Business schools don’t have a monopoly on worldly wisdom. If you’re serious about learning advanced business principles, the Personal MBA can help. The Personal MBA recommended reading list is the tangible result of hundreds of hours of reading and research, and features only the very best books the business press has to offer. So skip the fancy diploma and $150,000 loan – you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

Unfortunately, I didn’t meet Josh until I was halfway through my MBA at Northern Kentucky University. Luckily though, I was able to supplement that education though my reading of the PMBA books. Many topics just aren’t covered in most business schools, so the books fill in a lot of big gaps. Incidentally, a lot of the books actually teach certain concepts better than some of my teachers could. Ultimately I am glad that I had the opportunity to attain an MBA, but for those who don’t have the time, money, or inclination, the PMBA is an outstanding alternative.

The web offers countless opportunities for anyone who is willing to learn how to use it properly. Too often, however, many non-technical people are easily overwhelmed by the amount of information involved in this task. Solo Signal helps people overcome these issues by breaking down the web development process into easily consumed articles. I hope to provide business-minded individuals with the information, tools and understanding needed to successfully leverage the Web for their benefit.

Hop on over to Solo Signal and subscribe to the feed. I have all kinds of great topics planned and you won’t want to miss any. Also, make sure you leave some comments so that we can get some good conversations going!

As prudent architects of the web, it is our job as developers and designers to argue the case for web standards. It is important to translate our techno-intertube-babble into something that any client (managers being clients, too) can comprehend. Once your client understands the value that web standards provide to their site and their customers, they will be more likely to devote resources towards doing things the right way.

The Business Case for Web Standards is a wiki devoted to helping developers and designers argue the case for web standards. Christian Heilmann created this site to help the web design community band together and collectively tackle this task.

From the site:

The first problem I realized is that a lot of presentations start from the premise that the person we are trying to convince knows and is interested in web standards. This might not be the case, therefore I am thinking that we need to approach the sale with the premise that we need to solve the issues the person has and find the solutions web standards provide that relate to these.

Roger Johansson also points out a great reason to use this resource:

One thing in particular that I like about this is that there isn’t only room for the arguments for using Web standards. Common counterarguments are also listed, which is good since being aware of those arguments lets you prepare good replies to them in case they are used.

The wiki itself is broken down into some really great categories that make it very easy to find the information you need.

• Argumentation
  • Arguments
  • Counterarguments
  • Common Mistakes to Avoid
• Audience
  • Enterprise Managers
  • Small Business
  • Department Heads
  • Non Technical Managers

You need to be in the office (classroom) at 8:00am wearing clothes (uniforms) from some approved list. There is a list of projects (assignments) you need to finish and instructions on exactly how to do them. Lunch (recess) is one hour and can only be taken between 11:00am and 1:00pm. Please do not talk during work (class). You will receive a performance review (report card) twice a year that will point out your areas of improvement (weaknesses). Don’t leave until the bell rings and enjoy the rest of your life.

By a show of hands, how many of you love your job and the way you are treated and would show up at the office even if you weren’t getting a paycheck? You in the back, is your hand up or are you giving me the finger?

Semler makes a great point here:

“Do we really believe that responsible adults, whether interested or not, committed to the company or service or not, would simply fail to show up after promising to do so? … Come on. What a disheartening view of humankind.”

If you hire responsible people and treat them like human beings, they will return the favor and act like adults; they will act accordingly to get their work done. End of story.