5 Blogs Every MBA Student Should Be Reading

Every MBA student is pressed for time. Balancing demanding priorities, like classes, learning teams, job hunting, and family, while also getting some sleep, leaves little time for cruising the web looking for insightful posts.

Lucky for you all, I can recommend 5 terrific blogs that can help you link what you’re learning in your MBA management classes with what’s happening in the real world.

I have a particular bias about what’s important for managers and leaders to pay attention to, after 10 years of teaching MBAs and twice that consulting in organizations. My bias is that finance precepts, operations formulas and pricing strategies are plentiful, easy to find and easy to put into practice. In contrast, wisdom about leadership, management and organizations is more rare, harder to find, and more difficult to put into practice.

What I’ve been discovering in the blogosphere are a number of writers – some academics, some consultants – who have a knack for raising important leadership and management questions, either by applying these questions to current business,organizational, and cultural events, or by examining the events themselves for insights. There are at least 2 dozen generalists, and probably another 2 dozen topical specialists, who raise important leadership & organizational issues day in and day out on their blogs. Here, I want to recommend five of these blogs to you.

Neither “top blogs” nor “the best” blogs, but terrific

These aren’t “the best” blogs or the “Top 5 Blogs”. Categories like “the best” feign objectivity and an established, concrete criterion, neither of which exists. Moreover, these categories are unnecessarily limiting– there are in fact a lot of “top” blogs that are “the best”.

There are some blogs, however, that stand apart because of the ways that their authors delve into leadership and management questions from distinctive and (dare I say) authentic standpoints, giving you a take on issues that is so unique you won’t find it anywhere else.

Let me recommend 5 blogs that are terrific enough that every MBA student should be reading them.

5 Blogs Every MBA Student Should be Reading

• Work Matters, by Bob Sutton
• Positive Organizational Behavior, by Bret L. Simmons
  
• Management Craft, by Lisa Haneberg
• Edge Economy, by Umair Haque
  
• AuthenticOrganizations, by CV Harquail

Work Matters, by Bob Sutton

Bob’s blog is one of the most popular management blogs, and for good reason — Bob is one of those rare academics who is simultaneously killer smart, funny, self-effacing and kind, qualities that come out in his topic selections and his writing. His “No Asshole Rule” is the best known of his many books and research articles. While the “No Asshole Rule” is ostensibly the focus of the blog and the topic that draws readers initially, it’s Bob’s curiosity and relevance that gets readers to stay and participate.

Some posts to sample:
The Accuracy of First Impressions: An amazing old study about “thin slices” of behavior
When Layoffs are Immoral: Randy Cohen in The New York Times
Wal-Mart and Girl Scout Cookies: Thin Minty-gate

Positive Organizational Behavior, by Bret L. Simmons

Bret is a lucid and lovely writer, a thoughtful teacher, and a dynamic citizen of the world. His blogging ranges widely across management and leadership topics, often following his teaching, and always imbued with that kind of uncommon common sense that makes even the most esoteric question matter. Bret’s posts combine insights from his personal leadership and management experience with the analytic rigor of his scholarly training. Take one part Air Force officer, one part McDonald’s Corporate Manager, a Phd and an sense of purpose and -viola – you’ve got Positive Organizational Behavior. Follow @drbret on Twitter.

Some posts to sample:
The Courage to Participate in Transformation as a Leader
The Stepford Organization
My Advice to New MBA Students

Management Craft, by Lisa Haneberg

Word for word, no management blog is more useful on a daily basis than Management Craft by Lisa Haneberg. Lisa is both a professional writer and a management consultant; her skill at both is part (but absolutely not all) of what makes her usually short posts so powerful. What really sets Lisa’s work apart is her focus. Each post has a point, each question is provocative, each recommendation is useful. Follow @LisaHaneberg on Twitter.

Some posts to sample:
Topics Your Management Training Programs Should Address, But Likely Don’t
10 Ways to Manage Your Mistakes
10 Questions Every Leader Ought to be Asking

Edge Economy, by Umair Haque

Umair is a writer with a strong vision and an even stronger moral and intellectual compass. He writes provocatively about the role of business in society, innovation, and radical management. His blog is hosted by Harvard Business School press, so it has the imprimatur of “The Establishment”. But make no mistake– Umair’s out to change business as we know it, for the better. Read Umair’s blog if you want to think right now about questions that will only occur to other managers months (or years) from now. Follow @umairh on Twitter.

Some posts to sample:
The Case for Constructive Capitalism
How to Build (and Use) Thick Power
What Would a Fair-Labor iPod Cost?

AuthenticOrganizations, by CV Harquail

Reading Authentic Organizations will give you regular opportunities to think differently about leadership & organizational challenges.  Questions of authenticity — about how organizations can align identity, action and purpose — cut across so many facets of organizations that these questions are relevant to discussions about strategy, reputation, branding, marketing, HR, social responsibility, and of course leadership. We get to go beyond theoretical discussions to consider in real life how our collective and individual desire for authenticity can lead us to contribute to our organizations, our cultures and our society.  Follow me @cvharquail on Twitter.

Some posts to sample:
Wal-Mart Knocks Off the Girl Scouts
What’s your *personal* ROI as a Brandividual?
Organizational Identity, Employee Branding and Political Contributions: Should you care if The Body Shop leans Republican?

What blogs do you think MBA students should be reading?

I’d love to hear what blogs you think MBA students should be reading, and why you recommend these blogs, so that we can share your recommendations.
I’ll be recommending more blogs in future posts, so sign up for AuthenticOrganization’s RSS feed or email newsletter to stay up to date.

Tagged as: blogs for MBAs, Bob Sutton, brett simmons, Girl Scout cookie, great management blogs, lisa haneberg, management craft, Master of Business Administration, positive organizational behavior, umair haque, Wal-Mart