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Today
George Jones
CEO of Borders
George Jones was a devoted customer of Borders bookstores for many years before he became CEO of the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company last July.
A passionate lover of books and music, Jones recalls "countless hours" spent browsing in one of the Borders chain's 1,200 stores. Taking the chief executive's job in July has cut into his reading time.
"I had a little bit more time for reading before coming to Borders," Jones says. But Jones is a night owl and squeezes in a few hours of reading between 10 p.m. and lights out at 2 a.m.
A few months at Borders have changed Jones' reading habits. "There are a lot of things I may have overlooked before," he says. "You get so much feedback from so many people who read a lot. I meet authors that I may have not thought about before."
His top three favorite books
*To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
*A Time to Kill by John Grisham
*Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
On To Kill a Mockingbird: Lee's 1960 novel that tells the story of Atticus Finch, a lawyer hired to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman in Alabama in the 1930s.
"I'm from the South and the people, places and events ... were especially vivid and real for me," he says. "There are a lot of things and lessons in life to be learned from this book -- respect for others, fairness and justice, being honest, being true to yourself. These are traits I really use in my philosophy of business and the rest of my life."
What he's reading now
*The Innocent Man by John Grisham
*Judge & Jury by James Patterson
*The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson
A recommended article
*Champions of Innovation, in the June 19 BusinessWeek, named the top 25 innovators in companies today.
On the Internet
*www.Favorites.com
"I was cruising it a lot before coming here, looking for housing, etc. It's amazing what you can find."
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