McCombs TODAY

From ShelfLife@Texas

For Thomas Gilligan, recently appointed dean of the McCombs School of Business, reading is like breathing.

“I’m not sure I can think of myself as existing apart from reading—it’s an integral part of life,” Gilligan says. “Reading was a big salvation for me when I went into military service right out of high school. It’s the way I educated myself before I ever went to college.”

Prior to joining academia, Gilligan served as a Russian linguist in the United States Air Force and was a staff economist for President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Keep reading to find out what’s on his nightstand this winter.

“Economics 2.0” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) by Norbert Haring and Olaf Storbeck
I like this book because it weaves current economics research into thoughts about contemporary policy issues. So it’s not as trendy as some business books—it’s more thoughtful, similar to the style of “Freakonomics.” There’s a chapter on the market meltdown, there’s a chapter on labor markets, and on economists’ use of the athletic industry to study human behavior. Economics really is a far-wandering field these days.

“It’s Your Ship” (Business Plus, 2002) by Capt. D. Michael Abrashoff
This is a classic business book on leadership, written by a former naval officer about the things he learned while running a ship. Since this is my first permanent dean’s job, I wanted to read something like this. It reminded me of the importance of communicating mission to people—the necessity to delegate and trust people to carry out a mission. And, the importance of finding the right job for a particular person.

Visit the university’s books blog, ShelfLife@Texas, to see the rest of Dean Gilligan’s current reading list.