Are you aware of the Personal MBA? It's a concept created by Josh Kaufman (following an idea by Seth Godin). Going off the assumption that business schools don't have a monopoly on knowledge and wisdom, he suggests that every one of us passes a personal MBA by reading a selection of the best business books that exist, around 77 published in 2008 (93 with supplements) in 12 different categories :
1.Quick Start
2.Productivity and Efficiency
3.Psychology and Communication
4.Design and Production
5.Marketing, Sales and Negotiation
6.Entrepreneurship
7.Management and Leadership
8.Strategy and Innovation
9.Finances and Analysis
10.Personal Finance
11.Supplement : Business History
12.Supplement : Business Reference
My crazy project involving the Personal MBA consists of 52 books from this list. I am approaching this project seriously, and I am preparing for it in the same way I would train for a marathon: I know that the challenge will be long and hard, especially once the initial drive - as well the enthusiasm of getting started - wear off.
How shall I undertake this task? Here are the rules of the challenge:
1) Choose 52 books from the actual list of The Personal MBA.
2) Read one a week for 52 weeks. Write a relevant summary, that includes an overall summary as well as chapter by chapter, if the book lends itself to that.
3) Sacrifice only what is useless. I don't plan on giving up my other activities - my business, improv theater, sports, my two entrepreneur clubs, my other blogs, my leisure time, my personal life. I am going to try and organize myself better and get rid of only what is useless - casually surfing the web, video games, YouTube, everything that wastes precious time in general. I can't cut out TV, since I hardly watch it anyway.
4) Take action. To think without doing something is just as stupid as to do something without thinking. Thought is based both on our experience - in the field - and our knowledge - acquired from books, school, in conversation with others.
I don't plan on necessarily reading the books in this order, but I will try to read everything one category at a time so that it is easier to compare and connect my new awareness. It will be a difficult challenge, but a really interesting one ! :)
