Why does Bill Gates want you to read The Myth of the Strong Leader?

The Microsoft billionaire's annual reading list includes a 2014 study by British political scholar Archie Brown - a choice, he says, that was inspired by the US election

If there's one thing more valuable to an author than a Richard and Judy endorsement circa 2006, it's a Bill Gates plug circa this week. The man has reach, and the luxury of reading time that comes with being a semi-retired billionaire. And he has weight. So, while four of the books on his annual list cover predictable if fascinating ground (genetics, tennis, electricity infrastructure and a business memoir), the fifth is quite interesting, not to say timely.

In The Myth of the Strong Leader, the renowned British political scholar Archie Brown throws a dozen world leaders of the past century into a bag, shakes them up, and watches the nice guys rise to the top. Brown debunks the idea that the most successful leaders are those who dominate and mould their nations around themselves, as far as their political systems allow. "A more collegial style of leadership is too often characterised as a weakness," he writes.