The Personal MBA is no less than an MBA
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Kongbrailatpam Rajeshwar Sharma
More than four decades ago, when I was studying British and American literature in college, there were joys and hope. Dreams of success made me work hard. Apart from these, there was a craze for MBA degrees among my friends and other students as if an MBA degree was the panacea for all the problems of unemployment and economic downturn.
Like JEE and NEET of today, there was hardly any under-graduate student who did not toy with the idea of writing either GMAT or CAT. I was no exception to it. A friend of mine suggested reading Barron’s GMAT which was then a very popular guide-book for management admission test. But I preferred reading novels, plays and poetry where men and women of different hues of character live in eternity, where lovers and beloved linger in the rhetoric of poets and playwrights – “The instant made eternity, - / And heaven just prove that I and she/ Ride, ride together, forever ride...” Literally I was torn between Browning’s The Last Ride Together and Barron’s GMAT.
The bout between management studies and literature ended with the triumph of the latter. Since then the thought of studying business management had not come back again until recently when my son, who is working as Project Engineer in Singapore, once said during his short stay at home, that The Personal MBA was worth reading. It is written by Josh Kaufman who provides practical advice for business, entrepre- neurship, skill acquisition, productivity, creativity and applied psychology.
He started writing his The Personal MBA in 2005 as “a side project…….to improve my business knowledge and skills in a direct, efficient, and cost-effective way.” The temptation to read the book was so strong that I could no longer wait. It took me one or two minutes to order a copy of it online at Amazon. In the meantime, I browsed on the Internet to start reading online as I waited for my copy of The Personal MBA to arrive.
The Personal MBA is “a world-class business education in a single volume” It contains all the ingredients – from marketing to finance – that a businessman needs to run his business. It is an international bestseller that teaches its readers how to run a business successfully. The paperback edition looks more attractive with its yellow cover that reminds me of a sweet, juicy, ripe, mellow mango.
More than 800,000 copies of The Personal MBA have been sold worldwide. It was first published in the United States of America in 2010 by Portfolio Penguin. The revised and expanded edition of the book was published in 2020 in the USA by the same publisher. Josh Kaufman, the author, began his career as an Assistant Brand Manager in Procter & Gamble’s Home Care division. His PersonalMBA.com was named one of the ‘Top 100 Websites for Entrepreneurs’ by Forbes. What is unique about the book is its short lucid sentences, devoid of cackles and noises, that resemble Ernest Hemingway’s style.
As I went through the book, an idea came to my mind that I should write about this book, for reading it not only makes one able to learn and acquire the “foundational business concepts”, but it also makes one feel like he or she is studying one’s dream course - business management at a prestigious expensive business school. The Personal MBA is such a small unique book that it teaches its readers “the fundamentals of sound business practice” in the manner that a layman can easily understand and learn them at his own pace. As for instance, in the beginning chapters, the book focuses on how businesses work. Then, comes marketing which is followed by sales, finance, human mind, etc.
The Personal MBA begins with the chapter – Value Creation – that lays the five fundamental parts of every business. According to Josh Kaufman, every business should always begin with “value creation” that provides what people need or want.
The value that one creates should be made attractive in order to draw attention and build demand for it. In the business jargon, it is called marketing. Then comes the third part – sales, without which no business can survive. What is crucial to a business is to make sure that the customer is satisfied with your product or service. This is what Josh Kaufman calls “Value Delivery” The fifth and final part of a business is finance. It is the fuel of every business that keeps it running. In other words, there should be enough flow of money into the business so as not only to keep it running but also to make it grow.
These five parts or rather processes of business are the basis of any business organization or business plan. Without understanding each of these five parts, no business can work. “If you can’t describe or diagram your business idea in terms of these core processes, you don’t understand it well enough to make it work.” writes Josh Kaufman in his book The Personal MBA. Any skill or knowledge or hobby that one is good at, and enjoys can be turned into an ‘Economic Value’ provided that one can teach or turn them for the benefit of others. Prior to creating value, one has to find out what people need or want, for “Businesses are built by people for people.” This is where business starts and what “value creation” is. As the author advises the readers, “Find a way to use them (Skills, knowledge and hobbies) to create Economic Value and you’ll find a way to get paid.” The bottom line is that any skill or knowledge or productive hobby that has ‘Economic Value’ has the potential to ignite a business idea provided that people need or want it.
