Touted as a way to "Master Business Without Spending a Fortune", the basic idea of the Personal MBA is that instead of spending tens of thousands of pounds doing a traditional MBA in a business school, you spend a tiny fraction of the money on reading a preselected list of books which have been chosen to provide a solid background in business. You can then discuss them online with a group of like-minded people. For more on the idea and the list of books take a look at the manifesto. I think this is a really excellent idea and perfect for someone like me who’s got better ways of spending 20 grand than paying for the heating in a lecture room. I find studying books the most valuable way of learning, second of course to actually jumping in feet first and trying things out, and this method provides a nice way of tying the two things together. I’m thinking of starting a little group in Birmingham, if anyone’s interested in giving it a go then please get in touch. We have three on board already for a trial run. We’re going to start with Getting Things Done by David Allen. I’ve read some of this book already and it’s probably the most useful thing I’ve picked up at all year.
Anyone want to do a Personal MBA?
February 2nd, 2007 | Birmingham, Creativity
7 comments ↓
Hi - this is a great idea. I was thinking about getting this book…
Maybe you could you link to UK Amazon instead of the States?
Thanks for the tip on the book, i’ve just ordered it. I really like the sound of this personal MBA lark, unfortunately i’m smack bang in the middle of an MA (will try and keep up with the odd book recommendation though). I looked into an MBA when i first decided to go back for a bit more study, but as you’ve highlighted cost was too high. Good luck with it all.
Sounds interesting…I was looking at MBA’s, really, I think you can only do it if you do nothing/little else i.e. full time, and the cheapest is at Aston for £13K! Also, I don’t know how much it’s valued outside of big (American) corporations. I’m sure you can earn triple the cost, IF you want to work in that environment! The only thing I’d say is that I’m not sure how ‘on track’ for MBA these books all are - is someone making big bucks out of affiliate marketing by promoting them, or are they really any good and relevant to a genuine MBA curriculum?
Antonio,
Nice idea — I’m with you in spirit, and I’ll read some of the books with you (I’m already way ahead of you with the Allen stuff: an absolute lifesaver), but I suspect it’s not something I’m going to be able to commit to, and although there’s some great literature in there, there’s also some that I can’t personally get behind, politically and ethically speaking.
That said, reading more books is better than reading fewer — so I’d add a couple of my own to the list: Voltaire’s Bastards by Jonathan Ralston Saul is good place to start to inoculate you against the logic of greed and the trap of corporatisation. You might want to listen to a bit of Jello Biafra spoken word stuff for a reality check along the way too.
Sadly, it often seems that an MBA is more an indoctrination than an education — reinforcing a methodology that is getting this world into all sorts of trouble in the interests of strategic wealth production.
Do enjoy the process though.
Antonio,
Glad you found the PMBA! If you’re interested in reading / discussing with the support of other members, check out personalmba.com. We currently have a forum, and I’m working on a few new ways to increase the network / converation aspect of the program as well.
Drop me an e-mail if you’d like to chat!
Best regards,
Josh
Hi Tone,
Just found your site…. Some good stuff
I could be interested in getting involved with this - are you still going ahead with this?
Drop me a line!
Ed.
[…] After posting about the Personal MBA last February, we started up a Birmingham group in March and have spent 2007 reading some great (and some not so great) books about business in all its forms. We’ve just had a summer break and will be re-starting in October. […]
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