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 Even the elite schools like Harvard and Wharton offer outdated, assembly-line programs that teach you more about PowerPoint presentations and unnecessary financial models than what it takes to run a real business.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

Among the top business books I’ve read

Fantastic overview of key concepts and topics, broad coverage of areas that are keenly relevant but oft-overlooked among business professionals. Admirably concise, fun, and an easy read/listen, too. Started reading it because my business is expanding and I’m trying to figure out what to prioritize and streamline, but realized after listening a bit that I wasn’t even thinking about the problem correctly - thankfully, tools here were immediately useful. I’ll be re-reading this often, diving into the recommended reading list, and I’ve already recommended it to others. Grateful to have found it!

Good reference guide

This book has nothing original but does a good job of giving a good overview of great business practices. This is great for a reference guide to help remind or point in the right direction. I think a more appropriate name for this book is business 101. No depth, but great overview.

Wow just what I was looking for

The book exactly matched my needs. I knew that after 20 years slowly growing my SME I needed an mba to go large, but I really just needed this book. Look out world I have a plan.

Great Crash Course on the Fundamentals of Business

Great book for getting a general idea of all of the different facets of business.

a basic book for everyone in business

What did you love best about The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business?

the way the information is arranged. I studied a MBA some years ago and this book was very broadening of my knowledge in more than one concept yet more over helped me clarify and to re-define some of my visions and paradigms . very good book.

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

in chemical engineering there is the Perry's Handbook providing "building blocks" , data and key information. for me this is an equivalent book since provides the components of a business very clear, practical and easy to learn.

Have you listened to any of Josh Kaufman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no it is my first experience and liked gis pitch, tone and speed.

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

a sure map to build a business

Any additional comments?

author really contributes to learning in its approach. maybe for future editions to update some of the examples would be really useful.

Absolute Brilliance

Josh condenses so many high level concepts and ideas on how to build and maintain a solid foundation in the world of business. It baffles me how he was able to fit this much comprehensive information into a 13 hour audio book. I’ll be revisiting this listen again and again, absolute brilliance.

Amazing book

Josh made an amazing work exploring and explaining the business world. will recommend to my friends.

A Soild Introduction to Basic Business Concepts

Any additional comments?

The point of the book is that it is not necessary to get an expensive MBA to be successful in business. I was recommended this book as an introduction to basic business fundamentals. It is as advertised. The book divides into roughly two sections. In section one, Kaufman reviews what he calls the 5 fundamental pieces of business. He doesn't spend very much time on any one subject. His goal is to sketch out the most important material and then refer you to a couple other sources if you would like to read more on that subject.

The second half of the book is really focused on the personal aspects of practicing business: Working with Yourself (ch. ), Working with Others (ch. ) etc.
I appreciated the structure of the book. Some of the topics in the first section I was very familiar with and liked not having to wade through a ton of material I already knew. Other sections were new to me and actually ordered a couple of the books he recommended to learn more. I found the second half of the book the most interesting. Here he dives into more of the physiological, social and psychological elements that go into being successful in business. I found it very interesting to see how it all tied together. I enjoyed the book.

Base Business Book

This book should be mandatory for any collage education with any kind of business involvement.

I have listened to it once a month now for three months. It explains and wraps up many of the areas that I have found in the course schedule for several MBA programs. I have started checking of the read list and my personal goal this year is is to be done with my personal MBA this year!

Maybe not the most exciting narrator voice, but that is counterbalanced by the effort of the author reading it himself.

// Johan

Great information and references, easy to learn

very easy to learn more about the business world. Very educational with references to more learning. Thank you.