MBA- On the Run Cont.

Josh reminds us that taking the road of the PMBA is not easy...

The Personal MBA is Not:A stand-alone venture. You can’t learn about business solely from books – you have to be willing to go out and learn by doing. Whether you’re working full-time for a company or building your own business, a full 2/3 of your learning will be a direct result of your day-to-day work experiences, which provide the necessary context for understanding what you read.

A mindless replica of a traditional MBA program. The PMBA was created to expose you to a core set of advanced business concepts quickly and effectively. By design, it does not include anything and everything you might come across in business school. If you’re looking for a detailed analysis of the Black-Scholes option pricing model and its relationship to the volatility surfaces of certain financial derivatives, you’re going to be very disappointed.
An impersonal curriculum. You’ll find more material about learning who you are, what you’re good at, and how you can work more effectively with other people in the PMBA than you will in a standard business school curriculum. There’s a reason why these topics are included here: they are skills that will really help you in your life and work.

An infallible educational revelation. It’s perfectly okay if you disagree with one of the selections or think that a critical book has been overlooked. Feel free to make substitutions as you deem necessary. If you’re skeptical about the value of a title you haven’t read yet, I encourage you borrow the book from your local library and give it a try. If you’re of the same opinion after reading a few chapters, put it down and read something else! (Life is short.)
Easy. Working your way through this list will take time, energy, and persistence. There is no substitute for hard work and dedication.

If you are willing to put the work in, the next set of books are aimed at helping you:

Learn the Fundamentals

Ram Charan is the patient coach of the business world, constantly reminding readers to learn the fundamentals of the profession.



What the CEO Wants You to Know
by Ram Charan

In What the CEO Wants You to Know, Charan explains how to understand companies through the simple, fundamental concepts that are at the core of every business: cash, margin, profit, return on assets, velocity, growth, valuation, customers, employees, and shareholders. Along the way, he explains how these concepts interact in both large and small companies, and how you can improve your business by understanding the basics and focusing on improving your execution of the fundamentals.


Profitable Growth Is Everyone’s Business
by Ram Charan

Profitable Growth Is Everyone’s Business is a deeper look at how businesses grow and how they can stumble if they attempt to grow in the wrong way. Healthy businesses grow organically by reinvesting profits, focusing on day-to-day execution, and improving the core of the business over time. All employees (at every level of the organization) need to understand how the business operates and what the company is working to achieve. By focusing on the things that make the business successful, Charan argues that companies can quickly adapt to changes in the market and pursue continual and sustainable growth for long periods of time.

The next set of books focuses on Strategic Thinking



On Competition
by Michael Porter

Michael Porter has been a world-renowned expert on corporate strategy for decades, and his articles are assigned in to students in business schools around the world. His “five forces” model of corporate competition provides an intuitive way to analyze the attractiveness of any industry. By paying particular attention to the power of suppliers and customers, the threats of new entry and substitutes, and the level of internal rivalry in the industry, it is possible to develop strategies that create a defensible competitive position for your firm. On Competition is a compilation of eleven of Porter’s Harvard Business Review articles, two previously unpublished papers on health care and capital investment, and a comprehensive introduction to his work.



Blue Ocean Strategy
by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne

The thesis of Blue Ocean Strategy is simple: why compete with other firms if you don’t have to?

In contrast to Porter’s work, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne advocate a different approach to strategy: try to create new industries that change the competitive landscape completely. By focusing your resources on creating uncontested market space (a “Blue Ocean”), you’re working to make your firm the industry leader while simultaneously making your current competition irrelevant. There’s no sense in operating in competitive war-zones (“Red Oceans”) if you have a choice.

The next set deals with change.

The Only Thing Constant is Change



Seeing What’s Next
by Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, Scott D. Anthony

Clayton Christensen is famous for developing theories of why firms rise and fall in The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution. Seeing What’s Next is a comprehensive introduction to the ideas presented in both books, with a smattering of business history thrown in for good measure.

This book attempts to answer the question: “How will innovation change an industry, and what impact will this have on the firms I care about?” By building on a framework of three core theories of innovation, the authors develop a three-part process of predicting industry change: (1) identifying signals of change; (2) analyzing competitive battles; and (3) understanding strategic choices. Predicting the future is notoriously difficult, but the authors provide an approachable model for making the best decisions you can with the information you have at your disposal.



