As an employee at a powerhouse corporation (anything akin to the Fortune 1000), one has the opportunity for a personal growth hack in business education, one that arguably holds more value than an MBA curriculum. It's as simple as reading your company's policies.

Let me explain.

First, the definition of a "Corporate Policy" from InvestorWords is as follows:

"A formal declaration of the guiding principles and procedures by which a company will operate typically established by its board of directors or a senior management policy committee. Imbedded in corporate policy are the company's mission statement, objectives and the principles by which strategic decisions are to be made. It also forms the basis for measuring performance and ensuring accountability at all levels of the company."

Here's an article from the Houston Chronicle's Small Business section titled, "How to Create Corporation Policies & Procedures" which lays out the basic steps for how Corporate Policies are put in place. This goes to show the thinking that has gone into setting these up and the wisdom that can be soaked up by reading them.

There's another humorous view of Corporate Policies which a previous client of mine often said, 'If you see a policy about something, then it's happened before and somebody's got a story for you.' In many ways, the Corporate Policies of a company are a showcase for the history (i.e. the battle scars of hard lessons) for an organization. As we know, there are many lessons hidden in history. To get a lesson on the organization, and perhaps business in general, this really represents a ‘shortcut’ to a personal MBA

There are tons of topics a person could learn about. Here is an example of some lesson breadcrumbs:

• Finance > Treasury, Foreign Currency Hedging, Transfer Pricing, Accounting

• Corporate Responsibility > Business Conduct and Ethics

• Human Resources > Global Employment Standards > Workforce Diversity

• Information Technology > Data Privacy

For a more comprehensive view, here’s another example of the full breakdown of a policies tree for a certain business:

• Business Code of Conduct

  • Policies & Practices Glossary

  • Anti-Fraud Policy

  • Competition and Antitrust Laws Compliance Policy

  • Respectful Workplace Practice

  • Confidentiality Policy

  • Conflict of Interest Policy

  • Disclosure Policy

  • Information Management Policy

  • Political Contributions Policy

  • Prevention of Corruption Policy

  • Privacy Policy

  • Securities Trading and Insider Reporting Policy

  • Acceptance of Gifts Practice

  • Lobbying Practice

• Corporate Responsibility, Environment, Health, Safety and Security

  • Alcohol & Drug Policy

  • Corporate Responsibility Policy

  • Driver Distraction Practice

  • Environment Policy

  • Health & Safety Policy