Steve Silbiger

Ambitions Accomplished for ‘Ten Day MBA’ Author

Steve Silbiger (MBA ’90) came to Darden with two ambitions: to switch careers from accounting to marketing and to become an author someday. Spoiler alert: He accomplished both soon after graduating, when he published his first book, The Ten Day MBA: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Skills Taught in America’s Top Business Schools in 1993.

Silbiger decided to get an MBA when he

realized that he wanted more opportunities for creativity in his career. After a colleague at Arthur Andersen left to attend Darden, Silbiger visited and later took the plunge himself.

“It was life changing,” he said. “I loved being with people who were as motivated as I was. I loved the interaction of the class.”

It was at Darden that Silbiger solidified his aspirations to write a book into an actual plan while working on a case about career and life planning for Professor Emeritus James Clawson. In the spring of his Second Year, the idea for what became The Ten Day MBA struck him in an unlikely place — the set of the 1991 film “True Colors.”

Silbiger signed up to be an extra for a scene in the movie, which was filmed at the UVA School of Law. For the long filming day, he brought a book that aimed to summarize what one learns in an MBA. While useful, Silbiger felt that the academic style of the book might put off many readers. His idea for a clearer, more accessible, distilled MBA book was born.

After graduating, he started writing and leveraging the Darden alumni network for publishing connections. Three years later, The Ten Day MBA was published. The book sold out of its first printing and has proved to be an evergreen perennial seller — more than 650,000 copies have been sold to date — as MBA hopefuls in the U.S. and internationally explore what a top MBA program might be like.

As the business world and MBA programs change, Silbiger has released new editions with updated content to keep up with the times, with the help of the most recent Darden graduates. The fifth edition comes out this July, with new subjects included such as artificial intelligence and environmental and social governance.

Alongside his success as an author, Silbiger successfully transitioned after Darden to a career in marketing. He cites the case method as being particularly helpful in his career by preparing him to make decisions with incomplete information and be comfortable with ambiguity.

“That’s the superpower that we’ve been given,” he said. “When I make marketing and product decisions, my inner Yoda from ethics class helps guide me to make the right decision, which is the best business decision.”