All Catawba College students enrolled in upper level Business and Communication courses will be required to read a common reading in preparation for their Fall courses.

2013 selection

• "Conscious Capitalism" by John Mackey
  This year's selection, "Conscious Capitalism," is a Wall Street Journal bestseller and represents the fourth summer reading text for upper level students in the Ketner School of Business. Mackey is the Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, and Raj Sisodia, the co-founder of Conscious Capitalism, Inc. and a marketing professor at Bentley University.
  
  The book promotes a business culture that embodies "trust, accountability, caring, transparency, integrity, loyalty and egalitarianism."  It also advocates a new business practice that heeds four tenets: higher purpose and core values, stakeholder integration, conscious leadership and conscious culture and management. Mackey and Sisodia argue in favor of a libertarian blending of personal ethics and the creative force of entrepreneurship. They put forth the premise that capitalism is a force for good, but that the pursuit of profits should be tempered by a larger vision of the good for society.
  Current Catawba students enrolled in upper level business and communication courses read a common text in preparation for their fall courses.
  

• 2012: "Inside Coca-Cola"
  The first book by a Coca-Cola CEO tells the remarkable story of the company's revival. Neville Isdell was a key player at Coca-Cola for more than 30 years, retiring in 2009 as CEO after regilding the tarnished brand image of the world's leading soft-drink company.
  
  
• 2011: "MoneyBall: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" by Michael Lewis
  The central premise of this book is that the collected wisdom of baseball insiders (including players, managers, coaches, scouts, and the front office) over the past century is subjective and often flawed. Statistics such as stolen bases, runs batted in, and batting average, typically used to gauge players, are relics of a 19th century view of the game and the statistics that were available at the time. A movie based on the book was released in Fall 2011.
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• 2010: "1,000 Dollars & An Idea" by Sam Wyly
  "1,000 Dollars and & Idea" is the autobiographic account of self-made billionaire Sam Wyly's rise to fame. Wyly grew up in Louisiana and studied journalism at Louisiana Tech. 
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