The Personal MBA

01 Mar 2022

Book	The Personal MBA
Author	Josh Kaufman

Notes

This is the best, most practical “Business 101” book I’ve ever read. Highly recommend.

Below quotes are some nuggets, but doesn’t capture the comprehensiveness of the book.

Quotes

Automation

Automation is never a fix for a broken process or value chain, but instead amplifies the properties of that process.

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operations will magnify the inefficiency.

• Bill Gates

Absence Blindness

Be on the look out not only for great work, but also for the absense of problematic/ bad work.

Examples of absence blindness are everywhere. Here’s a common example: great management is boring and often unrewarding. The hallmark being an effective manager is anticipating likely issues and resolving them in for an advance, before they become an issue. Some of the best managers in the world look like they’re not doing much, but everything gets done on time and under budget.

The problem is, no one sees all of the bad things that the great manager prevents. Less skilled managers are actually more likely to be rewarded, since everyone can see them actually “move heaven and earth” to resolve issues “making things happen”—issues they may have created themselves via poor management.

Make a note to remind yourself to handsomely reward the low-drama manager who quietly and effectively gets things done. It may not seem like result, their job is particularly difficult, but you’ll miss them when they’re gone

Four Ways to Do Things

There are really only four ways to “do” something: completion, deletion, delegation, and deferment.

Completion–doing the task–is the option most people think about. If you keep a to-do list, you’re probably assuming that those tasks are all your responsibility to get done. That’s not quite true completion is best for important tasks that only you can do particularly well. Everything else can be handled in another manner.

Deletion–eliminating the task–is effective for anything that’s unimportant or unnecessary. If something on your task list is unimportant, don’t feel bad about eliminating it. If it’s not worth doing, it’s not worth doing well or quickly-don’t hesitate to get rid of it.

Delegation–assigning the task to someone else–is effective for anything another person can do 80 percent as well as you can. In order to delegate, you must have someone to delegate to. Employees, contractors, or outsourcers can all help you get more things done by completing tasks on your behalf.

Deferment–putting the task off until later–is effective for tasks that aren’t critical or time dependent. Don’t feel bad about putting some things off—the best way to bog yourself down is to try to handle to many things at the same time. Saving noncritical tasks for later is a good way to keep your attention and energy focused on what’s most important.

A “Someday” List

Have a reservoir of important, creative ideas to try to get to at some point.

In “Getting Things Done”, David Allen recommends keeping a “someday/ maybe” list of things you’d like to do someday but that aren’t that important right now.

Creativity researcher Scott Belsky recommends a similar approach in “Making Ideas Happen”: create a “back burner” list of tasks you want to get to eventually but that aren’t a priority right now. Periodically reviewing this list when you’re looking for something new or exciting to do is quite useful.

States of Beings

An interesting take on states of being, or emotional states: They should not be treated as goals but instead are inputs into your decision making and an important variable into your final results.

A State of Being is a quality of your present experience. Emotional experiences aren’t achievements because they fluctuate over time-you can be happy right now and upset an hour from now. Accordingly, “being happy” is not an achievement–it’s a quality of your present experience.

States of Being are decision criteria, not Goals. It’s okay to want to “be happy” or “be successful,” but treating these desires as Goals is a recipe for frustration. Instead of treating these states as achievements, it’s far better to think of them as decision criteria-ways of understanding whether or not your actions are leading to your desired results.