Rajesh Setty has a neat (and free) little e-book called When You Can’t Earn an MBA….Thoughts on Getting Ahead Without an MBA. It’s well worth the brief amount of time that you will put into reading it. I just read Setty’s recent book Beyond Code: Learn to Distinguish Yourself in 9 Simple Steps. Beyond Code is targeted towards IT folks but is really applicable to anyone. His major thrust is to develop strategies and traits that help knowledge workers to “de-commoditize” themselves – to become distinct and more valuable. When You Can’t Earn an MBA is related and has the same philosophical touch, but I would really recommend both. Especially to beginning and mid-career Extension Professionals. Setty starts Beyond Code by having his readers consider the return on investment of reading and using the information from his book. Use this formula and reading the e-book is a no-brainer. The price of Beyond Code makes it a no-brainer too. Rajesh’s blog for Beyond Code can be found here. Here is his post about the e-book.