Pull out that phone or tablet and tap into a world of business information anytime, anywhere. Here’re some suggestions.
Podcasts
Audio commentaries are a great way to optimise the time spent in commute. LearnOutLoud.com has an impressive collection of podcasts on topics ranging from investing and finance to sales and marketing, leadership and negotiation skills. Also check out its DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar, which is a weekly series.
For more such lectures, visit Stanford University’s Ecorner, where you can also subscribe to new podcasts via iTunes, RSS feeds or SoundCloud. Besides, you can tap into archives going all the way back to 2005 — available in mp3 formats.
London Business School has also put a collection of podcasts in mp4 format online, which covers more than 20 topics. We also recommend Columbia Business School’s Ideas at Work audio feed, Harvard Business Review’s IdeaCast, McKinsey High Tech Podcasts and the MIT Sloan School of Management’s podcast series.
Audiobooks
While podcasts are great for quick bytes and snacky content, they cannot replace well-researched books on business management. But busy readers find it a struggle to snuggle up with a big fat tome for lengthy reading sessions. And, that is where audio versions of these books step in. Often read by the author or by professional voice artists, audiobooks are ideal when you are multitasking.
By far the best resource for audiobooks is Audible.com, which was bought by Amazon a few years ago. It has hundreds of books on business management and related topics. You get the first book free when you sign up and a Gold membership gives you discounts on subsequent purchases. Audible has apps that work on Android, iPhone, iPad, the desktop and even a few dedicated music players.
But if you would rather stick with the Apple ecosystem, the iTunes store has a comprehensive collection of business audiobooks and courses. Finally, if you want your education served on a platter, then Amazon.com and Powell’s Books are good sites to pick up CDs.
Webinars and Videos
Make the most of your free time by consuming videos targeted at the business learner. The most famous of the lot are, of course, TED Talks — you can install the app on your phone or tablet, and either stream or download expert speak. And there is no shortage of business-related material — a search for the term business management throws up 13,334 results. Incidentally, TED Talks is also available as a channel on popular media aggregator apps such as Plex and XBMC.
WTG Webinars has a business performance section for free, on-demand video streams, while Gartner invites you to watch its webinars “for an hour and leave with tactical advice that will have an ongoing impact on your top initiatives”. And yes, you can also tap into the venerable Harvard Business Review for deep insights into the business of, well, business.
Jargon busters
Brush up on your business lingo while you are on the move with this idea. Wikipedia’s business terms page is a good place to start — install its mobile app and you can happily overdose on business jargon. All phrases lead to separate pages loaded with cross-links so that you can dive in as deep as you want.
Other resources to soak up are the entries on Businessballs.com or the excellent glossary compiled by the UK’s The Guardian. On a lighter note, you can skim through a collection of pretentious and over- the-top jargon on the MBA Jargon Watch pages, or the collection put together by Brush Talk.
Flashcards and quizzes
Learning is a wasted effort if you can’t remember what it was that you learnt. Online flashcards and quizzes are an invaluable aid for pushing concepts from the short term to the long-term memory. Cram.com, Flashcardmachine.com and Funnelbrain.com have substantial collections on almost every business topic. Also, check out Routledge.com’s assortment of companion websites for supplementary material geared at business students and others. Besides, Quizlet.com has aggregated business concepts that you can arrange either as flashcards — where you guess what the phrases mean— or as definitions, where you guess the phrases they refer to.
Online academies and apps
Khan Academy is making forays into business education with material on economics, finance and capital markets and entrepreneurship — the last one has more than 20 interviews with renowned businessmen, including Richard Branson and Elon Musk.
The other big name in online education is Lynda.com, which gives you apps for all major mobile platforms. The site currently lists 463 business courses. Other excellent resources are The Teaching Company and the American Express Open Forum, which cover topics such as leadership, marketing and money, and comes with free apps for Android and iOS. Also check out Skill-Pill, Pocket MBA, Sandler Training, WAGmob’s MBA simpleNeasyApp and MBA Skool for information.
Meanwhile, geared more towards individual training is Apple’s iTunes U — currently available in 26 countries. But on a more focused front, you can tap into David Allen — author of Getting Things Done — by visiting Davidco.com, or Josh Kaufman’s Personalmba.com. Or, try Franklincovey.com.
Games and simulators
What’s education without a little play? Well, our pick of fun and games include MIT Sloan’s Platform War, a live web-based simulation, where according to the website, participants “play the role of senior management at a video game hardware platform producer”. Also check out simulations from Sloan such as CleanStart (which is about a clean energy start-up) and the Salt Seller (a commodity pricing simulator).
Simceo.org claims to let students create their own companies “within an instructor-defined environment”, while INSEAD has put an EIS Simulation online, geared towards companies and with the goal of bringing managers “in touch with factors impacting the dynamics of innovation and change in organisational contexts”, says its site.
There are also thousands of titles clubbed under categories such as brains and puzzles, and learning. In fact, on the Google Play store, a hairdressing app figures prominently under education. Of course, you could argue that many of these casual apps can indirectly and intangibly help you become a better businessman. In fact, in a pinch, even Angry Birds might help you hone your skills at precision targeting and telemetry optimisation — skills that will no doubt help you become the next Warren Buffett.
