Discover Amazing Books by Ross Alumni for This Year’s World Book Day

World Book Day celebrates reading and promotes the accessibility of books from every genre. Numerous Michigan Ross alums, from consultants to CEOs, faculty and small business owners, have published their own works to share with the world, including thrillers, non-fiction, and everything in between.

To celebrate World Book Day, we’ve compiled a list of great books by Michigan Ross authors that should be on your reading list this year.

For a more complete list of books, see the Kresge Library’s archive of books by Michigan Ross alumni authors.

Dead Wrong

An Ecological Thriller

Author: G. Spencer Myers, BBA ’67

Genre/topic: Ecological fiction

A truckload of toxic chemicals crashes into Tampa Bay, threatening Dr. Derk Bryan's own slice of paradise. As one of the EPA's top investigators, Derk Bryan refuses to accept the ME's conclusion that the environmental catastrophe was an accident. With three monster hurricanes on a collision course with Florida, he races against the clock and the bureaucracy to find the connections of the clues in this ecological crossword puzzle.

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Pest

An Ecological Thriller

Author: G. Spencer Myers, BBA ’67

Genre/topic: Ecological fiction

Derk Bryan, gritty EPA investigator, is summoned from a fishing trip in the Florida Keys by a deadly premonition about his estranged and terminally ill father while a minor spill in Michigan evolves into a sinister plot to poison America. He soon discovers that these two disparate events threaten every drop of water on the planet and every important relationship in his life. As the body count grows, Derk Bryan races against the clock to thwart disaster.

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A Girl and Her Horse

Author: Mary Lemmer, BBA ’10

Genre/topic: Fiction, illustrated, self-help

A Girl and Her Horse is an illustrated book about friendship and life, told through the story of a girl and her horse adventuring while conversing about life, friendships, love, grief, and other important topics. It's through their journey together that wisdom about life is revealed to the young girl, her horse, and readers. Proceeds from the book benefit nonprofits supporting mental health and well-being in partnership with horses..

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For the Culture

The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be

Author: Dr. Marcus Collins, BS ’02/MBA ’09

Genre/topic: Business decision-making

Marcus Collins, alum and clinical assistant professor of marketing at Michigan Ross, is the architect of some of the most famous ad campaigns of the last decade. In For the Culture, he argues that culture is the most powerful vehicle for influencing behavior, and shows readers how to harness culture to inspire other people to share their vision.

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Linked

Conquer LinkedIn. Get Your Dream Job. Own Your Future.

Author: Jeremy Schifeling, MBA ’12

Genre/topic: Productivity, job hunting

Everyone knows that LinkedIn is the world's biggest job marketplace. So, it's about time that someone with the inside scoop explained how to make the most of it. Linked is the definitive guide that demystifies the site and gives every reader — from the newly minted graduate to the midlife career-changer — the most important strategies to win the job search game.

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The Secrets Of Successful Strategic Account Management

Author: David Hughes, BBA ’79 and Richard Santucci

Genre/topic: Account management

This handbook provides instructions on how to create and run a strategic account management program for companies that are considering starting such a program, or companies that are looking to improve their current strategic account management programs. The book covers the critical elements of the program and provides many helpful tools.

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Teamflow

The Science of Creating Positive Leadership Practices with IMPACT

Author: David Drews, MBA ’87

Genre/topic: Leadership, organizational psychology, self help

Teamflow is based on the science of positive organizational scholarship, which started at Michigan Ross's Center for Positive Organizations 20 years ago. Told with research, stories, and anecdotes, it shows the pathway to a state higher than teamwork — unlocking latent potential in ourselves and those around us and creating positive impact. All proceeds support CPO's work.

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We The Leader

Author: Jeffrey Spahn, BBA ’75

Genre/topic: Business leadership

As a proven collective leadership paradigm and practice, We The Leader simultaneously results in evolving analog leadership to digital leadership, solidifying a self-perpetuating DEI culture and doing more with less, quicker. We The Leader evolves leading from “leading or following” depending upon the situation to “leading and following” in the same action via a curious conviction.

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Be Human, Lead Human

How to Connect People and Performance

Author: Jennifer Nash, MBA ’10

Genre/topic: Business leadership

In her book, Be Human, Lead Human, Dr. Jennifer Nash invites readers to radically disrupt their leadership thinking and practice to lead effectively in a post-COVID-19 world. She shares her research-based, actionable framework to transform leadership thinking and practice, engaging human connection as the cornerstone of organizational performance.

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IXI Rise of The King

Author: Bryan Johnson, MBA ’02

Genre/topic: Thriller

Solomon "Sal'' Stein has dreams of success in the music industry. At the breakout moment of his music career, he is brought into the fold of Detroit-based One By One Records (IXI), the hottest hip hop label in the country. But the deeper Sal gets into the world of IXI, he realizes everything that glitters is not gold. Will Sal get what he is looking for, or will he lose everything at the hands of those he thought he could trust?

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The Prepared Leader

Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before

Author: Lynn Wooten, PhD ’95 and Erika James, MA ’93/PhD ’95

Genre/topic: Leadership and motivation

In no other time in recent history have leaders in every industry and on every continent grappled with so many changes that have independently and simultaneously undermined their ability to lead. The Prepared Leader encapsulates more than two decades of the authors’ research to convey how it has positioned them to navigate through the distinct challenges of today and tomorrow. Their insights have implications for every leader in every industry and every worker at every level.

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