About Antoine Marchand

I'm Antoine Marchand. I ran commercial operations for international industrial businesses for over thirty years, the last part of it as a vice president leading a team of about thirty people across market intelligence, business development and sales operations. Before that I was an engineer, which is why I distrust any book that can't be reduced to a decision someone has to make on a Tuesday.

I trained as an engineer first: a master's, then a doctorate. The MBA came mid-career, while I was working full time, and it changed how I worked. Engineering teaches you to get things right by testing and iterating. Business rarely gives you that room; you often get one shot at a pricing decision, a hire or a market entry. The MBA was where I learned how to do it right the first time instead of by trial and error. I've since used that in large corporations and in businesses I've started myself. I trained at engineering and business schools in France, Britain and the United States, and I've lived and worked on three continents, including a long stretch in Asia. I've hired, promoted and let people go. I've built forecasts that were wrong and a few that were right. That experience is the filter for everything on this site.

Why this site exists

Most "best MBA books" lists are written for exam candidates by people who haven't managed anyone. The same ten titles get recycled with no opinion attached. If you're a working executive, in an EMBA or thinking about one, or newly promoted into a job where the finance suddenly matters, you need something different: a curriculum, not a listicle, and someone willing to say which book to skip.

How I choose

The picks on this site are mine. I rank by what you can use, not by what gets cited, and I'll tell you which chapters to read if you only have a weekend, and what to read instead if a famous book doesn't earn its reputation.

How these reviews are written

I set the verdict on every book, who it's for, who should skip it and what to read instead. The write-ups are drafted with AI from those notes and from the book itself, then I edit them and put my name on them. If a review says something a book doesn't, that's on me; tell me and I'll fix it.

What I don't do

No paid placements, no ratings I didn't give, no star counts copied from anywhere. The site earns a commission when you buy through a link to Amazon; that costs you nothing and doesn't change which books I recommend.

I write from Texas, where I now live, and I'm old enough to have read most of these in print before they were on Kindle.