Book Review: The Five Minute MBA

The Five Minute MBA

Not the smallest book I've ever read, but surely the quickest. As I paged through the 5 Minute MBA, I was surprised when I turned a page to find the end. "Wow, no emotional or inspirational ending?", I thought...but maybe that's the idea. I also thought a few other things. Should books all round be shorter? Is this book too compact to make an impact? Well, I am sure you will find out in the review below, but first: Why do reviews?

This year I set the goal of not just reading, but studying books. I want to dive deep into good reads and make sure I get the maximum out of them. For every book I read I want to write a 1000 word essay to make sure I properly understand them and apply them. I've never done reviews however, so bear with me as I attempt them. What will be a bonus, is if you also learn something along the way!

Brief, but concise.

Dynamite comes in small packages, they say. I wouldn't call this book dynamite though. By saying this, it's not a stick at Wayne Brown...in fact I think the former New Zealand Surf team manager is pretty cool guy (from what I read...let's hope I get to meet him or have him on the podcast). Conciseness I believe was the aim of the game for this book, and I believe he managed to do that. I learned from a friend that when it comes to taking in any information there is 'just in time' information and ' just in case' information. This book is a classic case of 'just in time' information that you can quickly read through to get the just of how to effectively run a business and then immediately apply them.

If you read a more detailed book about the MBA topic like The Personal MBA, you might find a deeper exploration of what MBA students are supposed to learn. Kaufman's motivation behind the writing is however similar to Brown's: a discontent with traditional MBA degrees, the teachings, the length of time it takes to complete and it's cost. I appreciate both of these men's motivations (and many more who wrote their own spin-offs of an MBA program), but I wonder is conciseness really the answer? And if so...are we answering the right question?

It's not what you pay for, it's what you do with it.

The 5 Minute MBA was a gift from my wife for Christmas, so in essence I got it for free. An MBA at a well established institution in South Africa will cost me around R350 000 (a far ways from free). When reading through the ten quick lessons in business, however I wondered that if all MBA students felt like Brown or did they delve deep into all their lectures and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to complete tasks and Googled and highlighted everything so that they could get the maximum out of their studies?

What I picked up from the book, is that knowledge is not the same as applying knowledge (some might even call this wisdom, hey). And here is the key then, I think most people don't have a problem with an MBA in principle, they have a problem of what an MBA promises and what doors it opens or what prestige comes with it. You can pay thousands of rands for an education and be no better off after completing it, or you can get a Christmas present from you wife and become a millionaire if you apply yourself...at least according to Brown...and now also to me.

Whether personal adaptations and expressions of an MBA in the form of a book is the right way to go about educating the business world or saving every sent from switching to brown bread toward this masters is the right way to go...I still don't know. What I can say though...is that I learned a bunch in a small space of time.

Speaking About Wisdom

Although Brown's lessons in the book are short and to the point, they represent an experience from him that he has either picked up in practice or a mistake that he made himself that he now carries into his new ventures. Mistakes are what makes us, and we can choose to learn from our own lessons or use books like this to apply those lessons to our life or leadership journey. "Duh, that's the whole point about reading, Thornton." you might think, and you are absolutely right. But why then are people still writing books about this?

In my opinion, it's because we sometimes choose to still make stupid mistakes by avoiding lessons other people try to teach us. I think it's because it doesn't truly sting that much if we don't get hurt ourselves. What The 5 Minute MBA taught me, was to try a little bit harder not to touch the the warm stove if the author has told me he has burnt his hand on it. Using your own lessons AND those of the authors in books like this...means wisdom to me now.

Practice, Practice...Practice

Lastly, none of these lessons in the book will make practical sense to me if I don't apply them in my own line of work or my own context. Sure, the book can be too short, a waste of time or even irrelevant in my environment...but none of that is true if I earnestly attempt to make each lesson personal. Sure this is true of any book and I might have just spent an hour writing an opinion piece instead of a review...but if this is what I took from this little gem...then so be it. So to make it even more practical to me (and maybe you), here are the 10 lessons as interpreted by me in the current spot I am in my business journey:

1. Smile and shake the clients hand.

2. Do the work.

3. Strategise but then DO.

4. Be a model.

5. Take the lead.

6. Be True.

7. Ask stupid questions.

8. Give up a little control.

9. Commit to the plan.

10. Be a good person.

Let me know if you've read the book and what you thought, and if not...you can borrow mine! Let's go and do great stuff!

TF