Manifesto by Jean-Claude Aura

Personal MBA Manifesto CEP 815 Evaluating Experiences This manifesto reflects the action I am planning to take in order to improve my skills in areas related to my line of work, such as Business Management, Computing, Managing Your Life, and Economics. Please click on the links below to go straight to the corresponding section. I hope this manifesto will serve as a reference whenever you need help in the suggested fields.

Business & Management Computer Skills Manage Your Life Economics

Created by: Jean-Claude Aura

Date: April 2010

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Personal MBA Manifesto CEP 815 Business & Management 

Intellectual Property Author: Paul Goldstein

ISBN: 978-1-59184-177-7

This book explains what creators and inventors need to do in order to protect their rights. It helps non-lawyers deal with intangible assets. I am particularly interested in IP laws because I am designing a website and may need to protect my own work once it is up and running. 

Games at Work Authors: Mauricio Goldstein & Philip Read

ISBN: 978-0-470-26200-9

This book guides you through the clever steps to take when things don’t go as well as you have planned. Sometimes, what it takes is a small ‘lie’, a temporary one that will make you win your audience until things are back on track. With this in mind, one has to be cautious about the temporary success of games at work. They help you save face when times are tough, but in no way replace honesty and the truth. I am currently in a cat-chase-mouse situation at work, where I am playing a game so that I don’t get relocated. I was surprised to see that such a technique is advocated by experts. 

The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace Authors: Cary Cherniss & Daniel Goleman

ISBN: 0-7879-5690-2

Do you ever wonder why sometimes qualified people who don’t give best at work? The answer is simple: They lack motivation and the need to be part of a team. This book explains how to go beyond one’s performance so that an entire group or organization can benefit. It discusses how to select Human Resource and Senior executives. Emotional intelligence can be measured, developed, and modeled. 

Websites that offer free online business courses ( o Open University:

)

http://businessmajors.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=businessmajors&cdn=e ducation&tm=12&f=00&su=p897.8.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=1&st=24&zu=http://www. open.ac.uk/openlearn/home.php

o Michigan State University: http://businessmajors.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=businessmajors&cdn=e ducation&tm=421&f=00&su=p897.8.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=1&st=24&zu=http://msug lobal.com/ocw

Date: April 2010

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Personal MBA Manifesto CEP 815 Computer Skills 

Creating Web Pages for dummies Authors: Richard Wagner & Richard Mansfield

ISBN: 978-0-470-09269-1

As the title suggests, this book takes beginners (like me) by the hand and strolls them across the ABCs of web publishing. I didn’t quite understand the table of contents, and that is why I am curious to read it. I am designing my own web page and would like to give it a professional look. I hope this book will answer at least some of my questions. 

Dreamweaver 8 for dummies Authors: Sue Jenkins, Michele E. Davis, & Jon A. Philip

ISBN: 0-471-78142-8

This is a perfect start for web design rookies (again like me). If you have heard of CSS, HTML, and other similar jargon, and you have no idea what they are for, then you would probably want to start here. I have been using Dreamweaver 8 software for 2 years now, but I still feel there is so much mystery about Dreamweaver 8 that this book can unravel. If you are venturing into the business world, you will definitely need a website of your own. Let Dreamweaver 8 for dummies kick off! 

Websites that offer free online web design tutorials and software o Blue Voda: http://www.bluevoda.com/: Helps you build a website in just 30 minutes. o For a nice headache on how to program basic commands in HTML, go to http://www.online-web-design-course.com/html/html-forms/. And that is just the very beginning … o Education-Portal.com: http://educationportal.com/articles/Free_Web_Design_Courses_Online.html. Learn Java programming, have access to free basic HTML, Flash, and web design tutorials. o Free Dreamweaver tutorial: http://www.entheosweb.com/tutorials.asp

Date: April 2010

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Personal MBA Manifesto CEP 815 Manage Your Life 

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Author: Dale Carnegie

ISBN: 978-0-671-73353-3

The best-selling author of How to Win Friends & Influence People delves into techniques that help overcome the worry habit. It explains how to identify worry, analyze it, break it, and finally conquer it. It also identifies ways to turn criticism to your advantage, thus eliminating the worry syndrome. A lot of us know how to deal with worry, but very few know how to prevent it. We are all familiar with the proverb ‘Prevention is better than cure.’ 

The Worry Cure Author: Robert L. Leahy

ISBN: 1-4000-9766-5

Ph.D. Robert Leahy goes a step further to explain that worry is sometimes beneficial; that’s what he calls productive worry. Most of us believe that we shouldn’t worry, but Leahy explains that the total absence of worry is worrisome. Instead, he suggests a list of worry sources and how to handle worry in each case. 

Websites that offer free tips on how to manage your life o http://www.manageyourlifenow.com/: Links to articles about the most common sources of fatigue and headaches. Often times we hear people talk about migraines and headaches after a work-laden day. Avoiding fatigue initiators is another way of handling worry and managing stress. o http://www.manageyourlifenow.com/Articles/tabid/60/articleType/ArticleView/articleI d/47/Manage-your-life-by-start-thinking-positive.aspx: Another article by ManageYourLife that explains the power of positive thinking. It highlights 10 ways to start thinking positive, such as thinking about success rather than failure, not jumping to conclusion, setting realistic goals, and so on. You may think you know it all, but you will be surprised to see that most people are blind to the simplest truth. o http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/manage-your-life-with-free-online-time-managementtools/: Free online tools that help you organize your life, from the popular Google calendar to the efficient task manager Remember The Milk. When we get ahead of ourselves, we become prone to forgetting even very important appointments and duties. Forgetfulness leads to frustration, which in turn triggers worry for not being to handle tasks properly. But again, who wants to worry?

Date: April 2010

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Personal MBA Manifesto CEP 815 Economics 

Economics in One Lesson Author: Henry Hazlitt

ISBN: 0-517-54823-2

I dislike economics more than anything else, but my new position at work requires me to build some basic concepts of economy. I went through the table of contents, but unfortunately I couldn’t make head from tail. I am going to rely on the fact that it was suggested among the must-read books in the PMBA list to get some sort of initiation in economics. The title is also suggestive of an easy start, so this should be a good place to start. 

Economics for dummies Author: Sean Flynn

ISBN: 0-7645-5726-2

The main reason I chose this book (although I am not more knowledgeable than when I chose Economics in one lesson) is that it kicks off with 2 basic questions: What does Economics study? (I should probably know but …) and Why should you care? (Tell me about it.) With the hope that these 2 books will enlighten me about economics, I intend to proceed with the websites below. (Not much of an expert opinion, I know, but my understanding of economics is as deep as my understanding of aliens) 

Websites that offer free online courses in economics o http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Economics/: Learn about microeconomics and the role of the government in responding to market failure. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of technology) has an open courseware that offers free graduate and undergraduate courses. All the courses are archived and were given between 2002 and 2009. Browse through the varied content for the course that you would like to learn more about. o http://www.henrygeorge.org/: George Henry, who actually never finished school, has a website that offers tuition-free courses for advanced learners of economics. His first book, Progress and Poverty, brought him fame and recognition as an eminent economist. Learn about The Great Crash of 2008 (by Ross Garnaut) and The Principles of Political Economy (by John Stuart Mill) offered at the Henry George Institute as a free three-course series.

Date: April 2010

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