Re-imagine
by Tom Peters

Tom Peters is the rock star of business commentary for a reason: he’s loud, opinionated, and more vocally passionate about business than anyone on Earth. The main idea of this book is written in big, bold, red letters across the back cover: “It is the foremost task – and responsibility – of our generation to re-imagine our enterprises and institutions, public and private.” You’ll find thoughts and ideas on almost anything you can think of: leadership, management, human talent, design, corporate systems, innovation, technology, R&D, diversity, risk-taking, decision-making, and societal trends. Reading this book is an informative, inspirational invitation to go out and make great things happen.

Then next set is a series of management books.
Masters of Management



The Essential Drucker
by Peter Drucker

No advanced study of business would be complete without Peter Drucker, the undisputed father of modern management theory. The Essential Drucker is a compilation of twenty-six of Drucker’s best articles, spanning six decades of observation and research. In this volume, Drucker discusses managing knowledge workers, making good decisions, hiring the right people, starting new ventures, building self-discipline, encouraging innovation, and predicting the future of work and society.



First, Break All the Rules
by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

Based on in-depth interviews of 80,000 managers in 400 companies by the Gallup Organization, Buckingham and Coffman argue that the world’s best managers break virtually every conventional “rule” of management practice. They select employees for talent, not experience, intelligence, or determination. They define the right outcomes for people, not the right steps. They focus on developing employee strengths, not eradicating weaknesses. And they find the right fit for employees in the organization instead of relentlessly promoting people up to their level of incompetence. This book will help you examine what you believe about effective management and encourage you to think of ways to set people up for success in your organization from the beginning.

Even if you decide not to pursue the PMBA, in my opinion these books would be helpful for anyone entering the business arena. Josh is also coming out with a new list of books for 2007 and in addition, he offers PMBA coaching. You can find out more by visiting his website at personalmba.com.

MBA-Not for You?

If you decide for one reason or another that going the MBA route is not for you, however, you really want to gain the knowledge that an MBA provides, Josh Kaufman has a suggestion for you. His recommends what he refers to as a PMBA Personal MBA)which involves reading a series of 42 books that he feels will provide the basic knowledge that an MBA provides.

What is the Personal MBA?
In Josh's words, the Personal MBA (PMBA) is an experiment in educational entrepreneurism. Josh wrote a manifesto that will show you how to substantially increase your knowledge of business on your own time and with little cost, all without setting foot inside a classroom.

The PMBA is more flexible than a traditional MBA program, doesn’t involve going into massive debt, and won’t interrupt your income stream for two years. Just set aside some dedicated reading time, pick up a good book, learn as much as you can, and go out and make great things happen.

It’s All About the Books
“If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I’ve gotten one of the greatest bargains of all time.” – Tom Peters

“The difference between where you are today and where you’ll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you’ve read.” – Jim Rohn

At the core of the PMBA is a list of 42 books and periodicals. By investing time and effort in using these resources, you will progressively develop a greater understanding of business and increase your effectiveness at work. Even if you only read a few, you’ll get a substantial return on your investment.


Here are the first four books he recommends.

The first set of books is targeted to help you Master Yourself



Mastery
by George Leonard

Mastery is not a business book – it’s a book about the learning process and what you can expect from a project like the Personal MBA. Leonard explains that mastery of any skill is a life-long process involving a series of plateaus, punctuated by short spurts of visible growth. True mastery is about embracing the plateau and learning to love practice for its own sake. It’s a short, inspiring read, and it’s the perfect book for starting down the path of becoming a self-taught “master of business.”



Now, Discover Your Strengths
by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton

According to Buckingham and Clifton, you are at your most effective when you’re capitalizing on your strengths instead of spending time and effort trying to improve your weaknesses. Now, Discover Your Strengths is the summation of a wide body of research conducted by the Gallup Organization on the subject of human talent. Gallup has identified 34 statistically-significant areas where people naturally tend to exhibit consistent, near flawless performance. Each copy comes with an access code for Gallup’s StrengthsFinder assessment, an online tool that helps you identify and understand your own unique combination of strengths. (Be sure to get a new copy in order to get access to the assessment: used or library copies probably won’t work.)

In addition to explaining how we develop our individual talents, this book has a lot to say about diversity and why it is so important in business. Because everyone has a different combination of strengths, we all approach the world from a slightly different perspective. By working with people who possess a wide variety of skills and backgrounds, our chances of success increase.

