Personal MBA - Business Book Recommender

By Josh Kaufman

MBA programs don't have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA features the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. So skip business school and the $150,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

This page is designed to help you get started with the Personal MBA Recommended Reading List, based on the type of work you do.

The following recommendations will help you get started with the Personal MBA...

For Entrepreneurs and Business Owners:

Bankable Business Plans by Edward Rogoff
The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki
Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson
The Knack by Norm Brodsky & Bo Burlingham
The New Business Road Test by John Mullins
How to Make Millions with Your Ideas by Dan Kennedy
Getting Real by 37signals
The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes
Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got by Jay Abraham
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

For Managers and Corporate Leaders:

First, Break All The Rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
12: The Elements of Great Managing by Rodd Wagner & James Harter
Growing Great Employees by Erika Andersen
Hiring Smart by Pierre Mornell
The Essential Drucker by Peter F. Drucker
Total Leadership by Stewart Friedman
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith
The New Leader’s 100-Day Action Plan by George Bradt et al
The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig
Smart Choices by John S. Hammond et al
Learning from the Future by Liam Fahey & Robert Randall
Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson et al

For Employees and Individual Contributors:

StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath
The Power of Less by Leo Babauta
The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Getting Things Done by David Allen
Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
Making Things Happen by Scott Berkun
The Simplicity Survival Handbook by Bill Jensen
Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale
The Unwritten Laws of Business by W.J. King
The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

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Josh Kaufman is the bestselling author of The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business. Josh specializes in teaching professionals in all industries and disciplines how to master practical business knowledge and skills. About Josh Kaufman...

What Must an Educated Person Know? - Investment in learning skills related to these areas are most likely to pay dividends in real-world situations.

Building a Business That Supports Your Life - There are all sorts of ways to improve a company other than revenue and number of employees. Some things are worth more than money.

The Craftsman's Creed - We're all on the same path: doing everything we can to perfect our craft, using every tool at our disposal. We are craftsmen.

How to Get a Valuable Education Without Mortgaging Your Life - 9 ways to learn practical knowledge without becoming an indentured servant.

Do You Have These Core Human Skills? - 12 primary areas you should focus on developing.

The Nefarious Hidden Costs of Debt - Debt is this century’s version of indentured servitude. Happy is he who owes nothing.

3 Simple Techniques to Optimize Your Reading Comprehension and Retention - what’s the use in reading if you don’t understand and don’t remember what you read?

Learning via Self-Experimentation - treat everything in your life as an experiment to make rapid progress.

10 Time-Tested Ways to Make Money - you can describe 99% of all businesses – past and present – using one (or more) of these core patterns.

The Value-Optimization Paradox - the goal of every business should be to consistently create more value for its customers than it captures in revenue.

"Branding" is an Overrated Buzzword - when most people use the word brand, they really mean reputation.

Experimenting with Delegation and Outsourcing - you can't delegate unless you have someone to delegate to.

On Discounting - making discounts a part of standard operation can kill your business.

The Safest Investment - investing in yourself always provides the highest returns.

Business: It's Not Really About the Money - what do you work for after your material needs are met?

Absence Blindness - people have a really hard time realizing that something is missing.

How to Handle Business Book Narcissism - what do you do when you realize you can’t stand an author’s personality?

There Are No Magic Businesspeople - the purpose of business study is to help you become the type of person who is worth $1 million dollars, and there’s nothing magical about that.

Need more time to read? Get rid of your TV - going without TV for 30 days can make a world of difference.

Personal MBA - Business Book Recommender

By Josh Kaufman

For Entrepreneurs and Business Owners:

For Managers and Corporate Leaders:

For Employees and Individual Contributors:

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