# Good business concepts book for the liberal arts and/or tech person? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 26, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-business-concepts-book-for-the-liberal-arts-and-or-tech-person/439178 "2008-02-26T02:14:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-business-concepts-book-for-the-liberal-arts-and-or-tech-person/439178/1 "2008-02-26T02:14:30Z")
I say “liberal arts and/or tech person”, but I fit in to the “and” side of the slash. I find myself at the point in my career as a tech person with a liberal arts background that where my previous lack of need for basic business fundamentals has become a… liability. My History degree required plenty of macroeconomics. I can understand the broad outlines of monetary and tax policy, I have a vague notion of how the stock market works, and I dig the general positives and negatives of various economic systems. However, until recently, I had no idea what the difference between a capital and operating lease is. I find myself a bit lost in the day-to-day financial details that come from being a manager at a small business with a couple hundred thousand to budget every quarter. I’m planning on starting at a local MIS program in the fall, and will probably hit the business courses pretty hard before I bother with the tech classes, but can anybody recommend a resource for me in the mean time? I’m not exactly floundering - I’ve got a good handle on the leadership and project management side - but I need to get a basic grasp of the general business stuff so I don’t come off as a _total_ propeller beanie in the management meetings. ---
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-business-concepts-book-for-the-liberal-arts-and-or-tech-person/439178/2 "2008-02-26T05:15:35Z")
Its tough to nail down with out knowing what you need to apply it to. Since you’re in meetings with other managers I will assume you aren’t making decisions on every aspect of the business, but maybe needing to make coherent contributions on different subjects. What general areas are you responsible for, how mature is the business, how much detail do you want to invest your time in? You may do well with the Portable MBA desk reference. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-business-concepts-book-for-the-liberal-arts-and-or-tech-person/439178/3 "2008-02-26T14:18:37Z")
Excellent questions. I work for a small software shop. I have overall responsibility for the IT group - internally and externally. I’m primarily concerned with the externally influenced responsibilities that are common to IT managers - purchasing and it’s general accounting implications, how to read a revenue statement, budgeting, general contract stuff, etc. I’m looking for more of a primer - I can leave the detail work to the specialists, but I want to know enough to be able to present the financial side of a project plan in a way that makes sense to them. ---
**Author:** ![black\_rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f19dbf/32.png) [@black\_rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/black_rabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-business-concepts-book-for-the-liberal-arts-and-or-tech-person/439178/4 "2008-02-26T14:26:26Z")
I didn’t notice your recommendation for the _Portable MBA…_ at first. The whole series looks interesting. Thanks.