The 80 Minute MBA: Everything You'll Never Learn at Business School

by Richard V. Reeves, John Knell

The fully revised new edition of the international bestseller

THE 80 MINUTE MBA is your short-cut to business brilliance. A traditional MBA is for either the time-rich, very wealthy or lucky few with a generous corporate sponsor. So what happens if you want to get a hit of high-quality business inspiration without spending two years back at school?

THE 80 MINUTE MBA is the gateway to fresh thinking, in less time than it takes a standard meeting to get past coffee and biscuits. The MBA-in-a-box book is old hat. Managers need the encouragement to think differently, not in the same straight lines. THE 80 MINUTE MBA is an injection of inspiration, creative thinking and dynamic approaches which will help you see the world of business differently.

Stimulating new material brings this edition right up to date with critical business thinking. Including a new chapter on the platform economy and fresh technology and social media examples this book will energise and inspire you in equal measure.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Management, Self Help, Entrepreneurship

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

Reviews

[Dante · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 80-Minute MBA is a practical book that aims to help the reader learn the basics of an MBA education.

The book has five chapters and each chapter discusses an essential topic or aspect of any business.

Chapter 1 talks about sustainability. The authors write that environmental sustainability and financial sustainability are equally important for the success of any business. Business which are not environmentally sustainable face 3 risks: (1) physical, (2) regulatory, and (3) reputational risks.

Chapter 2 talks about leadership. The authors write that you don't really need to know a lot about leadership or read tons of books about leadership in order to be a good leader. You only need to know a few things. For example, great leaders are great servants. They lead by serving others. They possess virtues like courage and integrity. They are spiritual rather than materialistic. Also, great leaders know these 4 things: (1) Where they are going as a company (they have a clear sense of direction and they have the ability to execute their strategies), (2) what's going on in the organization, (3) who they are as persons (they are aware of their strengths and weaknesses), and (4) they know how to build a strong team.

Chapter 3 talks about culture or human resource. The authors write that the success of any business depends ultimately on how well you manage and engage your employees, and the best way to manage and engage them is to provide them with these 3 things: (1) Quality relationships, (2) autonomy or individual discretion, and (3) good organizational ethos or values. These 3 can lead to job satisfaction and thereby give the company "commitment dividends".

Chapter 4 talks about cash. The authors write that accounting is the language of business. Through accounting or the faithful and accurate bookkeeping of all the transactions that the business engage in every day, reliable records are produced which the business-owner, investor, leader, or manager can use to make informed-decisions about the business.

Chapter 5 talks about conversation. Conversation is all about marketing. The authors write that traditional marketing are no longer wholly useful. Times have changed and people are no longer merely consumers. Many of them are also producers. Thus, there is now modern marketing methods. The core of modern marketing are (1) community, (2) co-creation, (3) customization, and (4) conversation.

The book's subtitle is misleading. Are concepts like leadership, organizational culture, and accounting missing in the curricula of business schools? Clearly, no. So I guess this book is just exaggerating a lot. I did find a few chapters useful.

[Nataliia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The word "MBA" is a joke here. The authors are mentioning several crutial topics for business, including sustainability, culture, people management, economics and marketing. It is written in a pleasant and logical manner, each idea is easy to follow. Recommending.

[Patrick Sherriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this took me at least 180 minutes to read, but I won't dock the authors a star -- it's still a great introduction to what's what in thinking about economics for people, like me, who find themselves in business and in need of a framework to think about it all, but are sure that the Trump approach is not the way forward. The authors here write wittily on five topics: sustainability (how ecological concerns have to be at the heart of every business); leadership (how building a good team is leadership); culture (how you have to foster good relationships with those you work with); cash (how you should know how to read a balance sheet); and conversation (how you have to ask customers what they want from you). I could quibble that the final chapter is a little overly optimistic for the power of social media to do good, but overall I would recommend the book to anyone in need of a bit of business 101.

Download my starter library for free here - http://eepurl.com/bFkt0X - and receive my monthly newsletter with book recommendations galore for the Japanophile/crime fiction/English-as-a-foreign-language teacher in all of us.

