book review: Personal MBA

Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman is a crash course on the world of business, without all the fluff. The book itself isn’t really made to be read in sequence, more as a reference for your business and personal needs as they come. I thought the book was a bit heavy on the business/accountant terms for me personally, but if anything that did help me get my finances in order.

Josh spends the first chapter of the book preaching his case against getting a real MBA and for the most part, I do agree with him. Kaufman, before becoming an entrepreneur, was rather successful in the corporate world, and he did it without an MBA. I feel like people like Josh know how to say and do the right things to get what the want. They have the “it” factor if you will. 

The premise of Josh’s argument is that instead of spending 2+ years and possibly up to around a quarter of a million dollars on an MBA, one can be applying themselves in the real world and educating themselves through workshops, courses, seminars, and books. I would tend to agree on this. I don’t see the reason in getting a masters degree unless, A) The job you want requires a masters, B) Getting a masters can yield significantly higher pay (Masters Degrees are a much better deal in Canada than the US, where Josh is from), or C) The masters program is free; whether from scholarship or you live in a country with free education. 

All in all, The Personal MBA is a valuable book for those in the world of business. It offers solid technical guidance that is presently simply and helps set the reader up for success without years of additional education and a wicked debt. 

book review: 59 Seconds

59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman was written with the concept of how scientifically proven ideas can improve your life with the investment of only 60 seconds . The ideas in the book are presented in sections for each idea, with multiple concepts of the same idea within each section. This makes the book super easy to read and follow along. You could read for an hour, or just a few minutes to pick up the technique of the day.

One of the ideas that stood out to me was in regards to praising children. Now, I don’t have kids, so I don’t get to use this technique too often, but I was drawn by the possible effects that it can have on a childs development. The technique is to praise a child based on their efforts, not their results. For example, this is what good praise looks like. “Wow, Finlay. It really shows that you’ve been working really hard on your dribbling technique. It’s improved leaps and bounds since I last saw you.” Bad praise would be “Wow, Lottie. You’re really great at basketball.” Continuous application of the latter technique employed by various parties could result in and inflated ego in the future, with potential to leading to Kayne West Syndrome. It can also cause the child to put in less effort as they feel like the area of praise is something that they’re already sufficient in. 

Overall, a good read and a great alternative take to a traditional self help/development book.