Knowledge is power!

The more reading you can do about the business world, the better prepared you will be for determining your career objectives, interviewing, making a good career selection, and making a smooth transition into the civilian world.
While no list is all-inclusive, we feel the following to be particularly helpful. Let us emphasize that these are starting points only. (You do not have to read every book on the list!) When you come to a topic or theme that you find interesting, be sure to read other works as well.

General Career Information

Interviewing:

• The Interviewing Handbook for Military Leaders [Kreider]
• Knock’em Dead [Yate]
• Swim With The Sharks [MacKay]
• 101 Dynamite Questions to Ask at Your Job Interview [Fein]

Self Assessment:

• What Color is Your Parachute? [Bolles]—The oldest text of its kind helps you identify your strengths, weaknesses, objectives, and goals.
• Do What You Are : Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type [Tieger, Barron-Tieger]

Impact:

• How to Win Friends and Influence People [Carnegie]

Customer Focus

• Raving Fans [Blanchard & Bowles]
• Discovering the Soul of Service [Berry]

General Management/Business

• First, Break All the Rules : What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently [Buckingham & Coffman]
• Reengineering Management [Champy]
• Reengineering the Corporation [Hammer & Champy]
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People [Covey]
• The Discipline of Market Leaders [Treacy & Wiersema]
• Built to Last [Collins & Porras]
• Blur [Davis & Meyer]
• Lean Thinking [Womack & Jones]
• The Machine that Changed the World [Womack, Jones, & Roos]
• The Hunters and the Hunted [Swartz]
• Power Tools, A Leader’s Guide to the Latest Management Thinking [Nirenberg]
• Situational Leadership [Hersey]
• Man’s Search for Meaning [Frankel]

Manufacturing

• World Class Manufacturing - The Next Decade [Schonberger]
• The Goal [Goldratt & Cox]
• 21st Century Manufacturing: Creating Winning Business Performance [Gunn]

Quality/Process Improvement

• Beyond Quality: How 50 Winning Companies Use Continuous Improvement [Bowles & Hammond]
• Implementing Total Quality Management [Jablonski]
• ISO 9000:2000 Survival Guide [Anton]
• The Power of Six Sigma : An Inspiring Tale of How Six Sigma Is Transforming the Way We Work [Chowdhury]
• The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance [Pande et al]
• Beyond Quality: How 50 Winning Companies Use Continuous Improvement [Bowles & Hammond]
• Total Quality Management: Strategies and Techniques Proven at Today’s Most Successful Companies (The Portable MBA Series) [George & Weimerskirch]

Sales

• Integrity Selling [Willingham]
• The New Strategic Selling [Miller & Heiman]
• Compelling Selling [Lund]
• No Bull Selling [Trisler]
• The Greatest Sales Stories Ever Told From: The World’s Best Salespeople [Shook]
• You’ll Never Get No for an Answer [Carew]

Technology

• Inside the Tornado [Moore]