You won't believe I read 12 big business books in less than 6 months.
Reading resources included
I am an MBA-ian now.
Not exactly a certified MBA- ian,
but an MBA-ian, personalized MBA-ian.
I completed my personal MBA course, curated
and suggested by one and only Ben Meer (System Sunday).
Here are my takeaways from all the 12 books:
(I gave 15 days for each book.)
Month 1:
Strategy and Entrepreneurship
📗1. Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters (Strategy)
"Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. And the next Mark Zuckerberg won’t create a social network. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them."
CONTRARIAN QUESTION—"What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
Lessons:
° Escape competition.
° Go from "0 to 1" not from "1 to n".
° Contrarian approach leads to greatness.
📗2. The lean Startup by Eric Ries (Entrepreneurship)
"We must learn what customers really want, not what they say they want or what we think they should want."
Lessons:
° Win by getting feedback and learning fast.
° Simplify when doubt hits your head.
° Build minimum viable products.
Month 2:
Accounting and Personal Finance
📗3. Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman, Joe Knight, John Case (Accounting)
"Profit is not equal to cash and you need both".
Lessons:
° Learn to read Income, Balance Sheets and Cash Flow (Financial Statements).
📗4. I will teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi (Personal Finance)
"Spend extravagantly on the things you love, and cut costs mercilessly on the things you don't."
Lessons:
° Automate every thing: your investments, your bills.
° Save an invest money before you see it.
Month 3:
Marketing and Operations
📗5. The 22 immutable laws of Marketing by Al Ries (Marketing)
"Marketing is a battle of perspectives not products".
Lessons:
° Follow the 22 law list.
° Own a category to boost brand
° Perception comes first, should prioritise.
📗6. The goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt (Operations)
"The capacity of the plants = to the capacity of the bottlenecks"
Lessons:
° Increase net profit, increase ROI and increase cash flow.
° Exploit bottlenecks.
Month 4:
Systems Thinking and Speaking
📗7. Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows (Systems thinking)
"A system must consists of three kinds of things; elements, interconnection and a function or a purpose."
Lessons:
° Create feedback loops.
° Purposes are deduced from behaviour, not words.
📗8. Steal the Show by Michael Port (Speaking)
"Raise the stakes to be comfortable with the discomfort."
Lessons:
° Opt out filler words by practising the material.
° Use pauses for great impact.
° Engage with your audience.
Month 5:
Negotiation and Networking
📗9. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss (Negotiation)
"He who has learned to disagree without being disagreeable has discovered the most valuable secret of negotiation."
Lessons:
° Ask open-ended questions.
° Let the one make the first offer.
📗10. How to be a Power Connector by Judy Robinett (Networking)
"Skill is fine, and genius is splendid, but the right contacts are more valuable than either."
Lessons:
° Choose your connections wisely
° Your network is your net worth
° Follow the 5+50+100 Rule
Month 6:
Leadership and Productivity & Effectiveness
📗11. Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal (Leadership)
"Purpose affirms trust, trust affirms purpose and together they forge individuals into a working team."
Lessons:
° The world is complex and chaotic.
° Resiliency and adaptability are crucial.
° Leaders create more leaders, not followers.
📗12. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson (Productivity and effectiveness)
"No one can compete with you on being you."
Lessons:
° Keep yourself accountable and take responsibility.
° Wealth is very different from money.
° Leverage your specific knowledge.
° Money and happiness are skills
° Productize yourself
° And much more...
Remember, any book will only help you when you experience its lessons.
If you want a free e-version of all the books; you can find them here.
Thank you for reading.
Do share :)