Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Business, Careers & Education › Reading recommendations prior to b-school
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Reading recommendations prior to b-school

post #1 of 20
12/2/12 at 10:35am
Thread Starter 
Unable to begin school for an MBA until fall of 2014...curious if anyone has any reading recommendations for me..don't necessarily have to be academic in nature but would like to begin educating myself to some extent. I do not have a business background/undergraduate, and while I am not completely clueless, my depth of knowledge is pretty shallow.

Thoughts?
Reply
Reply

Featured Stories on Styleforum

Follow Styleforum on Facebook for the latest news and our random ramblings
Drake's London at Pitti Uomo 83
The official Alden discussion thread
post #2 of 20
12/2/12 at 11:01am

In no particular order:

 

  • Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher

 

  • The Leader in You, Dale Carnegie

 

  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey

 

  • Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis

 

  • The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, Peter M. Senge

 

  • Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy

 

  • Winning, Jack Welch

 

 

The above are some of the best books I read during my M.B.A. program. I enjoyed business school, and I think I acquired skills and changed my thinking in ways to bring me life-long benefits. It may seem like a lot of books, but this just scratches the surface of the number of books I read during business school. 

 

 

Good luck.

Reply
Reply
post #3 of 20
12/2/12 at 2:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoeShopperJ View Post

In no particular order:
  • Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Roger Fisher
  • The Leader in You, Dale Carnegie
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey
  • Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis
  • The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization, Peter M. Senge
  • Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy
  • Winning, Jack Welch


The above are some of the best books I read during my M.B.A. program. I enjoyed business school, and I think I acquired skills and changed my thinking in ways to bring me life-long benefits. It may seem like a lot of books, but this just scratches the surface of the number of books I read during business school. 


Good luck.
Senge has written a few great books. I'm about a week from finishing up my MBA program. Ironically, the books I enjoyed the most were the ones that dealt around being an effective and ethical leader.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 20
12/6/12 at 8:25pm
Howard Schultz: Pour Your Heart Into It
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 20
12/7/12 at 8:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizzeak View Post

Howard Schultz: Pour Your Heart Into It
That is also a good book, in addition to the one written by Tony Hsieh of Zappos. I was able to appreciate these books only after reading books like True North first.

OP: I was like you. My BS and first master's were in a scientific field. I never took a biz class until the MBA program and I loved it all. I wouldn't read any of the textbooks because it would bore you to death and you wouldn't be able to comprehend the material.
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 20
12/7/12 at 10:03pm
Subscribe to The Wall Street Journal and start reading it daily.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 20
12/7/12 at 10:20pm
I received a free subscription for Bloomberg Weekly (it's not really free, probably added into the tuition) during my MBA course, and I really liked the magazines. I wish I had more time to read some of them (they got delivered on Saturdays and sometimes the heavy work didn't afford me to read the the articles I wanted to).
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 20
12/8/12 at 12:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by calisanfran View Post

Subscribe to The Wall Street Journal and start reading it daily.

Best advice so far. The app works pretty well if you dont want to bother with paper.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 20
12/8/12 at 10:16pm
The Tipping Point is an interesting book, and not a difficult read either. I don't know if its too MBA related, and it is a tad bit redundant, but still some good came from it for me.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 20
12/9/12 at 12:05pm

How Countries Compete by Richard H.K. Vietor. Light read, and really interesting. 

Reply
Reply
post #11 of 20
12/9/12 at 2:21pm

I used to read the WSJ daily since undergrad, but I ironically stopped DURING business school. Especially after if not during an MBA program, you will come across a lot of buried stories. We had a class on the financial fallout and had to do brief presentations on difficult culprits. Anyway, a part of my presentation was the burying of bad economic news.

 

 

But since we are recommending periodicals and not just books, WSJ is probably fundamental - but so is the HBR. I have not read the HBR for a while, but I used to always enjoy reading it.

 

 

Personally, I prefer the Financial Times to the WSJ; but you should get both. 

Reply
Reply
post #12 of 20
12/9/12 at 7:00pm
What will your focus be?
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 20
12/9/12 at 8:05pm
WSJ and Fin times make sense for folks in Finance.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 20
12/9/12 at 9:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShoeShopperJ View Post

I used to read the WSJ daily since undergrad, but I ironically stopped DURING business school. Especially after if not during an MBA program, you will come across a lot of buried stories. We had a class on the financial fallout and had to do brief presentations on difficult culprits. Anyway, a part of my presentation was the burying of bad economic news.


But since we are recommending periodicals and not just books, WSJ is probably fundamental - but so is the HBR. I have not read the HBR for a while, but I used to always enjoy reading it.


Personally, I prefer the Financial Times to the WSJ; but you should get both. 
HBR is good, but costly. Of course as ethical businessmen we should purchase the articles smile.gif
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 20
12/10/12 at 8:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wj4 View Post


HBR is good, but costly. Of course as ethical businessmen we should purchase the articles smile.gif

 

I actually never subscribed; I would just read a copy in the library.

 

By the way, someone recommended True North by Bill George, and that is another book I read during business school that I would recommend now.

Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Business, Careers & Education

Featured Stories on Styleforum

Follow Styleforum on Facebook for the latest news and our random ramblings
Drake's London at Pitti Uomo 83
The official Alden discussion thread
Styleforum › Forums › Lifestyle › Business, Careers & Education › Reading recommendations prior to b-school