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my outsiders view of management training is that they work so hard at cultivating confidence that they start thinking that confidence, not competence, is what t

by lsc 8y ago

my outsiders view of management training is that they work so hard at cultivating confidence that they start thinking that confidence, not competence, is what they need to select for in roles outside of leadership. As far as I can tell, "leader types" are far more vulnerable to confident people than the rest of us because of this.

wpietri 8y ago
I also think falling for this is implicit in the notion of the MBA. Previously, management was mainly company founders, founder families, and people who had come up through the ranks. That is, all people who spent years learning the specifics of the business. But the theory of the MBA is there's some universal set of "business skills" that makes actually understanding the business domain irrelevant. In practice, I think this means falling back on a limited sort of finance understanding and some generic notions of top-down business process. There's not much there, so they make up for it by leaning hard into their human instincts and skills. Unfortunately, that leads to many problems, including over-trusting people who present well and seem confident.
- api 8y ago
  The MBA is the Western version of the Soviet "apparatchik." This term denoted a party functionary educated in party ideology who was promoted and transferred around to different posts where they would lead things they did not actually understand.
- lsc 8y ago
  I personally think the MBA system is a big step up from just choosing leaders based on how closely related to a powerful person they are. (I mean, I understand there is a lot of overlap between the two... I'm just saying that the MBA system is a step forward, not that it's good)
  - wpietri 8y ago
    Unfortunately I think the MBA enables a power-and-politics system. If people have to work their way up and learn an industry, competence and a long-term focus are more rewarded than if a credential makes you a supposedly universal expert.

by lsc 8y ago

wpietri 8y ago

I also think falling for this is implicit in the notion of the MBA. Previously, management was mainly company founders, founder families, and people who had come up through the ranks. That is, all people who spent years learning the specifics of the business. But the theory of the MBA is there's some universal set of "business skills" that makes actually understanding the business domain irrelevant. In practice, I think this means falling back on a limited sort of finance understanding and some generic notions of top-down business process. There's not much there, so they make up for it by leaning hard into their human instincts and skills. Unfortunately, that leads to many problems, including over-trusting people who present well and seem confident.

api 8y ago
The MBA is the Western version of the Soviet "apparatchik." This term denoted a party functionary educated in party ideology who was promoted and transferred around to different posts where they would lead things they did not actually understand.
lsc 8y ago
I personally think the MBA system is a big step up from just choosing leaders based on how closely related to a powerful person they are. (I mean, I understand there is a lot of overlap between the two... I'm just saying that the MBA system is a step forward, not that it's good)
- wpietri 8y ago
  Unfortunately I think the MBA enables a power-and-politics system. If people have to work their way up and learn an industry, competence and a long-term focus are more rewarded than if a credential makes you a supposedly universal expert.