[Yuthika · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would love to read an updated version of this. Sustainability, leadership, culture, cash, conversation. Packed and barely any room to breathe in between the topics, but value adding and astute :)

[Read Between The Lines · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure what I was expecting from a book about an MBA, but this wasn't it—kinda underwhelming. Maybe the book is just outdated. I can imagine that these topics have a short lifespan in the global sense.

[Kjell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the environmental focus of the first chapter and agree that the environment should be one of the top priorities for businesses. I found it refreshing because I did never think that much about it earlier. The rest of the book, however, is fairly basic. I think it is an interesting overview of the basics of managing, but I was hoping to learn more from the book.

[Chris Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

As the title states, this is a quick read which frames leadership, ethics, finance & strategic concepts; however the shallow dives into some topics with no dives into others leaves this book adding little value above a university course summary statement. Expectations were set on a to-the-point type of book one may reference back to, or use as a kick start into other conversational topics. Although it shed light on the vague areas one might venture into if perusing these studies more deeply, I would have to advise on placing your 80 minutes of read time elsewhere.

[Dávid Ďurčo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really worth to read. A short but yet very helpful book that will make you think about certain things like marketing, accounting, environment... I really love that the book is specific in some ways and gives readers recommendations on how they can improve. It explains very well how marketing has changed and how to do it nowadays. Even though it says that you can read it in 80 minutes, it actually took me more than that.

[حسين المتروك · Rating 3 out of 5]

وجدت بعض المعلومات الجميلة في هذا الكتاب، بعض فصوله لم تعجبني، قرأتها مُجبراً، رغبة في معرفة محتواه كاملاً، وجدت روعة في فصل القيادة وفصل الثقافة .. :)

بالإمكان إنهاء هذا الكتاب في ساعتين فقط .. خفيف لطيف معلومات مركّزة وقصص لها معنى مُضاف للمحتوى ..

[آمنة يعقوب]

قرأت الجزء الأول للمؤلف الأول .. اسلوب التسويق للكتاب جداً ماحبيته يسوقون لكتابهم كثير وكأنه افضل الكتب ، والمعلومات اللي قريتها مالها علاقة قوية بعنوان الكتاب ..ماحبيته ابداً ولا حبيت الاسلوب وماني قادرة حتى اكمله :) !

[Ahmed Altattan · Rating 5 out of 5]

من أهم الكتب التي قرأتها، خلاصة للكثير في صفحات قليلة، أنصح كل مهتم بتطوير ذاته او الشروع بأي مشروع تجاري او حتى الإستقلال للعمل الحر ان يقتني هذا الكتاب ففيه الكثير من القصص والافكار التي ستختصر عليه الكثير من التجارب

[Amazingsomeone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Complete bull shit. Nothing new or substantial, instead of reading this book, you can just read a few blog posts here and there.

[Abdul Raheem · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason i'm giving it an extra star is because of the ACDC reference, it's better to read the summary than to actually read the whole book, here's the summary:

1 Sustainability: Businesses have to think about the moral and practical implications of the mess we’re making of our planet.
2 Leadership: Ignore any leadership book that has an adjective in the title. It’s about knowing the details, and trusting the team.
3 Culture: Your people really are the key to your success, because of all the free stuff they bring to work.
4 Cash: You need to be able to read a ledger and draw a demand and supply curve. Or you’ll look like an idiot.
5 Conversation: Business these days is about talking with your customers, not talking at them.

[Ivan Tchernev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any book that claims you can read it in 80 minutes is always going to be a little scant on detail and specifics. Nonetheless, the 80 minute MBA did a good job of introducing a wide variety of topics in a compelling way. It's given me the impetus to follow them up more deeply in my own time, and in particular, has given me a new view on marketing and sustainability in modern businesses. Definitely worth 2 hours of your time. :)

[George Papanikolaou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly I bought the book thinking "ho ho, I might not be good enough to attend, say Harvard Business School, but at least, at least I'll get to learn the ins and outs about business that aren't even taught there, ho ho".

