If you didn’t have goals yet, try to set a small one today. Over the last three years, I had one major goal - get into a top MBA program in the USA. Now that I have decided to join Babson’s MBA program this fall, I want to share “why Babson and why now.” The following ideas are only my own views. You should see the big picture and merge your own goals with your own perspective.

My Rank

Financial Times ranks Babson’s MBA Entrepreneurship program #1 17 years in a row. When every MBA prospective student starts to look for an MBA school he has the general rank in his mind. Babson is not a top 10 school on other lists. There are many reasons for that: it’s a small school, and many students start new ventures after studies leading to low employment numbers. Babson’s MBA 2-year program probably never be listed in the Top 5, and I’m glad about that. When I looked for a biz school, I searched a biz school which would fit my goals (remember goals?) in the next 10 years. As I do want to work in small business or start my own new ventures, I’m drawn to the diversity that Babson provides, bringing together people from many industries and countries.

Me and America

I’m living currently in Israel, so I’m going to move to Boston in the next few months. This will be a big change for me. As a someone who was born and grew up in Israel, moving to the USA is an amazing switch and a huge opportunity. I’m sure I will post a lot about my MBA journey, but I want to set goals and talk about them. I’m going to meet new people, experience a new culture, learn new language (Ok, maybe that’s not so new J). I’m drawing the plans for the next three years. Yes, three years is a lot of time, but that’s the way in which I will see the maximum results – by planning ahead of time my goals. Without a plan you don’t see results. Period.

Boston – Big City, European Culture and Entrepreneurial Atmosphere

Boston is really a great place for students. It has more than 50 universities. In addition to Babson’s programs, those of MIT and Harvard offer a great way to participate and interact in many events. I do like the way that many top MBA program around Boston organize events together. That way, students from Harvard can network with students from Babson and vice versa. Boston is a the twenty-first largest city in the USA. Being based in a big city will be a great opportunity for me and my family..

MBA That Fits You Not Others

Babson does have some disadvantages, like Stanford and MIT. No college is perfect. The question is what you want to do in the next 10 years and How you MBA school can help you reach those goals.

Don’t worry that I didn’t talk about the great people whom I have met and plan to meet during my time in Boston. It will by privilege to talk about the amazing people in my future blog posts. This, to me, is the best time of my life. It’s the best time for me to grow and develop more businessexpertise. From now on, as things get exciting, and I hope to share my lessons with you.

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Amazon reviews are not reliable in my point of view, but many people are still taking them as a guarantee that a certain book is good. It’s funny to see many reviews conveniently posted on the same day / week, of that book’s launch date, suggesting that the reviewers are actually affiliates and inside marketers posing as book fans.

I would like to share my own tips now.

Kindle To The Rescue

As avid reader of books, I see my great Kindle device as a great platform to find the best books. Why? Because many books not only suck but also waste shelf space.  I’m using Kindle to weed out the sucky books and find the best titles.  How do I find one? The rule of thumb is very simple. If I finish the half of book in one shot, that is a great book to finish, because I couldn’t put it down. If I start reading it and get bored to death, stop quickly.  When I do find one, I order it in Amazon for reading it again in paper format.

Books = Value  ?

There are too many books on every topic to select from. 99% are worthless. Few of them bring a real value by sharing a life experience and giving a great value for the readers. Many books have been written by successful but egotistical people who brag about their own success rather than share their own life lessons. Many other books will tell you how to be successful entrepreneur by a non-entrepreneur (the author). Only a few books really bring an amazing value to the reader.

Rework

Over the last few days, I have been reading the book Rework.  I was wary in the first chapter like I am while reading any book, but then authors Jason Fried and David Heinemeir plucked amazing tips from obscurity and shared them with me, the reader, in a concise manner. The authors are very generous to share their own experience, and they have a lot. I really felt during reading the book, that somehow the authors were attentive to the market reactions from the first day of the company. Rework is a great example of the Customer Development concept by Steve Blank. If you’re not familiar with the innovative thinking of Steve Blank, make sure to bookmark my site–I will talk more about Steve Blank in future posts.

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“You can live your life by chance or by choice. It’s really up to you.” - Robin Sharma

The internet is full of information and knowledge. We sometimes find ourself looking for specific video, post, tweet to be inspired from. Here is my list of sites that inspire me every day:

1. Ted Talks
2. Robin Sharma twitter (blog)
3. Freaknomoics
4. entrepreneur.com
5. inc.com

Thanks JD for the hat tip

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When I was a child (around the age of 12), my parents used to tell me how important it is to read books.  I hated to read books, and, to be honest,  I didn’t read them at all!  I researched all of my school essays on the internet and, after editing, I turned them in and got A’s on most of them.

Today, I have more than 60 books on my shelf and read at least one, and usually two books a month.  So what happened? I have no idea. I don’t really remember exactly when I decided to start reading books.   What I can say honestly is that I was a real idiot for wasting so many years when I could have been reading amazing books.

I’ve spent a substantial amount of time thinking about books, both before and after reading them.  At the moment, I’m in the middle of a “reading frenzy”, as I’m reading a lot about marketing, and particularly about on-line marketing.  At times, when I’m interested in a particular subject matter, I’ll read 4 – 5 books before considering whether to read more, or to move on to another subject.

Finding time for reading was not an easy task.  In the beginning, I tried to read for 30 minutes every morning before doing my chores.  Unfortunately, this didn’t work very well because I consider reading to be part of my “leisure pie.”   Nowadays, I read before going to sleep but I’m honestly thinking about   returning to my previous routine because these days, reading is not only part of my leisure pie – it’s intellectual input for me.   With the last few books I read, I started writing brief reviews in a notebook, and I’m thinking of writing a formal review of some of them on Amazon.   Up to this point, I’ve only stopped reading one book at the mid-way point.   I’ve found that sometimes a book is like a movie in that, if you lose faith (or interest) in the middle, there’s a chance that by skimming through the rest of it (or for a movie – if you keep watching), something “golden” will arise at the end.

So how do I manage my reading list?
Each book that is recommended to me is automatically added to my wish list on Amazon.   On this list I keep notes about who recommended each book so that I can thank him or her after reading it.  Every month or so, I buy  5 – 6 books about a specific topic and have them shipped to me.  I must admit that I am currently very inspired by personal recommendations by people whom I really respect.

photo by tbisaacs