More than four decades ago, when I was studying British and American literature in college, there were joys and hope. Dreams of success made me work hard. Apart from these, there was a craze for MBA degrees among my friends and other students as if an MBA degree was the panacea for all the problems of unemployment and economic downturn.
Like JEE and NEET of today, there was hardly any under-graduate student who did not toy with the idea of writing either GMAT or CAT. I was no exception to it. A friend of mine suggested reading Barron’s GMAT which was then a very popular guide-book for management admission test. But I preferred reading novels, plays and poetry where men and women of different hues of character live in eternity, where lovers and beloved linger in the rhetoric of poets and playwrights – “The instant made eternity, - / And heaven just prove that I and she/ Ride, ride together, forever ride...” Literally I was torn between Browning’s The Last Ride Together and Barron’s GMAT.
The bout between management studies and literature ended with the triumph of the latter. Since then the thought of studying business management had not come back again until recently when my son, who is working as Project Engineer in Singapore, once said during his short stay at home, that The Personal MBA was worth reading. It is written by Josh Kaufman who provides practical advice for business, entrepre- neurship, skill acquisition, productivity, creativity and applied psychology.
He started writing his The Personal MBA in 2005 as “a side project…….to improve my business knowledge and skills in a direct, efficient, and cost-effective way.” The temptation to read the book was so strong that I could no longer wait. It took me one or two minutes to order a copy of it online at Amazon. In the meantime, I browsed on the Internet to start reading online as I waited for my copy of The Personal MBA to arrive.
The Personal MBA is “a world-class business education in a single volume” It contains all the ingredients – from marketing to finance – that a businessman needs to run his business. It is an international bestseller that teaches its readers how to run a business successfully. The paperback edition looks more attractive with its yellow cover that reminds me of a sweet, juicy, ripe, mellow mango.
More than 800,000 copies of The Personal MBA have been sold worldwide. It was first published in the United States of America in 2010 by Portfolio Penguin. The revised and expanded edition of the book was published in 2020 in the USA by the same publisher. Josh Kaufman, the author, began his career as an Assistant Brand Manager in Procter & Gamble’s Home Care division. His PersonalMBA.com was named one of the ‘Top 100 Websites for Entrepreneurs’ by Forbes. What is unique about the book is its short lucid sentences, devoid of cackles and noises, that resemble Ernest Hemingway’s style.
As I went through the book, an idea came to my mind that I should write about this book, for reading it not only makes one able to learn and acquire the “foundational business concepts”, but it also makes one feel like he or she is studying one’s dream course - business management at a prestigious expensive business school. The Personal MBA is such a small unique book that it teaches its readers “the fundamentals of sound business practice” in the manner that a layman can easily understand and learn them at his own pace. As for instance, in the beginning chapters, the book focuses on how businesses work. Then, comes marketing which is followed by sales, finance, human mind, etc.
The Personal MBA begins with the chapter – Value Creation – that lays the five fundamental parts of every business. According to Josh Kaufman, every business should always begin with “value creation” that provides what people need or want.
The value that one creates should be made attractive in order to draw attention and build demand for it. In the business jargon, it is called marketing. Then comes the third part – sales, without which no business can survive. What is crucial to a business is to make sure that the customer is satisfied with your product or service. This is what Josh Kaufman calls “Value Delivery” The fifth and final part of a business is finance. It is the fuel of every business that keeps it running. In other words, there should be enough flow of money into the business so as not only to keep it running but also to make it grow.
These five parts or rather processes of business are the basis of any business organization or business plan. Without understanding each of these five parts, no business can work. “If you can’t describe or diagram your business idea in terms of these core processes, you don’t understand it well enough to make it work.” writes Josh Kaufman in his book The Personal MBA. Any skill or knowledge or hobby that one is good at, and enjoys can be turned into an ‘Economic Value’ provided that one can teach or turn them for the benefit of others. Prior to creating value, one has to find out what people need or want, for “Businesses are built by people for people.” This is where business starts and what “value creation” is. As the author advises the readers, “Find a way to use them (Skills, knowledge and hobbies) to create Economic Value and you’ll find a way to get paid.” The bottom line is that any skill or knowledge or productive hobby that has ‘Economic Value’ has the potential to ignite a business idea provided that people need or want it.