The reading list for working executives
Twelve core courses. For every book: who should read it, who should skip it, and what to read instead.
Every title picked and reviewed by one person, Antoine Marchand: an engineer with a mid-career MBA and thirty years in commercial leadership.
Start here
Read them in this order. Each one stands in for a core course, and each review tells you whether to read it, skip it, or pick something else.
Go deeper
Each course page ranks the books worth your time, says which one to read first, and which well-known titles to skip.
Latest reviews
Michael E. Porter · 1980 · Advanced · about 16 h · $$
On reading lists at:Berkeley HaasNYU Stern
“The 1980 text that gave strategy the five forces and the generic strategies. Long and dense, but reading the original shows you what every later framework took from it and what the slide versions leave out.”
Reviewed October 2026
Karen Berman & Joe Knight · 2006 · Foundation · about 7 h · $
“The finance book I would hand to any newly promoted manager who now owns a budget or a P&L. Plain English, and honest about where the numbers are judgment rather than fact.”
Reviewed October 2026
Roger Fisher, William Ury & Bruce Patton · 1981 · Foundation · about 5 h · $
On reading lists at:MIT SloanNYU SternKelloggChicago Booth
“The book that gave negotiation its working vocabulary: interests over positions, options, objective criteria and BATNA. Strong as a framework for repeated dealings, light on counterparties who play hard.”
Reviewed October 2026
“The most useful strategy book for a working executive. Rumelt gives you a three-part test (diagnosis, guiding policy, coherent action) that exposes most annual plans as goals dressed up as strategy.”
Reviewed October 2026
Andrew S. Grove · 1983 · Core · about 8 h · $
“The operating manual for middle and senior managers. Grove treats management as production, and the approach works best for managers of managers who think in systems.”
Reviewed October 2026
Robert B. Cialdini · 1984 · Foundation · about 9 h · $
On reading lists at:Berkeley HaasChicago Booth
“The classic on why people comply: reciprocation, commitment, social proof, liking, authority, scarcity and, in the new edition, unity. Read it to use the principles honestly and to spot them when they are used on you.”
Reviewed October 2026
Who is choosing these books
Antoine Marchand is an engineer by training (master's and doctorate) who took an MBA mid-career and spent more than thirty years in commercial leadership at international industrial companies, including a decade in Asia. He reads business books the way he ran his teams: looking for what actually works.
How these reviews are written →Newsletter
A short email: the book, the one idea worth keeping, and how to use it at work on Monday.