The Curriculum: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Master of Business Arts

From the mind of the ultimate corporate gunslinger comes this no-nonsense, real-world curriculum, designed to augment—if not replace—the more traditional path to achieving mastery of the business universe. Conquer this sharp, practical and often amusing course of study and save $250,000 of wasted business school tuition. 

Unlike those august, Ivy-encrusted factories that churn out masterful business administrators, The Curriculum will teach you the art of business, employing a smart, tactical battle plan that will prove infinitely more awesome as you make your way in the world.  

We begin, in the Core Curriculum, with the acquisition and maintenance of Power. Included are such essentials as Not Appearing Stupid (an early career requirement), Fabricating A Sustainable Business Personality, and the arts of Management and Selling.

The Advanced Curriculum hones the skills that are required to seize Success by the throat and shake it until valuable prizes fall out of its pockets, including fundamentals on Strategic Thinking, Self-Branding, mastering Electronic Communications, and dealing with Crazy People.

Tutorials and Electives, which students may pursue as their interest or discretion advises, include lessons on Giving an Effective Presentation, Business Drinking, and the Care and Feeding of Ultra-Senior Officers.

Lavishly enhanced with numerous charts, graphs, and other illuminating business illustrations, and backed up by years of study from Mr. Bing’s proprietary research organization (The National Association of Serious Studies), The Curriculum will occupy a place of pride on any bookshelf dedicated to the study of business, how it works, and how it can be used against those who don’t know how it works.

This is not your professor’s MBA. This is a real-world leadership guide:

• An MBA Alternative: Save $250,000 in tuition and learn what business school won’t teach you, from a curriculum backed by the proprietary (and entirely serious) National Association of Serious Studies.
• Real-World Business Strategy: Master the tactical battle plan for the modern workplace, covering everything from strategic thinking and selling to the fine art of advanced bullshitting.
• Unconventional Management Skills: Learn to seize success by the throat with essential tutorials on fabricating a business personality, managing group dynamics, and surviving business drinking.
• Dealing with Crazy People: A no-nonsense survival guide for navigating the most challenging part of any office—the other human beings, from difficult colleagues to the certifiably insane.

Stanley Bing, the alter ego of Gil Schwartz (1951–2020), was the bestselling author of Crazy Bosses, What Would Machiavelli Do?, Throwing the Elephant, Sun Tzu Was a Sissy, 100 Bullshit Jobs . . . And How to Get Them, The Big Bing, and The Curriculum, as well as the novels Lloyd: What Happened, You Look Nice Today, and Immortal Life. He was a top CBS communications executive whose identity was one of the worst-kept secrets in business.