Finished: May 23, 2023
Why I read this
The reason I picked up this book was that I was finding questions in my career about the business decisions of my superiors that I did not know how to address. I had a feeling that these people were not making the right decisions but I had no business background to support that claim. I wanted to learn why I was wrong, or why they were.
What I learned
If I remembered correctly in this book there were 271 different ideas presented about how businesses work, how people think, and how to think about systems. Many of the ideas were not new, and I had basic understanding of them, but some were a nice expansion of my existing experience. For example I addressed a question about how much cash reserves a company should hold because the book clearly explained how these cash reserves relate to the resiliency of the company to address unknowns.
I would however say less that this book improved my knowledge of business than it gave me a tool box to bring out whenever the right occasions come up. Without an opportunity to test the activities in this book, it will not be useful to me in the long run, so it is up to me to find ways where I can apply these principles.
What I didn’t like
The book is a great collection of tools, but that is really it. You can learn a lot at a very high level, but not much at a comprehensive level (which is admittedly not the objective of the author here). However, many techniques are provided in the book for how to do things such as though experiments or system analysis, templates, or examples on how someone could format those could be helpful for a new reader.
Questions I asked
What needs to be true for me to start my own business?
What really are my values and what kind of job is required to achieve sufficiency with these values?
What are the lessons from this book that I can immediately apply to improve myself as a person/employee?
My Favorite Quote
“An MBA at a top school is an enormous investment in time, effort and cold, hard cash. And if you don’t want to work for a consulting firm or an investment bank, the chances are it simply isn’t worth it.”
Josh Kaufman
Books I liked like this one
Thinking Fast and Slow: Daniel Kahneman (For how the mind works)
How to Win Friends and Influence People: Dale Carnegie (For getting along with everyone)
Book Reviews for Mom 