Roadside MBA — A Top of the Page Review
June 2023
I spend a lot of time with new entrepreneurs — risk takers with subject matter expertise and good business acumen, but varying degrees of experience in business operations. One of the common pain points among this group is the dearth of books about small business operations. So the subtitle of this one caught my attention: Back Road Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives, and Small Business Owners.
For those who can push through the corny dialogue and the authors’ absolute failure to read their intended audience correctly, this book has a number of useful case studies on small business that are relevant to new entrepreneurs.
Mazeo, Michael, Paul Oyer, and Scott Schaefer. 2014. Roadside MBA: Back Road Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives, and Small Business Owners. New York: Business Plus.
Quick Summary
Part egghead travelogue, part anthology, this book offers up lessons in strategy for the small business world. It fills an important gap in business publications by offering case studies that make sense for the unique operating environment of smaller businesses, particularly those in smaller cities or more rural parts of the United States. It’s this anthology that is most useful.
The book is divided into chapters based on key aspects of business development strategy: scaling, barriers to entry, product differentiation, pricing, brand management, negotiation, recruiting, pay, delegation, and competitive advantage. Each chapter then features case studies of small businesses from different parts of the country and a summary of major criteria for determining an effective strategy.
Small businesses are a notoriously difficult market to serve, because they are fractured and varied. The one thing this book does very well is to make sense of the multiple strategic approaches that are working in real time for the businesses profiled. More importantly, the authors dive into why these strategies are succeeding. Then they offer strategic lessons for applying the sometimes contradicting approaches that work for small businesses.
The central thesis of the book is that good business strategy is highly situational so understanding the unique environmental factors of a business is critical to developing a successful approach. Small businesses need to consider a variety of approaches and select their final strategy based on their deep understanding of their local market.
Key Takeaways
Business Development
In many of these case studies, the small business owners admit they tried other strategies before they hit on the current one that works. While this particular pattern is not intentionally highlighted in the book, I think it bears consideration.
The ability to pivot and experiment is the small business’ superpower. Because they are so close to both their customer and their employees, small businesses have access to a level of insight about their people that big businesses can only dream of as they spend a ton of cash every year hoping for a tiny glimpse into what makes their people tick.
In my experience, small business leaders who are open about their failures and develop deep relationships with their people and other local business leaders are the ones best equipped to leverage this incredible degree of insight into actionable business development. When they are transparent about the experiments they are trying and carefully listening to the experience others are having as a result, they catalyze meaningful innovations that create thriving businesses, as well as thriving communities.
Product Development
In many ways, this book is a great example of what not to do when designing your product. The authors had a great idea that filled an important gap in the market. They clearly defined who would benefit most from their product (this book). They accurately recognized the pain points of their user and had the knowledge and skill to address those pain points.
And then they utterly failed to design their product based on the needs and expectations of their identified user. As is, the book contains solid case studies buried in layers of fluff, irrelevant to the needs and desires of the target audience.
Designing a good product is hard. This book had so much potential to be excellent. But it fell into the same trap that many new (and even a few seasoned entrepreneurs) fall into: they launched a great idea without disciplined design. They thought like academics, or economists, or teachers, or nostalgic old friends, rather than putting themselves in the shoes of the reader they hoped to help. In trying to be clever, they missed the opportunity to serve their audience’s needs.
The greatest takeaway from this book is also the biggest failure of the book. So much potential, so much value buried within, but woefully developed for the intended audience. The most important rule of product development is to care only about the end user. Nothing else matters except what the end user needs.
Product development must discipline every decision, every detail, every aspect of the product based on what the target audience needs and wants. Products — from inception to execution to launch — are about the end user. The authors articulate this concept in their work and then fail to exercise its discipline in their product, resulting in a frustrating swing and miss.
Memorable Quotes
1️⃣
“[I]t’s never enough to know that something worked; you need also to understand why it worked.”
2️⃣
“Too many businesses try to be all things to all people, which leads to inefficiencies.”
3️⃣
“[G]etting strategy right requires constant problem-solving and tireless determination to unpack the ‘it depends’ of good business decision making.”
4️⃣
“Because strategy must be tailored to the specifics, and the specific features of the business environment are in constant motion, strategy itself is a moving target.”
Final Thoughts
The most valuable aspect of this book is that it exists. Business publications almost unfailingly focus on the success stories — and the occasional spectacular failures — of corporate giants. Yet, most businesses in the United States are small. Given the high failure rate of small businesses and the vital role they play in our economy, more books like this one need to be developed.
Entrepreneurs need other smart people to create engaging literature that will help them make good decisions as they take big risks executing their ideas. This book almost did that.
Here’s hoping it will inspire more (better developed) works for our small business leaders.
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Thanks for reading! I am a self professed nerd who loves reading and learning. To me every book is a conversation. By the end of the conversation, I always have new ideas that I want to try. What are you reading?
