It was created in 2005 by a young entrepreneur, Josh Kaufman, who believed he could learn faster, more efficiently and less expensively by reading the right books rather than going to business school.
Here's Josh:
And here is the Personal MBA Manifesto:
As he surveyed the market of business books he realized that others would benefit by having a website that listed the best of the best. So each year, he reads hundreds of books about business and related fields like psychology and science and recommends the best ones. The list evolves from year to year and is designed to give a mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive in depth view of business across an expansive list of categories including sales, marketing, communication, negotiation, decision making, opportunity identification, creativity and innovation, finance and accounting and leadership. Currently there are 99 books in 25 categories.
The website even offers a free 12 week crash course if you have the inclination and time to read all the books. Otherwise, look at the list of 99 books and find ones that address current issues you are wrestling with or that fill gaps in your knowledge breadth or depth.
Josh also has a book coming out this fall on the Personal MBA approach to business education. I look forward to reading it and will report on it here.
Finally, if you are not sure where to start, consider "Blue Ocean Strategy". This inventive look at business strategy will get you thinking creatively and expansively about how you compete. Or appropriately, "10 Days to Faster Reading."