The second set teaches you how to Manage Your Life and Work



Getting Things Done
by David Allen

Simply put, Getting Things Done is the best book on day-to-day, functional time management that has ever been written. (That is not an exaggeration.) Allen takes a “bottom up” approach to managing your life, focusing on helping you create a system of organization your mind learns to trust over time. By capturing everything floating around in your head, honing in on the physical actions you need to do, and creating a system where your next actions are easily stored and referenced, you’ll be free to focus on completing the tasks at hand and will experience less stress.



The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
by Stephen Covey

In contrast to Getting Things Done, Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People takes a “top down” approach to managing your life. What do you really want for yourself? What is important to you? When you have considered questions like these, you’ll have a better understanding of how to identify non-productive uses of time and create opportunities to accomplish the things that are really important to you.

Covey also discusses working with others productively. By learning simple principles like looking for win-win situations, seeking to fully understand the perspectives of the people you’re working with, and identifying new ways to cooperate, you’ll be better equipped to deal with the complexities of working with others.

Getting In

Once you've decided which schools to apply for, there are several things you need to do to increase your chances of being accepted. You need to:

Make certain you meet the enrollment guidelines
-Know the prerequisites
-Address any acedemic weaknesses

Know how the school evaluates your application
-GMAT scores
-Work experience and extracurricular activities
-Interviews and essays

Check out your competition
-Look at historical data
-Remeber that no one is average

Craft you application
-Essays
-Letters of recommendation
-Interviews
-Articulating you career focus

Market Yourself
-Showcase you positive qualities
-Emphasize leadership skills

For detailed information and help preparing for the application process visit:

mba.com/mba/ApplyEffectively

Choosing an MBA Program

If you've decided that the salary statistics and publicized benefits are enough to convince you that the ROI of an MBA is worthwhile, then it is time to select a school.


Studies show that 62% of graduates in the class of 2006 would recommend their schools to someone else who is interested in the degree. What factors did they take into consideration when they selected their school?

-the quality and reputation of the school
-the financial cost of the school
-personal fit (whether the school was right for them as individuals)and location.

It is important that the school you chose is know for its' quality and has a good reputation. A low-quality programs is not likely to be a good ROI or give you the opportunities that a higher quality school would.

Another important factor is cost. MBA.com tells us that although you might assume that those who paid a lot for their degree would have a harder time saying it was all worth it, but the exact opposite is true—those who felt they paid a lot valued the degree most. Some of this may have to do with consumer psychology, which tells us that things that are expensive are more valuable than things that are inexpensive. But another explanation for this phenomenon could be that those who did not let high prices discourage them from attending the school they really wanted to attend were glad they made the financial sacrifices to go to the school of their dreams. We're not saying you should go broke to get your MBA, but we are suggesting that there may be some trade-offs in exchange for choosing the less expensive school.

Be careful of the value you place on published rankings. Use several outlets to research schools and the quality of programs they offer. When people focus on school rankings, they don't necessarily investigate the attributes and quality of a business school for themselves. It's important that you define quality for yourself, and that you make sure that the school you choose offers the curriculum, faculty, and services you will need to further your career goals.

Every step you take in the beginning to find the school that matches your needs will increase the likelihood of your being one of the majority of graduating MBAs who say the degree delivers on its promise.

Here are some links that you may find helpful when researching schools:

Accreditation
mbaworld.com/page/newaccredit1/index

What is a ranking?
mbaworld.com/page/rankings/index

Princeton Review School Search
princetonreview.com/grad/research/articles/gradschomatch.asp

Are Online MBA's an Option

While researching the topics of MBAs, I've seen many advertisements for online MBAs. There certainly would be some advantages to an online degree, such as convenience and the ability to continue to work while obtaining the degree. It would also seem that with convenience comes flexibility, which would mean that you should still have time for a personal life if you managing your schedule efficiently. So, the big question then is whether or not employers consider online degrees credible?

Fortune Magazine reported in their April 7, 2007 issue that 81% of hiring managers look more favorably on job candidates who obtained their MBAs online than five years ago and 41% now think an online degree is as good as a real degree.

So, it would seem in some situations the answer would be yes, however, it depends on the situation and the online university in which the degree is obtained.

The following website gives some valuable insight to online degrees:gradview.com/articles/graduatestudies/online_degrees

As the website above indicates, there are many advantages to an online degree, however, there is one big disadvantage which is that you lose that face to face interaction that is so important to networking. Although you may meet some other students online, it is likely that you won't create as strong of bonds with your classmates as you would have had you spend numerous hours in class, studying, and interacting with them at social functions. This is yet another decision that you will need to analyze when deciding if an MBA is right for you.