The Personal MBA
By Jason • Jun 3rd, 2009 • Category: Security NewsI am looking for a few books to put on my summer reading list. Instead of going with some fun fiction titles, I thought I would put the time toward reading something from which I could learn. I would like to develop the ability to see business through a management lens instead of the technical one, so I started looking at business literature.
Why not learn on my own? Colleges, universities, and certification programs do not have a monopoly on education or knowledge. And, they tend to be expensive. Five years after getting my undergraduate degree, and I am still making payments on those student loans. I have a pretty good handle on the technical side of things.
I am interesting in pursuing a master’s degree, and have looked a few programs. The ones that interest me are technical information security programs. I have been told that an MBA might be the way to go, but I am of the school of thought that I can pick up the business skills through experience.
Enter the Personal MBA program. It consists of two parts. At the heart it is a reading list of 77 of the best business books in print spread across different genres. The second part is a forum: a community coming together to discuss the books on the PMBA list along with other timely issues. The recommended reading appears to be wide, deep, and holistic. The forum is less of a lively conversation than would be helpful in developing and cementing the knowledge learned. If you could find another person, or even better a group of folks to read along with and discuss the books, I think you would get a lot of value out of the PMBA.
As a learning experiment, I want to get through as many of the PMBA books as I can this summer. I also want to do it on the cheap. I went to my local Half-Price Books, and spent about half of an hour pillaging their business section. I found 4 books on the list, and figured that would be a good start.
As I read them, I’ll rate them and write reviews. If anyone wants to read along and engage in conversation, feel free to comment or email me directly.
The four books I found:
