iMBA - one step in a life of learning
Some background
Since graduating, I have worked in a few different industries and now have an opportunity to assess what I have learnt and what I want to do next. In that time, the world of work has changed beyond of recognition and there is one area in particular that I want to explore: digital innovation.
The challenge
Doing an MBA can be a great platform for experienced professionals who want to change careers, start a business or super charge a trajectory towards blue chip leadership. There is a really good reason why gold standard organisations like Google, Goldman Sachs and McKinsey refer to them when making mid level hires.
Unfortunately for me, they are also expensive, hard to get into and seem to be providing diminishing returns for participants. Speaking with a few MBA grads, I understand that you can spend a lot of time covering topics you either know well already or that won’t be useful for your next move.
The idea
To develop and deliver an affordable, productive learning experience that will give me access to the skills, opportunities and network that I would expect from a traditional MBA.
How it will work
Learning from practicing experts is going to be at the heart of my iMBA. I acknowledge that there needs to be a degree of more formal development (reading and studying) but I want to spend time delivering as much value in a real world setting as possible. with that in mind, I am thinking about the world of digital innovation in two ways:
- Front end technology and how to build digital products people love
- Back end technology and how we think about using and securing data
A bit more detail
My 6 – 9 month iMBA will be cross sector, cross functional and will take a pragmatic and ambitious view of the opportunities available to me. It will include:
- a real world experience developing and delivering great customer-facing digital products;
- a real world experience understanding and working with data (this will explore some of the key systems of thought around big data, analytics and cyber security)
- formal training of some kind (eg. an accredited course);
- a thorough reading list to back up some of the practice
Why digital innovation?
Digital technology is a part of our lives more than it has never been before. To my mind, that makes it increasingly important for organisational leaders to understand key principles around how the internet works and how organisations can use it to greatest effect. It doesn't matter whether you are running a hospital, a tech start up or a government, leaders of the future will need to grasp intuitively how this stuff works. That is what I have set out to do.
Reading list
Core text
The Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman
Leadership and management
Mandela’s Way - Richard Spiegel
Consiglieri - Nicholas Hytner
Getting to Yes, the art of negotiation - Roger Fisher and William Ury
High Output Management - Andrew Grove
Team of Teams - General Stanley McChrystal
The Essays of Warren Buffett - Lawrence Cunningham
Radical Candor - Kim Scott
Theory of innovation
The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
Running Lean - Ash Maurya
Sprint - Jake Knapp
Creativity Inc - Ed Catmull
Jugaad Innovation - Jaideep Prabhu, Navi Radjou, and Simone Ahuja
Zero to One - Peter Thiel
The Hard Thing about Hard Things - Ben Horowitz
Marketing
Positioning, the Battle for your Mind - Al Ries and Jack Trout
UX and Design
100 things every designer needs to know about people - Susan Weinshenk
The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick
Systems thinking
How to Run a Government - Michael Barber
Modernising Money - Ben Dyson
The Future - Al Gore (might be outdated now!)
Theory of mind
Mindset - Carol Dweck
Grit - Angela Duckworth
Thinking Fast and Slow - Kahneman
Quiet - Susan Cain
Nudge - Richard Thaler
Willpower - Roy Baumeister
Drive - Daniel Pink
Personal Development
Unleash the Giant Within - Tony Robbins
Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
Lean in - Sheryl Sandberg
Theory of the world
Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
A world lit only by fire - Manchester
The 100 year life - Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott
Sapiens, a brief history of humankind - Yuval Harari
Watch list
How to start a startup: https://startupclass.samaltman.com
Startup School: https://www.startupschool.org
Listen list
Masters of Scale - Reid Hoffman
Podcast - Tim Ferriss
Some other resources
https://googledigitalacademy.com/
https://altmba.com/
Sustainable Business | Climate Finance | Strategy | Business Management | Trade and Investment | Responsible Business & Growth | Social Impact
7 年Superb article and I love your reading list. You inspired me to hit the library this weekend and grab some books.
Lead Product Manager at BrightLocal
7 年Massive thank you to everyone that I spoke with in the early part of this year as I was developing the idea (Jonno Elliott, CFA, Giovanni Donaldson, Benjamin Hay, James Whiting, Julian Mack, Mark Griffiths, Michael Clark, Michael Lynas, Chris White, Sara Beech, David Addison) and all the people I am currently working with at Patch UK to make it happen (Freddie Blackett, Ed Barrow, Franky Athill, Tyler Hildebrandt, Fleur Colvile)