Reading the world

Chinese titles published by Penguin Random House cover a wide range, from literature works by Nobel laureate Mo Yan to an autobiography by tennis champion Li Na.

That's why he met Grand Slam champion Li Na during his China visit. Penguin brought her autobiography, Li Na: My Life, to English-language readers.

Dohle says he feels privileged to have met Li, as a tennis fan and a pro himself in his younger days.

"Publishing is a people business," he says.

Dohle and his team upgraded the integrated group's logo and have sustained a momentum of selling more than 700 million books a year, from printed to audio to e-books. They've published more than 60 Nobel winners' works, and their authors keep sweeping awards.

The group earned $3.76 billion in 2015. It's among the United States' most popular employers.

Its core comprises 250 smaller publishing brands and imprints from different territories.

Dohle got his Chinese name, Du Lemeng (meaning a happy combination or alliance), while visiting the country in 2012, during the merger's final negotiations.

Dohle sees the merger as a combination of two communities into a family of creative homes that's successful "both on the business side and on the cultural side". The integration "increases our presence in the targeted growth markets of China, Brazil and India".

The secret to managing such a large community, he says, is "to run a large place like a small place, in that you can remain nimble and flexible".

He has organized the group, which operates in 25 countries and regions, in a decentralized way.