Your 2022 summer reading list
Faculty and staff across the Warrington College of Business selected their recommendations for books to read this summer. See their selections and what you’ll get out of reading each in the list below.
What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World
By Tina Seelig
“Major life transitions such as leaving the protected environment of school or starting a new career can be daunting. It is scary to face a wall of choices, knowing that no one is going to tell us if we make the right decision. There is no clearly delineated path or recipe for success. Even figuring out how and where to start can be a challenge.
As head of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Tina Seelig’s job is to guide her students as they make the difficult transition from the academic environment to the professional world—providing tangible skills and insights that will last a lifetime. Seelig is a wildly popular and award-winning teacher and in What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 she shares with us what she offers her students –provocative stories, inspiring advice, and a big dose of humility and humor.
These pages are filled with captivating examples, from the classroom to the boardroom, of individuals defying expectations, challenging assumptions, and achieving unprecedented success. Seelig throws out the old rules and provides a new model for reaching our potential. We discover how to have a healthy disregard for the impossible; how to recover from failure; and how most problems are remarkable opportunities in disguise.”
– Jamie Kraft, Director, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center
How Democracies Die
By Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
“Perhaps the very best of the many recent, excellent books on Rule of Law; it is a succinct but global and historic account of how leaders can subvert the very democracies in which they rose to power, pushing their countries into authoritarianism.”
– Robert Emerson, Huber Hurst Professor of Business Law, Department of Management
How People Matter: Why it Affects Health, Happiness, Love, Work and Society
By Isaac Prilleltensky and Ora Prilleltensky
Book Summary: Mattering, is about feeling valued and adding value. Every human has this need to feel valued by, add value to, ourselves, others , co-workers, family and community. This book is a good read on understanding mattering. As business leaders , it is important to make people who work for you, with you, feel they matter, just as it is important in other relationships in life. In a world were most people are focused on self and what they need- I found this book a refreshing change. Reading this book helps you focus on this important idea of making people matter.
– Pratibha Singh, Admissions Coordinator, Master of International Business, Master of Science in Management and Master of Science in Marketing programs
10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management
By Hyrum W. Smith
“We feel stress and anxiety when what we do does not align with our core values and deepest beliefs about ourselves. This book is a life-long guide meant to be revisited again and again, especially when one is unsure of the direction they are going in life and unsure if they are making the right choices. When you align your daily activities with your core values (and once you identify them through this book), you productivity will soar and you will feel a great sense of inner peace and satisfaction.”
– Alex Salamanca, International Programs Advisor, Heavener School of Business
Who Gets What – And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design
By Alvin E. Roth
“This fun and compelling book written by a Nobel Prize winner illustrates how market design works in reality.”
– Liangfei Qiu, Associate Professor, Department of Information Systems and Operations Management
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
By Patrick Lencioni
Book Summary: Throughout the story, Lencioni reveals the five dysfunctions which go to the very heart of why teams even the best ones-often struggle. He outlines a powerful model and actionable steps that can be used to overcome these common hurdles and build a cohesive, effective team.
– Morgan Marvin, Director of Marketing, UF MBA
Nudge: The Final Edition
By Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
“Learn to make better decisions in every facet of life. Even if you read a previous version, this ‘final edition’ is a completely revised book.”
– Amy Parziale, Lecturer, Management Communication Center
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
By Dale Carnegie
“From the author of the famous “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, Dale Carnegie writes a masterpiece here about how to banish stress and worry and how to make decisions more quickly (and to have greater peace and satisfaction after making the decision). Whenever you’re feeling worried or unsure, just open the book to any of the short chapters for a few-minute read which will help put you on the right path. And use the strategies in your daily life to speed up your decision-making and allow you to think with more clarity (without all the distracting worries that don’t deserve a place in our thought processes).”
– Alex Salamanca, International Programs Advisor, Heavener School of Business
The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley
By Jimmy Soni
“This account of PayPal’s origins provides informative lessons on the development of successful business, as well as portraits of the founders and earliest employees, who became the technology industry’s most powerful network. The lessons include developing effective executive teams, making painful transitions, letting go of visions that customers won’t join, and learning when to make friends of enemies. From the founders and earliest employees, we learn about the unique characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, the sacrifices they make, and how they learn from failures and how to build upon successes.”
– Mark Jamison, Director, Public Utility Research Center
Atomic Habits
By James Clear
“After this quick read, students/alumni will feel empowered to create lasting, identity-level life changes. It’s surprisingly practical, and refreshingly fluff-free. You won’t be disappointed.”
– Carly Escue, Director of Graduate Business Career Services, Business Career Services
Player Piano
By Kurt Vonnegut
“Here is a ‘fictional’ look at the dystopian future as predicted by Kurt Vonnegut. A world dominated by automation and artificial intelligence. The only employed people are managers and engineers. Everyone is left to starve and prey on each other.”
– Trey Herb, A/V Systems Manager, Warrington College of Business
Play Nice but Win: A CEO’s Journey from Founder to Leader
By Michael Dell
“Play Nice but Win provides the history of Michael Dell’s entrepreneurial journey from college student start up to one of the world’s dominate technology companies. In an era where globalization and global supply chains have crumbled Dell provides an overview how he built this direct-to-consumer brand.”
– Alex Settles, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Management
Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice and Leadership
By Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal
Book Summary: Set aside trends to focus on the fundamentals of great leadership
Reframing Organizations provides time-tested guidance for more effective organizational leadership. Rooted in decades of social science research across multiple disciplines, Bolman and Deal’s four-frame model has continued to evolve since its conception over 25 years ago; the new sixth edition has been updated to include coverage of cross-sector collaboration, generational differences, virtual environments, globalization, sustainability, and communication across cultures.
– Karen Ehlers, Director of Professional Post Graduate Programs, Warrington College of Business
All the Light We Cannot See
By Anthony Doerr
“A beautifully told story of childhood, history, technology (radio), adversity, imagination, learning, and love (and so much more).”
– Robert Emerson, Huber Hurst Professor of Business Law, Department of Management
