Josh Kaufman
Josh Kaufman is an independent business teacher, education activist, and author of The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business.
Josh's unique, multidisciplinary approach to business education has helped hundreds of thousands of readers around the world master foundational business concepts on their own terms, and his work has been featured in BusinessWeek, Fortune, and Fast Company, as well as by influential websites like Lifehacker, HarvardBusiness.org, Cool Tools, and Seth Godin's Blog.
Since creating the Personal MBA business self-education program in 2005, Josh has:
- Read thousands of books related to business, economics, psychology, communication, mathematics, science, and systems theory.
- Synthesized the essentials of sound business practice into a comprehensive, world-class program, which is available to students, entrepreneurs, and business professionals all over the world.
- Created the Personal MBA recommended reading list, which features the 99 best business books available to the DIY business student. The Personal MBA reading list and manifesto has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of readers from around the world.
- Saved prospective MBA students millions of dollars in tuition, fees, and interest by providing an effective and affordable means of learning fundamental business principles without mortgaging their future earnings.
- Helped hundreds of first-time entrepreneurs, CEOs, research scientists, programmers, and non-profit founders improve their business knowledge and skills via innovative online courses and 1-on-1 coaching.
- Inspired an active community of self-motivated business learners around the world.
Prior to developing the Personal MBA full-time, Josh worked as an Assistant Brand Manager in Procter & Gamble's Home Care division, where he was responsible for projects that encompassed P&G's entire value chain, from creating new products to working with large customers like Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and Kroger. Before leaving P&G, Josh spearheaded the development of P&G's global online marketing measurement strategy.
Josh received his BBA from the University of Cincinnati Lindner School of Business in 2005, where he studied Business Information Systems, Real Estate, and Aristotelian/Stoic Philosophy. He is 28 years old, an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America), an active entrepreneur, and a photographer. The Personal MBA is his first book.
“A good salesman, as the old (and politically incorrect) saying goes, can sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. It's a cliché, but there's some truth to it: Inuit who live above the Arctic Circle use insulated refrigerators to keep their food from freezing in subzero temperatures”
“You can't make positive discoveries that make your life better if you never try anything new.”
“Business schools don't create successful people. They simply accept them, then take credit for their success.”
“Every successful business (1) creates or provides something of value that (2) other people want or need (3) at a price they're willing to pay, in a way that (4) satisfies the purchaser's needs and expectations and (5) provides the business sufficient revenue to make it worthwhile for the owners to continue operation.”