Now, THAT, is total bullshit.
It cannot be that the ideas in this little gem of a book are not taught at business schools. "LOL" I think to myself.
Anyway, don't take my word for it...

[Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nazov knihy je klamstvo lebo som to cital dlhsie ako 80 minut a vacsinu spominanych veci maju prave od business skol a vacsinu som sa aj na jednej naucil. Pre cloveka co nema insight do sveta businessu ani nic s nim nestudoval je to dobra kniha. Pre cloveka co to studoval a ma nejaky insight tato kniha nie je moc prinosna. Najviac prinosna je asi posledna kapitola o marketingu, ale aj to o par rokov budu zastarale pristupy.

[Dil Nawaz · Rating 2 out of 5]

You can’t get lots of information about MBA in 80 Minutes except headings and few lines description of main points in MBA

This books contains around 7 chapters

1- Introduction

2- Sustainability

3- Leadership

4- Culture

5- Cash

6- Conversation

7- General Resources

Mostly book depends on real world cases and ver basic information about MBA

Just An Average Read

Dil Nawaz
The Lion Studios
www.thelionstudios.com

[Sameer Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am only 12, but I LOVED this book. My dad is a major in business, and I plan to as well. I really do think that this book can save you a lot of time. For example, You could read this book in 60 minutes and get more information than most long Business-major classes. I had a HUGE laughing session at the Hummer part. You would like this, I almost guarantee.

[Elita Lahm · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give 5 stars because they delivered what they said they will deliver. At this moment book is well up to date and therefore has a higher value than it would have next year.
I learnt few new terms and trends, and for me who is a fresher and does not have much corporate work experience it was an excellent read :) easy going book for sure!

[Angha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I personally found this book to be over-exaggerated. The title makes it sound like business schools are hiding this knowledge from you, but I covered all of the topics covered in this book in my MBA and in a lot more detail than a few pages can cover.

The only chapter I found any help was on leadership and that too because it had some interesting examples of what great leadership really is.

[Malak Hasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book does lean on concepts that every individual should know regardless if they own a business or not. However, for people that are already studying business, this book offer nothing new and repeat the same concepts that you'd have gone through a million times. At best it's a BBA and not an MBA.

[Ric · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is actually The 80 Minutes of MBA Fundamentals. It is very basic, and I've heard most of the book's business perspective in online articles. I would recommend it to those who want to know some fundamentals in business, even though each business has its own uniqueness.

[محمد الشثري · Rating 3 out of 5]

للأسف لم أنتهي منه في 80 دقيقة 😅

الكتاب جميل في تقسيماته، وأول فصل هو الحديث عن "الاستدامة" لكن للأسف لم يوفق المؤلف. كل حديثه كان عن المناخ وأثره في الاستدامة! لكنه لم يعطينا وصفات تجعل من مشاريعنا قادرة على الاستدامة في ظل التغيرات الكثيرة.

[Paul Bard · Rating 1 out of 5]

A quarter of the book on global warming!?

A tenth of the book on dispelling leadership myths!?

Changing traditional marketing and strategic ideas to "conversations"!?

Dont waste your time.

[Robbert Bangriwall]

plz anyone send me the book please on:
pervrzagha007@gmail.com
or +923138746609(whatsapp)

[Hunain Arif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great advices on leadership and people management

[Mouiz Ghouri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this book only contains common sense based concepts, there was not much to learn from it.

[Rajni Vashist · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are MBA or doing or planning for it Read this book as basics of MBA, a revision and a brief on marketing strategy.

[Pía López Copetti · Rating 3 out of 5]

At least this book demystified some concepts for me about what an MBA degree entails. It's a quick book and gives you a general introduction of the concepts.

[M U- · Rating 2 out of 5]

- Google hiring questions
- conversations are important for community and company culture
- Energy: “what’s the smell of the place”
Jack Welch 4 Es - Enthusiasm, enjoyment, edge, execute