A reading list for any incoming graduate business student (especially Vanderbilt students)

I've been seeing a ton of posts over the last couple months from incoming Vanderbilt students proudly declaring their intentions to pursue an MBA and how excited they are to begin. Well, you folks should be.

You're about to go through two remarkably fast years of in-depth learning in one of the most vibrant and fun cities in America. But don't think your encyclopedia knowledge of country music or Tennessee whiskey will be enough to help you survive and thrive over these next eight mods. You need more than just coffee from the Starbucks across the street from Owen or beers and queso from Satco (which if you haven't already, you will learn about post haste).

Thus I submit to you all my recommended reading list for ANY incoming Owen student, whether you're a Master's of Accounting/Marketing/Finance student fresh out of college or an MBA student with ten+ years of work experience. Heck, many of these texts will be of use to any incoming graduate business student.

Having become a bookworm over the last half decade (mostly thanks to my wife Caitlin), I have come to recognize the power of knowledge gained through books (as opposed to a classroom lecture or a YouTube video or even in practice). Never doubt that these other methods play a vital role in education, but remember that the book (whether hardcover, paperback, Kindle, or even audiobook) provides a foundation learning skill - that is patience and persistence.

Anyone who is keen to see what I have read (or studied) can look at my Google spreadsheet where I keep my nerdy list for all to view.

Understanding Cultures

• Southerner’s Handbook - I learned some of the lessons here through my interactions with classmates who grew up in the south but this text, published by the editor of Garden and Gun magazine, will give you a tremendous insight into the food, home, and cultural foundations of the south.
• The Culture Map - You will likely meet someone from a different part of the country and world in your MBA studies. And if you don't, you are missing out on a huge

Foundational Meta-Knowledge

• Motivation Myth - You're going to run into difficulty, both during school and beyond. Understanding what the impetus for change us and how we can look at motivation, persistence, quitting, and habit
• Atomic Habits - James Clear's text has gotten a lot of press, and for good reason. This quote from his first chapter sums it up: “Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits weight to eating knowledge to learning clutter to cleaning You get what you repeat.”
• Ikigai - Introducing the Japanese concept of one's "reason for being," this book asks you to identify the intersection of four questions: What do you love to do? What are you good at? What can you be paid for? What does the world need?
• The Obstacle is the Way: Ryan Holiday has earned a reputation for his texts that illuminate Stoicism and its relevance to today's issues. This is one of those rare books that you read that shapes everything you think afterward. I cannot recommend this enough.

Career and Life Planning Guidance

• Designing Your Life / Designing Your Work Life - Bill Burnett and Dave Evans are two Stanford design school professors and entrepreneurs whose two books have made it so easy to bring design thinking into your work and personal life - and create the life you want.
• The First 90 Days - If you're changing jobs, functions, teams, or organizations, you need this book. It's THE playbook for changes and how you can establish yourself within that new job/function/team/organization.

Subject Matter Expertise/Functional Insights

• The Greatest Trade Ever / When Genius Failed / Liar's Poker - Stories of Wall Street culture at its finest…or worst, depending on how you look at it
• The Intelligent Investor / A Random Walk Down Wall Street / Irrational Exuberance - Seminal texts that will change your perspectives on the world of investing and finance and financial crises
• Work Rules - Laszlo Bock led People Ops at Google for years and his wisdom around how to run a strong organization (through your people) is second to none.
• The Challenger Sale - There is no sales major in business school, and yet many MBA's go into sales in some form. If you are considering it (and especially if you are not), read this book to understand how to challenge customers and in doing so, become a sales champion.

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If you'd like to read any of my other posts on reading, have a gander:

• 2020 - A Year of Reading and Learning in Review (January 4, 2021)
• Oh how I hated learning as a kid (May 21, 2019)
• Why I have a "To Learn" list vs. a "To Do" list (February 8, 2019)
• On the Importance of Reading and Learning (August 17, 2018)

Best of luck in your graduate business pursuits...it's going to be a heck of a journey!