32 books on everything from cautionary tales of young Wall Street to the science of sleep that rising stars in finance say you should read to get ahead

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Rising star: Alexis Rosenblum, chief corporate sustainability officer, BlackRock

Throughout the pandemic, Rosenblum has switched to audiobooks — “I’m not sure why, but I think that’s the only time I get out of the house: when I take a walk in the afternoon, put my headphones in, and listen to something” — and recently listened to“Dare to Lead”, a book by Brené Brown.

It resonated with Rosenblum, who said that she’s always been drawn to learning about the field of psychology, and Brown explores human themes like empathy, courage, and shame.

Brown builds the book around the famous “arena” quote from Theodore Roosevelt, about credit belonging “to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood.” It inspired Rosenblum, who took away lessons about being a leader.

“Leaders are in the arena, and there are lots of people in the stands who are there just to criticize or comment on what you’re doing. But being in the arena takes courage. It gives you a lot of advice around, how do you think about having that courage?” she said.