick off the week. Two of my not-so-original new year’s resolutions are 1) to read more books, and 2) that common, perennial goal of getting in better physical shape.
A third goal is to enlist the expertise of our CFO Journal community to help us write smarter stories and make this newsletter, our webinars and our events more useful to you. (More on that below.)
A digression: I’ve long given up on regularly running, replacing that cardio exercise with cycling, which professional and amateur cyclists know requires the development of what’s called “fast-twitch” and “slow-twitch” muscle fibers, both of which you need to sprint, cruise or spin consistently for long distances.
I raise this because it got me thinking recently about “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” the classic book on behavioral science by Daniel Kahneman about what he called the two different modes of thinking:
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“System 1,” the faster and more instinctual form of thinking, and
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“System 2” thinking, which is obviously more slow and deliberative
The book (which my colleague Jason Zweig, a columnist at The Wall Street Journal, helped research and write) has been influential among a vast array of admirers including the Nobel Prize committee and corporate executives who drew from Kahneman’s research to deliberate more on good and bad decision-making, organizational and individual behavior and cognitive bias.
A second book on my reading list is also by a psychologist who has written many popular, best-selling books: Adam Grant, author of “Think Again.”
Longer Digression No. 2: Grant starts his book describing the Mann Gulch wildfire in Montana in 1949, and the story of 12 firefighters who died in the fast-moving blaze. Remarkably, three of the smokejumpers (who are elite firefighters who parachute into danger to extinguish forest fires) survived, including the foreman named Wagner Dodge, who bewildered his fellow smokejumpers when he climbed a ridge to escape the raging fire, and started lighting more fires with matches before waving for his colleagues to run to him as an escape. Most ignored him, thinking he was crazy. What they didn't realize was that he had made a crucial, split-second decision to consciously start another brush fire, to burn off potential fuel for the larger, expanding fire. That way, he reasoned, he could lie down in the burned-off field—and ultimately survive the
larger fire. Grant points to this anecdote as a counterpoint to the commonly held view of intelligence, which some define as the ability to think and learn. Grant argues that there is another key cognitive skill to success that matters even more, which is the ability to rethink and relearn. And in Dodge’s case, to do so instinctively and improvise on the fly.
These are just two books that I’m currently reading with my daughters, for our own private book club. I’d love to hear from others for your insight on those books, or other recommended reading that we can share.
✏️What do you think of these two books? Or, what’s the best book you would recommend to your finance team or a fellow CFO, as a good read for 2026? Please hit Reply to this newsletter or email me at walden.siew@wsj.com, and we’ll post some of the best recommendations and readership insight in a future column.
P.S. Here’s Jason’s response, to get everyone started:
“I read business books when I have to, not because I want to," Zweig told me. "When I'm not reading about business for work, I want to read a good novel or history book or art book. I don't want to have a one-track mind, and I don't think investors or businesspeople should, either."
His best picks?
"The best books I read in 2025 were "Resurrection," by Tolstoy, and Voltaire's "Candide" (3rd or 4th time for that one!). I also enjoyed Rabindranath Tagore's "Stray Birds," a book of poetic aphorisms."
Meanwhile, read on below for details of our WSJ CFO Council Summit, to be held in Palo Alto in March, where we’ll be looking forward to hearing how CFOs are navigating 2026.
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