You Don’t Need to Know It
All
As to methods, there may be a
million and then some, but principles
are few. The man who grasps
principles can successfully select his
own methods. The man who tries
methods, ignoring principles, is sure
to have trouble.
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON, ESSAYIST AND POET
One of the beautiful things about learning
any subject is the fact that you don’t need
to know everything—you only need to
understand a few critically important
concepts that provide most of the value.
Once you have a solid scaffold of core
principles to work from, building upon
your knowledge and making progress
becomes much easier.
The Personal MBA is a set of
foundational business concepts you can
use to get things done. Reading this book
will give you a firm foundation of
business knowledge you can use to make
things happen. Once you master the
fundamentals, you can accomplish even
the most challenging business goals with
surprising ease.
Over the past five years, I’ve read
thousands of business books, interviewed
hundreds of business professionals,
worked for a Fortune 50 corporation,
started my own businesses, and consulted
with businesses ranging from solo
operations to multinational corporations
with hundreds of thousands of employees
and billions of dollars in revenue. Along
the way, I’ve collected, distilled, and
refined my findings into the concepts
presented in this book. Understanding
these fundamental principles will give you
the tools you can rely on to make good
business decisions. If you invest the time
and energy necessary to learn these
concepts, you’ll easily be in the top 1
percent of the human population when it
comes to knowing:
▶ How businesses actually work.
▶ How to start a new business.
▶ How to improve an existing
business.
▶ How to use business-related skills
to accomplish your personal goals.
Think of this book as a filter. Instead of
trying to absorb all of the business
information that’s out there—and there’s a
lot out there—use this book to help you
learn what matters most, so you can focus
on what’s actually important: making
things happen.