Summer Reading List: How to Get Rich Quick, or at Least Kill a Few Hours

Ever since I can remember, I have read to enrich my experiences. So now, as a proud business school graduate, I can reflect on the books that enhanced my MBA experience. Regardless of career or sector, I think all of the titles below have valuable lessons that one can apply both professionally and personally. Happy reading and if you aren’t a millionaire after reading these, it’s probably your own fault!

The Clichés: From Barbarians to Billionaires

Barbarians at the Gate– Described by a MarketWatch columnist as “the best business book ever”, this was the first book I read during my MBA. The history of CEO Ross Johnson’s bidding war against KKR reads like a thriller and reinforced a number of fundamental concepts I learned in my introductory corporate finance class. For example: DCFs, earnings multiples, and comparable transactions are great estimates of what a business is worth, but the true value of a company is what someone is willing to pay for it.

Simply Managing – This book should be required reading for MBAs. In less than 200 pages, it highlights all the key challenges of leading teams and organizations. Anyone with even the slightest management experience will relate to the concepts and anecdotes. As I read Simply Managing, I took solace in the fact that the issues I faced managing people were standard among accomplished managers in a variety of different industries.

Business Adventures – Affectionately known as the “Bible for Billionaires”, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates’ favorite business book is a collection of 12 New Yorker articles about business in America in the last century. Reading this book did not bring me any closer to either of these men’s net worth, but I did learn about how a mine discovery in Canada led to the creation of modern insider trading law. It’s also interesting to see how older companies such as Ford, Xerox and GE have changed since the 1950s as well as what characteristics from 70 years ago still define these organizations.

The Realities of Global Business

Mr. China – I moved to China in 2007 because I was excited about opportunities in emerging markets. After chatting with other foreigners in Beijing in 2008, a friend suggested I read this book to better understand the challenges faced by the first expatriate investors. Mr. China taught me that while there are interesting opportunities in developing countries, a high level of cultural understanding and persistence is required to succeed.

The Silent War – Before Tom Friedman became a self-appointed expert on globalization; Ira Magaziner was helping international governments apply the principles of competitive markets to their policy decisions. This book significantly increased my understanding of how the emerging economies of the 1980s such as South Korea developed global industries and what American companies were doing to remain competitive. The Silent War is also an interesting parallel for the current rise of the BRIC nations. In my opinion, the book serves as reassurance that the success of the developing nations of my generation will have a positive effect on the US economy in the long run.

Heroes, Heroines and My Favorite Book of All

Master of the Senate – Most business school reading lists include Robert Caro’s biography of Robert Moses, the man who built modern New York City. However, reading Caro’s book about how Lyndon Johnson went from a junior senator from Texas to the Majority leader, remade the role of the Majority leader, and passed the Voter Rights Act is just as awe-inspiring. The way Lyndon Johnson develops and uses power in the Senate has direct implications for world of business.

Clay Water Brick – Though microfinance and impact investing are becoming mainstream, they are still relatively new concepts. Clay Water Brick is a firsthand account of the creation of Kiva, a peer-to-peer lending platform that changed the way people think about international aid. As an MBA interested in the social sector, I enjoyed reading about how Jessica Jackley’s experiences with NGOs and business school mirrored my own. A great read for anyone interested in development, entrepreneurship, or starting a social movement from the bottom up.

Asshole – My favorite business book of all time. For anyone who will never embody the seven habits of effective people, or want to, Martin Kihn’s fake self-help book about his journey from nice guy to asshole is both fun and informative. Asshole is full of chapter titles and concepts everyone can relate to, like “Think Win/Lose” and “Be the Alpha Dog”. On a more serious note, since I typically lean toward being too nice, it was helpful for me to think about what aggressive professional qualities are advantageous in a professional environment.

Isaac Gross is a member of the 2015 MBA class at London Business School. Before coming to London Business School, Isaac worked for the Clinton Health Access Initiative in West Africa and the USA. In Africa, Isaac managed a $10 million HIV medication donation, which provided lifesaving medication to over 50,000 people. He also advised governments on cost reduction strategies. In one instance, he helped Ivory Coast save over $3 million by convincing policy makers to update their HIV treatment protocols and buy medication from low-cost generic manufacturers. Isaac is at London Business School because he wants to transition from public health to development finance. He is on the executive committees of the Africa and Net Impact Clubs at London Business School and enjoys playing golf, tennis and rugby. Isaac graduated from Brown University in 2007 with a Bachelors in Science in Psychology.