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Summary

Meet Justin Campbell. He’s a newly minted MBA who’s landed a coveted job in consulting. He’s headed to Chicago to serve HGS, a large client with an intriguing new technology its executives haven’t yet decided how to exploit. Constrained by a short timeline and limited information, Justin and his team use state-of-the-art strategy tools to analyze various possibilities.

Justin is energized by this challenging assignment, but soon finds the application of his strategy toolkit isn’t as straightforward as he’d expected. The political and organizational forces swirling within HGS complicate his analyses and test his fundamental understanding of important strategic concepts.

Justin and his cohorts aren’t “real” - What I Didn’t Learn in Business School is a business novel. But they’re realistic: they’re just like us. They are humans, not human resources, and they each have their own personality, motives, and skills. Their story reveals both the strengths and the limitations of common strategy tools. And it demonstrates tactics for navigating the messy organizational dynamics that can make or break a company’s efforts to craft successful strategies.

This engaging audiobook uses the power of story to present potent lessons for anyone seeking to excel at strategy management. The action moves quickly, and at the end of each chapter, you’ll find provocative questions that help you tease out vital insights that you can apply in your own work.

What I Didn’t Learn in Business School is a compelling listen - whether you’re a recent business school grad struggling to apply your new knowledge or an experienced leader who already knows that no strategy is created in a vacuum.

©2010 Jay B. Barney, Trish Gorman Clifford (P)2010 Gildan Media Corp

Critic reviews

“What an excellent and enjoyable way to gain knowledge. From Justin’s amazing transition from business school to the real world, great lessons learned effectively - and in a less painful way than firsthand experience. As a former chairman and CEO, I kept thinking ‘so true’ as I listen to this audio book.” (Jeff Rodek - Former CEO and Chair, Hyperion Solutions Corporation)

What members say

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  • Overall
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  • Tameka
  • 07-04-15

Prefer audio over hardcopy.

So glad there is an audio version of this book. It's easier to listen to than read.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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  • Utkal
  • 11-01-17

Engaging lesson on strategy

The novel style of writing helps in understanding application of strategy lessons in real life in an engaging manner. I would recommend it if you are thinking of starting a career in consulting.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 04-10-16

Physical or eBook version probably better

The first chapter has a bunch of pops and off-putting sounds besides the narrator. I don't know if the narrator is purposely trying to sound pompous but it grated on my nerves. I'm still trying to decide if I want to try reading it instead.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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  • arvinth
  • 19-07-16

decent book. peek into consulting partice

The book has decent content expected more examples. Author tried to included more novel style. Performance was good.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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  • Shelby Webb
  • 24-10-15

Great book! Narrated well.

I enjoyed listening to this book. A few laughs throughout and a great lesson. Easy to follow and a lot to learn for students leaving school and entering the work force.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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  • Alice
  • 06-02-13

With reasonable expectations, you'll learn some

Don't expect to learn a lot about technical aspects of biz school education from this book. But if you are fresh from a business school and have little experience in consulting projects and how consulting firms work, this will be of some help.
Anyway, you can use all the help you can get.

This book gave me a chance to look back at my own consulting projects in the past. Although projects and situations vary, this book is accurate in many ways.

I may be repeating something obvious, but it's critical to know how to deal with your work mates and what to expect from them (and what They expect from you, too, for that matter). Only when you are aware of these, you can effectively use your biz school education on the job. It took some time for me to figure out this. But if you can shorten the time you spend on realizing this, your work life would be somewhat less stressful.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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  • Mulamfu C. Simuyuni
  • 18-08-18

Excellent

The book takes you on a rare journey into the heart of the consulting world. There is plenty to learn. Buying hard copy for my Bookshelf.
The story very captive ,was visualising every point brought out.

Sean Pratt is my favourite narrator, but for this book he was exceptional. He gave the story a very clear verbal picture.

Great Stuff


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  • Stone P
  • 11-09-17

Reality = Better Than Theory

This book was a great story on the realities of consulting straight out if business school. I became a fan of Justin as he trudged along and his stories, insights and interactions are great for a newbie to business school and the business world in general. I recommend this book to MBAs who think their case competitions are the bread and butter of their B-School education. Perhaps it is, but this book is better than theory.

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 21-06-17

Good for starter.

The performer is good and the content is easy to understand. I think it's good for career starters to have an overview about what's the consulting work looks like.