Cuban recognized the value that sinking time into reading could return early in his career, while building his first technology business, MicroSolutions.
"I remember reading the PC DOS manual (I really did), and being proud that I could figure out how to set up startup menus for my customers," he says on his blog. "I read every book and magazine I could. Heck, $3 for a magazine, $20 for a book. One good idea that led to a customer or solution and it paid for itself many times over."
As for Buffett, Todd Combs, now a protege of the Oracle of Omaha at Berkshire Hathaway, recalls advice Buffett once gave students in an investing class at Columbia University on the value of reading.
"Read 500 pages like this every day," Buffett said to the students, while reaching toward a stack of manuals and papers. "That's how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it."