Links: MBA bashing
Two extra years of college yielding you a six-digit income at a name company where you are going to be changing the business world and retire with a golden parachute and drive off to your private jet in your convertible Ferrari. I think that’s usually what people picture when they are thinking of going to “B-school”. Granted, I didn’t go to get my MBA (I actually flunked out of my MS program, but hey… who’s checking), but I would think that there is a bit of a reality dose coming.
First up: Business Week - Is the MBA Overrated?
Some startling numbers came to light. Only 146 of the 500 executives reported having MBAs, a surprising number considering the hundreds of thousands of B-school alumni with enough experience to qualify them for top jobs. What’s more, only 71 received MBAs from the top 10 B-schools, and two-thirds of those executives have degrees from just three institutions: Harvard Business School, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Second up: Guy Kawasaki - MBA on a page.
Here it’s probably not so much the actual link that goes to the “cheat sheet” of all biz terms, but the amount of flamage that he gets for his innuendo that MBA’s are not worth much.
I will say that having an MBA will most likely open doors for you, but your success WITH an MBA is still very much predicated on your experience and expertise without it. People have told me that it is much like the old Bill Cosby joke:
- What’s the big deal about cocaine?
- Well… it enhances your personality!
- Yeah, but what if you’re an a$$hole?
I think the same rules apply, a person who is on the road to success will definitely benefit from an MBA, but these are the same people who can benefit from failure as well.