The key facts
- Nazi Aripdjanova worked at JETRO for more than 11 years, has headed the American Chamber of Commerce in Uzbekistan since 2016, and has worked at The Coca-Cola Company since 2018.
- She named six books: Marquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', Elkington's 'Cannibals with Forks', Isaacson's 'Steve Jobs', Steinbeck's 'The Winter of Our Discontent', Orwell's '1984' and Schultz's 'Pour Your Heart Into It'.
- According to her, reading is a tool for professional development, and the books are united by an interest in people, their choices and the consequences of those choices.
Who is Nazi Aripdjanova
Nazi Aripdjanova is an expert in international economic cooperation and business relations. She worked at JETRO for more than 11 years, has headed the American Chamber of Commerce in Uzbekistan since 2016, and since 2018 has worked at The Coca-Cola Company, where she is responsible for government relations, communications and sustainable development in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The role of reading in her career
In a conversation with Spot.uz, Aripdjanova said that books are important to her not only in her career but also in life. At different stages they provided different knowledge: in marketing they helped her understand consumers and the market, while in corporate relations and interaction with government bodies they remain a tool for professional development. She notes that a diploma obtained many years ago cannot contain answers to all questions, and books allow one to broaden one's horizons and look at tasks from a different angle. She calls herself 'a very selective reader': there are periods of reading for pleasure, and there are times when a book becomes the answer to a specific life or work question.
What is on her shelves
In Aripdjanova's home library, a significant part is taken up by fiction — world classics and contemporary writers. According to her, many people in the post-Soviet space have Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Remarque or Bulgakov at home, and her library is no exception. A separate place is occupied by books on leadership, management, strategy and personal effectiveness, such as Stephen Covey's 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' and Jim Collins' Good to Great. She also reads a lot in electronic format, and especially loves biographies and the founding stories of major companies like Nike or Starbucks. All the books, in her opinion, are united by a theme: she has always been interested in books about people, their choices and the consequences of those choices.
Six recommended books
Aripdjanova read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' at the beginning of her career on the recommendation of a colleague. The book, about the fate of a family reflecting an entire society, taught her to look at events more broadly and to see the historical roots of modern processes. She read John Elkington's 'Cannibals with Forks' while working in the field of corporate relations; the book introduced her to the concept of the Triple Bottom Line — evaluating a company's success not only by financial indicators but also by its impact on people and the environment. According to her, sustainable development is effective only when it becomes part of the business strategy, rather than a separate charitable project.
Biographies and classics
She read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs almost immediately after its release. She remembered the author's approach: Isaacson does not create an ideal hero, but shows a living person with strengths and weaknesses. The book, according to Aripdjanova, helped her realize that the opinion of the majority is not always right, and showed the importance of the courage to think differently. She read John Steinbeck's 'The Winter of Our Discontent' in her first year at university on the advice of a cousin; the book was memorable for its reflections on honesty, temptations, compromises and the price of success. She first read George Orwell's novel '1984' 15 years ago and still returns to its ideas: the book taught her to be more critical of information and to look for primary sources, which is important in a profession related to communications.
The Starbucks story
Howard Schultz's 'Pour Your Heart Into It' is the autobiographical story of the transformation of a chain of three coffee shops in Seattle into the global corporation Starbucks. Aripdjanova read it several years ago, and as she was getting acquainted with the story of Starbucks' transformation, a global reorganization was taking place at Coca-Cola — this helped her better understand the logic of top management. According to her, it is not a story about coffee, but a story about people, values and long-term vision: a strong brand is created not by advertising, but by the company's attitude toward employees, customers and society, and reputation is formed by the daily decisions of the business.
