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Taking two years out of your life to study business full-time will improve your business judgement. That this is controversial always surprised me.

curun1r 11y ago
I haven't found this to be universal. If anything, I think it can warp your thinking in a way that can be beneficial in certain circumstances, but is really scary in others. By way of example: I have a parent who teaches at a top-5 business school. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Japan on a trip where my parent acted as a faculty chaperone and was able to attend some of the meetings with Japanese business leaders. One of the trips was to a 400+ year-old sake brewer. After the tour of the brewery, there was a Q & A period with the president of the company. The business school students asked him question after question about expansion, new product lines, finding new markets, advertising campaigns...everything they could think about to achieve growth. His answer was always basically the same and to the effect of, "I'm happy with the current situation. I make a profit making the best sake in the world, just as my ancestors have made it for the past 400 years. I provide a comfortable life for my family and the families of the people who work for me. Why would I want to change?" It was a profound experience for me to watch him try to explain what should be a completely reasonable position to a group of people that have had the ideal of growth beyond all else drilled into their head so thoroughly that they simply couldn't understand contentment with the status quo. On the ride home, the whole group was complaining about why they'd even wasted their time talking to someone so ignorant. Comments ranged from, "He'll be out of business in 10 years" to "At least we got to drink sake." I worry that putting MBAs in charge of businesses puts a skewed view on risk and desired outcomes. Each and every one of their suggestions could have backfired immensely and most would have required taking on considerable debt. It's this way of thinking that gives people the unicorn-or-bust mentality and look down on those who try to build "lifestyle businesses" (I hate that term). The world would be a much better place with fewer unicorns and more lifestyle businesses. The hockey stick isn't necessary to be successful, at yet it seems to be all that MBAs understand.
- icebraining 11y ago
  But did the course make the students think that way, or are students who think that way more likely to enrol for an MBA?
  - curun1r 11y ago
    That's a fair point. Those skills are probably completely unnecessary for building small, sustainable businesses. But whether they self-select or are produced, I can see it leading to broad, cynical generalizations about MBAs which are, for the most part, true.
- alex_c 11y ago
  Part of the lesson that was drilled into our heads in my MBA program as it relates to strategy consulting was to always start by understanding the goals and motivations of owners/management. The fact that you should understand people's motivations before you can claim to understand a situation seems self-evident to me, but it's obviously not that evident to many. I'm not sure how much I would blame MBA programs for this - there are a lot of idiots with MBAs, just like there are a lot of idiots with other degrees. An MBA gives students a set of tools and hopefully some understanding of how to apply them - but it's still up to the individuals to use their own judgement.

curun1r 11y ago

I haven't found this to be universal. If anything, I think it can warp your thinking in a way that can be beneficial in certain circumstances, but is really scary in others. By way of example: I have a parent who teaches at a top-5 business school. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Japan on a trip where my parent acted as a faculty chaperone and was able to attend some of the meetings with Japanese business leaders. One of the trips was to a 400+ year-old sake brewer. After the tour of the brewery, there was a Q & A period with the president of the company. The business school students asked him question after question about expansion, new product lines, finding new markets, advertising campaigns...everything they could think about to achieve growth. His answer was always basically the same and to the effect of, "I'm happy with the current situation. I make a profit making the best sake in the world, just as my ancestors have made it for the past 400 years. I provide a comfortable life for my family and the families of the people who work for me. Why would I want to change?" It was a profound experience for me to watch him try to explain what should be a completely reasonable position to a group of people that have had the ideal of growth beyond all else drilled into their head so thoroughly that they simply couldn't understand contentment with the status quo. On the ride home, the whole group was complaining about why they'd even wasted their time talking to someone so ignorant. Comments ranged from, "He'll be out of business in 10 years" to "At least we got to drink sake." I worry that putting MBAs in charge of businesses puts a skewed view on risk and desired outcomes. Each and every one of their suggestions could have backfired immensely and most would have required taking on considerable debt. It's this way of thinking that gives people the unicorn-or-bust mentality and look down on those who try to build "lifestyle businesses" (I hate that term). The world would be a much better place with fewer unicorns and more lifestyle businesses. The hockey stick isn't necessary to be successful, at yet it seems to be all that MBAs understand.

icebraining 11y ago
But did the course make the students think that way, or are students who think that way more likely to enrol for an MBA?
- curun1r 11y ago
  That's a fair point. Those skills are probably completely unnecessary for building small, sustainable businesses. But whether they self-select or are produced, I can see it leading to broad, cynical generalizations about MBAs which are, for the most part, true.
alex_c 11y ago
Part of the lesson that was drilled into our heads in my MBA program as it relates to strategy consulting was to always start by understanding the goals and motivations of owners/management. The fact that you should understand people's motivations before you can claim to understand a situation seems self-evident to me, but it's obviously not that evident to many. I'm not sure how much I would blame MBA programs for this - there are a lot of idiots with MBAs, just like there are a lot of idiots with other degrees. An MBA gives students a set of tools and hopefully some understanding of how to apply them - but it's still up to the individuals to use their own judgement.