Quick Start: The Best Books to Read First

The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List

2008 Edition: Revised and Updated

Top MBA programs don't have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List features only the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. So skip b-school and the $100,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

About This Category:

The Quick Start category will make it easy for you to set yourself up for success as you begin your self-education in business. The books in this category will teach you:

How to read faster and remember what you read.
How to identify, understand, and use your personal strengths.
Make you excited about what self-education can do for your career.

10 Days to Faster Reading by Abby Marks-Beale

When reading non-fiction, reading a book word-for-word is often a sub-optimal approach: non-linear reading strategies can help increase your reading speed while maintaining high comprehension. Developed by the Princeton Language Learning Institute, the reading techniques taught in 10 Days to Faster Reading are supported by research and very easy to understand and apply. I know they work from experience: by applying these techniques, I was able to review hundreds of books in the process of creating the PMBA Recommended Reading List.

I’ve reviewed many reading skills programs, including one that cost over $200, and this book is the best: superior content at a very reasonable price. By reading 10 Days to Faster Reading and working each day to improve your reading skills, you’ll be able to work your way through the Personal MBA in record time.

Here's a bonus: for a quick, free primer on effective non-fiction reading techniques, check out How to Read a Book (PDF) by Paul N. Edwards.

StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath

If you want to enjoy your work and get important things done, you need to focus on your strengths instead of shoring up your weaknesses. StrengthsFinder 2.0 will help you identify your areas of natural talent, allowing you to make the best use of your limited time and energy.

The result of a wide body of research conducted by the Gallup Organization, this book identifies 34 distinct, statistically-significant areas where people naturally tend to exhibit consistent, near flawless performance, and created an online assessment to help you discover your personal strengths.

Each copy of this book comes with an access code for newly-updated Gallup’s StrengthsFinder assessment, an online tool that helps you identify and understand your own unique combination of strengths. (Be sure to get a new copy in order to get access to the assessment: used or library copies probably won’t work.)

The assessment is short but very illuminating, and includes personalized action recommendations that show you how your strengths interact with each other. Personally, I found the assessment and action plan extremely useful.

In addition to explaining how we develop our individual talents, StrengthsFinder 2.0 has a lot to say about diversity and why it is so important in business. Since everyone has a different combination of strengths, we all approach the world from a slightly different perspective. By working with people who possess a wide variety of skills and backgrounds and taking advantage of each individual's unique strengths, you’ll be far more likely to lead your project to a successful outcome.

Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale

If you want to become a successful businessperson, you need to focus on serving others, develop a positive attitude, take responsibility for your life, and set goals. In Lead the Field, Earl Nightingale shares the ideas and mindset necessary to be successful in business and in life.

Earl Nightingale grew up in California during the Great Depression. His family was very poor, so Earl educated himself in his local library. His main area of concern was success: what makes people turn out the way they do, both in terms of their wealth and happiness?

After beginning his career in the US Marines during World War II, Earl was hired as a radio announcer, eventually becoming a popular daily broadcaster for CBS. His interest in personal development and audio eventually led him to establish the Nightingale-Conant Corporation, where he focused on recording the ideas and lessons about success he had collected since he was a boy.

Lead the Field is a practical a course on how to think like a successful businessperson. The stories Nightingale uses to make his points are simple, but the lessons he teaches in these recordings are essential and timeless. After listening, you can't help but go out and make something good happen.

I've listened to this audio program over ten times, and each time I learn something new from it. If you want to have a wise mentor show you the things you need to succeed in any business or career, pick up Lead the Field.

The Art of Exceptional Living by Jim Rohn

If you're interested in the Personal MBA, chances are you won't be satisfied with living an ordinary life - you want to become extraordinary. In the The Art of Exceptional Living, Jim Rohn discusses the critical importance of establishing a personal philosophy and daily habits to create the life you want.

At the age of 25, Rohn found himself drowning in debt and obligations, with seemingly little opportunity to improve his situation. With the help of a mentor, Rohn realized that the real source of his problems wasn't his environment - it was how he chose to think about the world and his present circumstances.

Six years later, Rohn had eliminated his debt and increased his net worth to $1 million. In The Art of Exceptional Living, he discusses how he was able to make such a dramatic transformation, and how a few simple habits can put you on the path to success, however you define it.

Chief among the habits Rohn recommends is building a comprehensive personal library that covers a wide array of topics: sales, history, philosophy, accounting, finance, and law. If you're interested in quickly building your own library, you're in luck: the Personal MBA Complete Business Library is the best place to start.