What an MBA reading list should cover
A traditional MBA program usually spans a handful of areas: accounting and finance, strategy, marketing, operations, leadership and organizations, and entrepreneurship. Newer programs often add technology and ethics. A good reading list does not need to match any one school’s syllabus. It should give you a working vocabulary in each area and a few books that change how you think.
The lists below favor widely read books that have stayed in circulation. Editions and details change, so check the current edition before buying. None of this is a formal curriculum, and you will get more out of a handful of books you finish than a long list you skim.
Business foundations
These are the books to read first if terms like margin, cash flow and value proposition still feel fuzzy.
- The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman is a broad survey of how businesses create and deliver value. It works as a map you can use to decide where to dig deeper.
- The Ten-Day MBA by Steven Silbiger is a compact overview of the typical first-year topics. It reads more like a textbook summary than a narrative.
- Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman and Joe Knight is aimed at non-finance readers who need to understand financial statements well enough to ask good questions.
- Good to Great by Jim Collins looks at why some companies pulled ahead of their peers. It is popular, though its research approach has drawn criticism, so treat the conclusions as prompts for thought rather than rules.
Strategy and innovation
- Competitive Strategy by Michael Porter is a foundational text on industry analysis. It is dense but still widely referenced.
- Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt is shorter and more readable, and it is useful for spotting vague “strategy” that is really a list of goals.
- Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne argues for creating new market space instead of fighting over existing demand.
- The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen explains why successful companies can struggle when disruptive technologies arrive.
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries applies fast experimentation to new products and ventures.
Marketing and how buyers decide
- Influence by Robert Cialdini is a classic on the psychology of persuasion.
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman covers how people make judgments and why they often get them wrong. It is long, but valuable for pricing, negotiation and management.
- Purple Cow and This Is Marketing by Seth Godin offer a more modern, audience-first view. If you are unsure where to begin, our guide to the best Seth Godin book to start with can help.
- If your work involves writing for customers, see our list of copywriting books.
Leadership, management and negotiation
- High Output Management by Andy Grove is a practical look at how managers multiply the output of their teams.
- Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury is a short, much-cited introduction to principled negotiation.
- Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson and coauthors focuses on handling high-stakes talks at work.
- Give and Take by Adam Grant explores how generosity and self-interest play out in careers. It appears on GMAC’s own suggested pre-MBA reading list.
Entrepreneurship and operations
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel offers an opinionated take on building something new.
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz is a candid look at difficult management decisions in a startup.
- The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt teaches operations and constraints through a novel, which makes a dry subject easier to absorb.
- Measure What Matters by John Doerr introduces the OKR goal-setting approach.
Stories of business success and failure
Case studies are central to many MBA programs, and narrative books can serve a similar purpose. Examples include The Smartest Guys in the Room (the collapse of Enron) by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, and Bad Blood by John Carreyrou (the Theranos story). Memoirs also teach a lot about decisions under pressure. Our summary of Skunk Works looks at one engineering leader’s account of running a fast, secretive team.
A suggested reading order
- Start with one broad survey (The Personal MBA) and one finance primer (Financial Intelligence).
- Add a strategy book you can finish, such as Good Strategy/Bad Strategy.
- Pick one marketing and one psychology title (Influence, Thinking, Fast and Slow).
- Add leadership and negotiation reading (High Output Management, Getting to Yes).
- Finish with entrepreneurship and case-style stories.
Reading one book a month would take roughly a year to complete a list like this. Take notes, using methods such as those in our guide to annotating nonfiction, and try to apply one idea from each book at work or in a side project.
Can books replace an MBA?
Not entirely. A degree offers structured feedback, peers, recruiting access and a credential, which books do not. Books can, however, teach much of the underlying content for a fraction of the cost, and they are a reasonable way to test your interest before applying. If you are preparing for a program, GMAC’s own reading suggestions are a useful complement to a business-heavy list.
Frequently asked questions
What books do Harvard MBA students read?
Harvard’s program is known for the case method, so students spend much of their time on cases rather than a standard list of books. Specific course reading changes by year and professor, so check the school’s current materials rather than relying on a secondhand list.
Can I be CEO after an MBA?
Some CEOs hold MBAs, but the degree does not guarantee that path, and many leaders reach the top without one. Experience, results and opportunity matter at least as much.
Which MBA is most prestigious?
Prestige depends on the ranking, region and field. Published rankings differ, so it is worth comparing several and weighing fit, cost and career goals.
What books do CEOs read?
Executives report a wide mix, including strategy, biography, history and leadership titles. Many of the books above show up on such lists, but there is no single CEO canon.