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> Guess who private sector loves to promote to executive positions like VP and SVP? Harvard and ivy grads. Even in engineering, where it's supposed to be more o
by wenc 4y ago
> Guess who private sector loves to promote to executive positions like VP and SVP? Harvard and ivy grads. Even in engineering, where it's supposed to be more of an meritocracy, you can see this at every bigco.
No. This has not been my experience working at bigcos -- the opposite is true. This isn't even hard to disprove -- just take a look at any large company (outside of those with Ivy funnels like management consulting). Just go to their websites. Many executives often did not attend Ivy league colleges.
You'll find that most US executives actually didn't go to prestigious schools. This fact surprised me when I first observed it, but it makes sense. Assuming US management is a meritocracy, those who make it to the top are those who are in some way good with people. Ivies optimize for intellect, but this often has a negative correlation with social skills.
- metadat 4y agoMy experience has been in tech, so I don't have information handy for other sectors.
- wenc 4y agoEven in tech, the majority of executives don't have Ivy League degrees. Some of them might have MBAs from good schools, but many went to ordinary colleges. I work in tech and in my entire reporting line, there is exactly 1 Ivy league graduate. Tim Cook went to Auburn (MBA at Duke). Satya Nadella went to Manipal Institute of Technology (then UW-Milwaukee, and later an MBA at UChicago Booth).
- TrackerFF 4y agoHad to check up the CEOs of the largest tech companies in the US - looks like the following: Alphabet - Sundar Pichai (IIT, Stanford, Wharton) Amazon - Jeff Bezos (Princeton) Apple - Tim Cook (Auburn, Duke) Microsoft - Satya Nadella (MIT Manipal, UW–Milwaukee, UChicago) Meta - Mark Zuckerberg (Harvard - dropped out) Tesla - Eleon Musk (UPenn / Wharton, Stanford - dropped out) Nvidia - Jensen Huang (Oregon State, Stanford) Broadcom - Hock E. Tan (MIT, Harvard) Oracle - Safra A. Catz (UPenn) Adobe - Shantanu Narayen (Osmania University, Bowling Green State University, University of California, Berkeley) Cisco - Chuck Robbins (UNC)
- dgb23 4y agoThose are predominantly elite schools right?
- adamsmith143 4y agoCheck Linkedin, it's been a revelation for me. Filter by company and school and you will find hundreds of Ivy League+ types as Upper Level Management. Idk why one would only look at C-suite
- wenc 4y agoLook below C-Suite. There are actually relatively few Ivy League types if you take a larger sample across industries.
- DocTomoe 4y agoGiven that many managers/executives are horrid when it comes to people, I think the Peter Principle explains that a lot better: People who can do (and won't get promoted because their productivity is needed where they are). People who can't will get promoted out of the way.
- wenc 4y agoI think this take is too cynical. Many executives are by definition good with people -- politics included. There are negative forms of this, but there are also positive forms. I've had really good managers who could work across orgs and manage expectations and drive results. Tech ICs typically don't have this aptitude. Andy Grove's book "High Output Management" explains how good middle management ought to be, and I've experienced it first hand. The Peter Principle is widely known and modern orgs are designed to account for it (American management is constantly evolving) -- for instance, promotions today are based on personnel already performing at the next level rather than them just showing good results at their current level.