DIY Business School
Josh Kaufman’s Personal MBA site is based around a list of 99 mostly business books he recommends. Investing the time to read them, he says, will give you a world-class education and save you the $150K business school pricetag.
I’ve been a fan of Josh and his site for several years now, ever since reading his Personal MBA Manifesto on ChangeThis. In fact, I enrolled in the first Personal MBA Crash Course earlier this year and got a hellaciously good education for the small price. As a CPA with corporate-level management experience, I felt I had a strong grasp on how business works. But the course really opened my eyes to why business, systems, and people (including myself) work the way they do. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan of do-it-yourself (DIY) education.
A feature he’s added recently to his blog is book summary posts. When he reads a non-fiction book, he maximizes his return on the effort—and improves his retention and understanding of the subject—by writing about the “10 big ideas” he learns from the author. It’s an old study trick, and it still works.
I read about one book a week. The vast majority of the time, they’re non-fiction, business or self-improvement volumes… perfect for following Josh’s example. In this spirit, I’ll be adding a book summary category and posting the 10 big ideas I learn from the different books I read. The first covers Amanda Ripley’s The Unthinkable.
Photo by janetmck
