The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business

By: Josh Kaufman

Narrated by: Josh Kaufman

Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Business and Educational, 2013

Getting an MBA is an expensive choice - one almost impossible to justify regardless of the state of the economy. Even the elite schools like Harvard and Wharton offer outdated, assembly-line programs that teach you more about PowerPoint presentations and unnecessary financial models than what it takes to run a real business. You can get better results (and save hundreds of thousands of dollars) by skipping business school altogether....

Josh Kaufman founded PersonalMBA.com as an alternative to the business school boondoggle. His blog has introduced hundreds of thousands of readers to the best business books and most powerful business concepts of all time. Now, he shares the essentials of entrepreneurship, marketing, sales, negotiation, operations, productivity, systems design, and much more, in one comprehensive volume.

The Personal MBA distills the most valuable business lessons into simple, memorable mental models that can be applied to real-world challenges.

True leaders aren't made by business schools - they make themselves, seeking out the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to succeed. Read this book and you will learn the principles it takes most business professionals a lifetime of trial and error to master.

©2010, 2012 Worldly Wisdom Ventures LLC (P)2012 Worldly Wisdom Ventures LLC

Very good for technical people

Very Good book for business concept, easy to understand do further research pathways. Good book for self development as well.

My beginning in mastering my business!

This book helped me realized things I was doubtful or had second thoughts about, in structuring my business, to let go of things that are not necessary and how to invest my time in them. I feel as a knife that is sharpening the more things are made clear.

Very Awesome, Inspiring and Educational.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If you don't learn something about business from this book, you weren't listening.

What other book might you compare The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business to and why?

Up there with the greats like "How to win friends and influence people" and "Think and Grow Rich". A true classic that will stand the test of time.

What does Josh Kaufman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Josh brings true value and genuine character to this book.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey step aside, there is a new Gun in town.

Any additional comments?

Great book on so many levels. Helpful, insightful and a great reference to focus and follow through on increasing your effectiveness and understanding of many vital subjects and actions.

A very basic intro to business

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Too much of the book is spent justifying the books existence, arguing against MBA programs, detailing trivia from the author's life, etc., and not enough on solid business analysis and advice. There is a long section of the book dedicated to personal improvement that is irrelevant to the main topic. Some good business advice and parables, and definitely not a total waste of time.

Any additional comments?

Production values are not as high as most other audio books, with cheesy chimes throughout and several parts where there appears to be audio errors resulting in the repeating of passages.

I really enjoyed this audio

I really enjoyed it. Clear structure, great ideas, a lot of references to other books I'll definitely read.

Great listen with valuable insights for business

Really liked this book. Some of the material may be old hat for experienced entrepreneurs, but still a great refresher with plenty of advanced level business material.

Excellent.

Loved it. The content is gold. Summaries of easy-to-digest business principles that I will carry with me for the rest of my career as a lawyer/entrepreneur.

A summary

I have read many of the books that are referenced in this work. I think a fantastic job was done in collecting some of the most important pieces and summarizing them extremely well. This would be a book I would recommend for anyone just beginning their journey in self education in either business psychology or sales. Very well done.

One of the most practical books on Audible

Every second of this Audible is worthwhile. No repetitive bull. I'd definitely listen again, but with a physical copy of the book this time around.

Not an MBA, but a decent resource

Where does The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Above average

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. For those concepts that were new, I needed time to digest them, and since there are no notes supplied with the audio version, listening too quickly can mean you lose focus.

Any additional comments?

I think I remember others commenting about this, but skip the first chapter (about an hour). It's basically just the author telling you how MBAs suck, and you should follow his method. Not really sure what the purpose of this is since if you're already listening to/reading that chapter, then you've already paid for his book.

In general, it's a reasonable summary of a lot of concepts related to business and psychology. I'm sure MBAs are flawed - especially in the States where you need to go into so much debt to get one! - but this isn't comprehensive enough to replace one.

What it does do is give you a good idea of whether you'd actually like to take an MBA or not, whether it's an area that interests you or would just waste your time, and if all you need is an overview, then this is probably the book for you. There's plenty of extra reading material recommended throughout the book as well, so you can supplement your reading in those areas that interest you.