The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business Paperback – August 28, 2012

This book is great. I had no background in business at all before reading this book. While reading it I developed new ideas and after reading it, it changed the way I think about certain things. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to start their own business, be it a lemonade stand or a startup company. I showed it to a multimillionaire friend who has a business degree and, after perusing the table of contents, he said it covers what's taught in an undergraduate business degree.

I teach MBA classes, he is correct and quite comprehensive, if he can add some exercises and problems to some of the chapters, like financial analysis, this book will become the one textbook MBA degree. It was a nice refresher for me. Great for entrepreneurs who need the application more than a piece of paper.

Such a well-documented resource. What I adore is that it is a full introduction to every possible necessity for someone pursuing business and entrepreneurship. Not only is it a resource, but it is full of links and references that will make sure that you can get your fill of credible and dependable information resources. If you need someplace to start with these concepts, let this be your go-to. It's a perfect launch point

"You dropped 150 grand on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library." Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting

In The Personal MBA Josh Kaufman makes a very compelling case (as does Will Hunting) that for people considering an MBA, the economics aren't that great. For many graduate students (not just Business majors), it feels like a Casino: everyone takes the tests, and gets primed, then takes out a huge loan from the bank (often a six-figure amount) hoping that when they come out the other side, there will be an awesome, high-paying job waiting for them. It's a financial transaction, not really an educational one. In fact, much of the education gleaned from an Master in Business Administration is theoretical and marginally updated from the projects and Case Studies done in Bachelor of Business and Economics programs; after all, how can you possibly sit in a classroom and `learn' how to be a Manager, or an Executive? Of course you can't. But the schools are more than willing to let you try, as long as the cheques clear.

Provided those cheques do clear (in many states in the US, the juice, as they say, is running the day you take your first class, not after you graduate), students can expect a marginally better income (in this economy? yuck) awaiting them on the other side; it turns out they're getting a crash course in finance after all! Ouch.

In the beginning of The Personal MBA, Kaufman reveals something striking: research shows there is little evidence that getting an MBA has any correlation with long term success in Business. Top tier Business programs make sure that they only accept brilliant students, which is why many go on to greatness. Business schools make it their business to take credit for other people's work-namely, your undergraduate degree, and your having studied for the GMAT. In a perfect world, you'd be better off, studying for the GMAT, applying to Harvard Business, getting accepted, and then refusing to attend (and pay the exorbitant tuition, and 2 years of your life), then bragging on your CV that you were accepted at Harvard, and applying for a plum job with a Fortune 500 company, ready to put you through the Management training program.

Why doesn't anybody do that? Because the MBA itself acts as a signal to help simplify the recruiter's job: he or she doesn't want to read 5,000 CVs. Reading 50 is a lot faster. It's that simple. Which 50 get the job doesn't really matter. When the eventual 20-something is hired, he or she will proceed to the actual training program, and begin to be molded into the perfect Hewlett Packard / Cisco/ Apple/ GE/ Nike/Starbucks Manager. That's right: real companies don't hire college grads and just plop them in a management or executive role. They have training programs. They have quarterly reviews. They promote you based on progress, not based on your GPA.

Where else did you think you would learn how to be a Manager?

Unfortunately there's no way around it. Since MBA students are required to pass the GMAT first, a fundamental understanding of business and finance is required before you set foot on a real campus. If the Personal MBA (book, and accompanying website) is going to attempt to replace an actual MBA, they must put the reader through the paces of very fundamental Business Concepts.

Business and Finance majors (like myself) will find much of this familiar, but that shouldn't take away from Kaufman's impressive achievement here. He's taken 2 years of Education and compressed it into a fantastic 400 page reference material. Kaufman will hold up the six-figure MBA and declare that by buying this book you're effectively saving $99,982, but of course, you're not getting a piece of paper either.

So for anyone who didn't graduate in Economics of Business,this book is a great summary of the definitions and concepts that took us about 4 years to get through. And it's pretty much the same material (minus countless case studies and Powerpoint presentations) you'd get from top-tier business programs.

So what do I suggest for young career-minded readers?

The point of an MBA, traditionally, was not for a 19 or 20 year old to `train' to be a manager (whatever that means) but for a middle-manager to train to be a leader in his current company. An ideal situation would be to get a job (any job) with a great company and work your way up, and eventually have your boss pay for your education. The company will consider the investment in human capital worth it if they see potential in you, and will also have you promise to stay with the company for at least a few years upon graduation, so they can benefit from their investment.

Education is great. If I didn't believe that, I sure wouldn't have started a blog about it. But so is avoiding foolish six-figure debt. Consult your boss, and consult this book before proceeding.

(PS. Yes, I've graduated from a post-secondary International Business program. That one came with a five-figure student loan, not six.)

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oh how i wish i had read this when i started my business years ago. i read several books a month (used to read about 4 books a week!) and this one is one of my favorites of all time. SO MUCH info, simply put. i love this writer's style - no bull, just simple, striaghtforward. i really really really wish i had known about it about 6 years ago but better late than never. essential reading. this is one of the only books i got from the library and then ended up buying it for my kindle even though i'd already most of it. it's that good.

So far this has been a pretty solid read.
The author seems well educated on many of the subjects he touches.
It reads like a checklist to prepare you or refresh you for key items you need to keep in mind while....
A. Starting a business
B. Maintaining a business
C. Bettering yourself professionally in your current career.

There is a lot of information within these pages.
It's a matter of how you perceive what he is teaching that determines what you're going to do with the information.

To me, short subject matter, and quick tips keep my attention more, and help better when using this as a reference.
It will also allow me to revisit the areas that I need to quickly while applying these methods and others in the real world.

I haven't made it through the full book, but the majority that I've read so far is great.
You don't have to read the book front to back if you don't need.

There are also references to different books that may help you in other areas to which the author does not elaborate on.

Simple, great, to the point.

This book alone is not going to give you the idea you need for business, but an idea of what it takes to start one, and to manage one.
Keep that in mind.
Please don't score poorly if you don't get your next business opportunity from the pages.

Great read!

Thanks

Bucky Wilson
www.facebook.com/bucky5676

This is an absolutely incredible resource. The only thing more valuable than the practical turn-key content is the format in which it is written. The mini-chapters are perfect for digesting each piece of information and, believe me, there is a lot of it. It would be a travesty for anyone in business to not have this resource.