The 12-Week MBA: Learn the Skills You Need to Lead in Business Today

by Bjorn Billhardt, Nathan Kracklauer

Overview

Based on The 12-Week MBA by Abilitie, a business leadership program taught to professionals at global Fortune 500 companies, The 12-Week MBA offers practical tips for managers and aspiring business leaders.
 
Getting an MBA takes time and money, making it inaccessible to many people who want to take charge in the business world.  The 12-Week MBA offers an alternative way to learn business essentials by focusing on the skills and knowledge required to succeed as both a manager and a business leader.  The 12-Week MBA’s unique premise is that business leaders in any industry, any function, and at any level need the same core knowledge, skills, and attitudes to effectively manage and lead.  That core consists of working through and with other people to create value while using financial concepts and metrics to maximize the value created for all company stakeholders.  The timeless essence of managing numbers and leading people can be learned in less time and at a lower cost than in a traditional two-year MBA, where much of the curriculum may become obsolete by the time students graduate.  Authors Bjorn Billhardt and Nathan Kracklauer are senior executives at Abilitie, a global leadership development company that has served over 100,000 learners in fifty countries.  Abilitie’s clients include some of the world’s most recognizable brands such as Coca-Cola, The New York Times, and Dell.  Now the key lessons from Abilitie’s 12- Week MBA curriculum are available in this accessible and engaging guide.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306832369
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	02/06/2024
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	175,511
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Bjorn Billhardt is CEO and founder of Abilitie, a global leadership development company.  Prior to launching Abilitie, Bjorn co-founded Enspire Learning, an early pioneer of e-learning programs and business simulations, in 2001.  Bjorn holds a BA from the University of Texas and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  A native of Hamburg, Germany, he came to the US as an exchange student in high school and now lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three boys.
 
Nathan Kracklauer leads Abilitie’s research and development efforts as Chief Research Officer.  Nathan has facilitated leadership seminars at leading companies and at executive education programs at IMD Business School.  Nathan holds a BA and a BS from the University of Texas and an MA from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich.  Born in Falls Church, Virginia, Nathan now lives in Karlsruhe, Germany, with his wife and two daughters.
 

Editorial Reviews

12/11/2023

In this strong debut program, Billhardt and Kracklauer—CEO and chief research officer, respectively, of Abilitie—adapt the business education company’s “mini-MBA” curriculum to the page. Explaining business fundamentals, the authors note that shareholder value reflects subjective agreements between traders about a company’s future. They also describe how to create balance sheets, cash flow statements, and profit and loss statements, in addition to offering a rundown of common business models. For example, brand-first businesses use customers’ loyalty to get them to pay higher prices than cheaper competitors, while the “razor blade model” involves selling a product at a low margin and then charging handsomely for replacement parts. Elsewhere, Billhardt and Kracklauer explore how to build trust, provide constructive feedback, and make decisions as an organization (they suggest that though majority rule is a faster process than building unanimous consensus, it’s harder to determine “who should take responsibility if the decision goes south” than it is when one individual makes the call). Detailed yet accessible explanations elucidate such concepts as perpetuity value, the “time value of money,” and variable vs. fixed costs, covering a wide range of topics without sacrificing depth of insight. This will appeal to aspiring entrepreneurs. Agent: Leah Spiro, Riverside Creative Management. (Feb.)Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated Nathan Kracklauer’s job title.

Publishers Weekly

An excellent read for people considering entering management and leadership positions and a great refresher for those who have been there."—Scott Collins, PhD, CEO of Austin Innovation Group

"An essential guide to practical business leadership that covers both the 'numbers' and the 'people' side of running a business." —Alex Davern, former CEO, National Instruments

“The 12-Week MBA is transformational—it helped me lead the largest transaction in my company’s history.”—Martin Jones, Head of Studios, Austin Film Society

“The 12-Week MBA is an invaluable guide, providing the essential business acumen needed to confidently navigate the corporate world.” —Roberta Pomponio, Customer Success Manager, GoGuardian

"The 12-Week MBA offers small, bite-sized insights essential to business covering both financial leadership and people leadership."—Ketan Patel, Senior Corporate Counsel, Envision Healthcare

“The 12 Week MBA encapsulates 2-3 years of graduate level courses into easily digestible chapters anyone can understand.”—Dave Bush, Engineer, Apple

“The12-Week MBA distills an expensive degree into enduring leadership insights for a world that desperately needs a more diverse range of leaders.”—Christine Looser, PhD, Senior Director, Minerva

"The 12-Week MBA provides an introduction to the key quantitative and people-centered knowledge and skills that lie at the heart of successful strategic thinking."—Art Markman, Vice Provost, The University of Texas at Austin; author of Bring Your Brain to Work

"Detailed yet accessible explanations elucidate such concepts as perpetuity value, the “time value of money,” and variable vs. fixed costs, covering a wide range of topics without sacrificing depth of insight. This will appeal to aspiring entrepreneurs."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher