3 ms·

I see the MBA as a rfid badge into a different class of society: - Do you already have an undergrad degree? - Can you afford MBA tuition? - Can you afford th

by gsylvie 10y ago

I see the MBA as a rfid badge into a different class of society: - Do you already have an undergrad degree? - Can you afford MBA tuition? - Can you afford the 1-2 years required (not counting the tuition)? Okay, you can be one of us. Of course there's a pecking order within the MBA club based on school and year & model of porsche and professional reputation, and your work will always speak for you. But I really get this sense that it's essentially a membership card into a social club and that the members prefer their own kind.

cookiecaper 10y ago
Yes. So much of what people have been trained to believe are important and necessary qualifications are actually just the result of an ingroup creating a contrived process of hoops to a) limit the number of potential competitors; b) haze newcomers and make them prove they are worthy to be "one of us"; c) inflate the ingroup's reputation and "credibility" by making everyone think they're super smart (and, as always in such exercises, the most important target of positive ego manipulation is one's self); d) thoroughly beat out, primarily by cultural reinforcement, any potentially disruptive ideas before someone is given the authority to practice anything professionally. By the time a licensing body is given legal authority to codify an ingroup's arbitrary ritual as a pre-requisite for gainful employment, the plot has been lost and the industry is a stagnant circlejerk. The truth is that we waste a huge amount of time on so-called "training" so that the upper class can continue to feel wise and lordly, and readily whip out the "proof" of said lordly wisdom whenever someone challenges them. We'd be much better off with apprenticeship-style programs. I have 20x more respect for someone who has been in the trenches creating actual value than I have for someone who believes that their licenses, degrees, or awards entitle them to anything.

by gsylvie 10y ago

cookiecaper 10y ago

Yes. So much of what people have been trained to believe are important and necessary qualifications are actually just the result of an ingroup creating a contrived process of hoops to a) limit the number of potential competitors; b) haze newcomers and make them prove they are worthy to be "one of us"; c) inflate the ingroup's reputation and "credibility" by making everyone think they're super smart (and, as always in such exercises, the most important target of positive ego manipulation is one's self); d) thoroughly beat out, primarily by cultural reinforcement, any potentially disruptive ideas before someone is given the authority to practice anything professionally. By the time a licensing body is given legal authority to codify an ingroup's arbitrary ritual as a pre-requisite for gainful employment, the plot has been lost and the industry is a stagnant circlejerk. The truth is that we waste a huge amount of time on so-called "training" so that the upper class can continue to feel wise and lordly, and readily whip out the "proof" of said lordly wisdom whenever someone challenges them. We'd be much better off with apprenticeship-style programs. I have 20x more respect for someone who has been in the trenches creating actual value than I have for someone who believes that their licenses, degrees, or awards entitle them to anything.