Devin
asked
Jason Braatz:
is The Personal MBA book by Kaufman really that bad? You seem to have the only credentials out of all the reviews. I always say to put something in perspective, take it where it comes from. Thank you for the insight.
Jason Braatz
I'm so sorry for the late (one year late!) reply. Goodreads doesn't prominently show me questions waiting or I would have responded to this quickly.
Mr. Kaufman's Personal MBA is garbage. Most MBA programs now borrow the case method (pioneered in Harvard's MBA program) which is not only more effective in understanding the underlying principles of business, but it also puts it into context of a real problem faced by a real company. Mr. Kaufman had put together a "dictionary" of terms with that book that became dated before they even went to press. The meanings behind these terms or concepts are in constant flux. Quality Control used to be Six Sigma but now it's CI/CD or Manufacturing 4.0 . The vernacular in management is always changing, and thus a repetitive book on concept names and definitions is not only boring, but it's downright useless.
That said, there are many old books and old authors who, within a short period of time across a few books, would in effect give you the same knowledge (more or less) that an MBA program has to offer without the updated vernacular. The benefit of an MBA program is the ability to network with new peers, and to build effective tools on how to do solution finding in a collective environment. By reading books only, you'll miss that part, but depending on your personality, it may not be a detractor in the end.
The basis of all business begins at the Theory of Constraints developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. He wrote a book on it that's extremely easy to read ("The Goal") that brings it to life. Everything else as a tool learned in an MBA program is a module that plugs onto this theory. The theory sounds like what it is: there is only so much money, manpower and other resources, so it's about allocation of those resources that is the most important part of a business manager or CEO's job.
If you read The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber and The Innovator's Dilemma by Clay Christensen, you'll have the concepts of a full MBA program. You won't, however, have the vernacular nor the deep dive into a particular topic (like accounting or queuing theory, etc). In those particular cases, you are much better off with a case method and either subscribe to Harvard's Business Review (or) find books on particular companies and read about how they grew or how they fell. They often disguise themselves as a biography of the CEO, so if you picked up the biography of Michael Eisner, you can pick up the essence of how he took Disney from an almost-tragedy in the early 1980s to the media and entertainment powerhouse it is today. Same thing with Lee Iacocca, Elon Musk, etc.
Keeping up with the more popular books in business (about 4-5 a year) will always keep your vernacular fresh. The concepts don't change but their implementation does (which is why the vernacular changes).
Good luck! Once again I'm so sorry for the delayed response.
Mr. Kaufman's Personal MBA is garbage. Most MBA programs now borrow the case method (pioneered in Harvard's MBA program) which is not only more effective in understanding the underlying principles of business, but it also puts it into context of a real problem faced by a real company. Mr. Kaufman had put together a "dictionary" of terms with that book that became dated before they even went to press. The meanings behind these terms or concepts are in constant flux. Quality Control used to be Six Sigma but now it's CI/CD or Manufacturing 4.0 . The vernacular in management is always changing, and thus a repetitive book on concept names and definitions is not only boring, but it's downright useless.
That said, there are many old books and old authors who, within a short period of time across a few books, would in effect give you the same knowledge (more or less) that an MBA program has to offer without the updated vernacular. The benefit of an MBA program is the ability to network with new peers, and to build effective tools on how to do solution finding in a collective environment. By reading books only, you'll miss that part, but depending on your personality, it may not be a detractor in the end.
The basis of all business begins at the Theory of Constraints developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. He wrote a book on it that's extremely easy to read ("The Goal") that brings it to life. Everything else as a tool learned in an MBA program is a module that plugs onto this theory. The theory sounds like what it is: there is only so much money, manpower and other resources, so it's about allocation of those resources that is the most important part of a business manager or CEO's job.
If you read The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber and The Innovator's Dilemma by Clay Christensen, you'll have the concepts of a full MBA program. You won't, however, have the vernacular nor the deep dive into a particular topic (like accounting or queuing theory, etc). In those particular cases, you are much better off with a case method and either subscribe to Harvard's Business Review (or) find books on particular companies and read about how they grew or how they fell. They often disguise themselves as a biography of the CEO, so if you picked up the biography of Michael Eisner, you can pick up the essence of how he took Disney from an almost-tragedy in the early 1980s to the media and entertainment powerhouse it is today. Same thing with Lee Iacocca, Elon Musk, etc.
Keeping up with the more popular books in business (about 4-5 a year) will always keep your vernacular fresh. The concepts don't change but their implementation does (which is why the vernacular changes).
Good luck! Once again I'm so sorry for the delayed response.
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