Netflix is in the midst of a high-stakes battle to acquire Warner Bros., a deal that could dramatically reshape Hollywood’s power structure. But amidst the uncertainty, co-CEO Ted Sarandos isn’t looking toward traditional management books for leadership advice.
In fact, the 61-year-old executive doesn’t like to read business books—at all. He instead often returns to his favorite work of fiction: Typhoon, a 1902 Joseph Conrad novella about a steamship captain and crew navigating a severe storm while at sea.
“It doesn’t sound like a management story on the surface, but I think it’s the most powerful leadership story I’ve ever read,” Sarandos recently told CNBC. “I read it over and over again because I find … I get something different in the book every time I read it.”
Typhoon follows a captain forced to make difficult decisions with limited information as the ship faces extreme conditions. Goodreads describes the book as an exploration of leadership, tolerance, and the consequences of making decisions under pressure.
When Sarandos first read the novella some two decades ago, he admitted he thought the captain was a reckless “hot dog” who was endangering his crew. Over time, his interpretation shifted.
“Now, what I see is that when you go through life and you go through business, you make a lot of decisions that don’t turn out the way you thought they would,” Sarandos added to CNBC. “The real leadership test is: How do you manage through that?”
Fortune reached out to Netflix for further comment.
Even business leaders like Bill Gates and Elon Musk take time to turn off the screen and escape inside a good book
Sarandos’s preference for fiction over traditional management books—or even reading at all—may surprise some, especially considering reading is on the decline. Less than half of all Americans did not read a single book in 2025, and daily reading for pleasure has plummeted 40% over the past two decades.
However, reading is an activity shared by many of the world’s most influential business leaders. A recent JPMorgan survey of more than 100 billionaires found that reading is the most commonly cited habit tied to the success of some of the world’s wealthiest families.
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates regularly reads more than 50 books a year. And while many of them end up being works of nonfiction, when he does pick up a work of fiction, he makes sure to “read about interesting characters who help me see the world in a new way.” In a November blog post, Gates recommended Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, a novel about finding meaning in life, especially as you get older.
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has spoken about books that shaped him, citing Phil Knight’s memoir, Malala Yousafzai’s autobiography, and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird during a 2023 appearance on Dua Lipa’s podcast.
And Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has also long credited reading with helping him build foundational knowledge. As a child, he said he spent hours immersed in science fiction and encyclopedias. More recently, he encouraged people to read Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series and called The Hitcherhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams his “favorite philosopher.”
“I’d encourage people to read a lot of books,” Musk said on Lex Fridman’s podcast. “Basically try to ingest as much information as you can and try to develop a good general knowledge.”
