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So...I guess I disagree with the premise. There is no single educational achievement that anyone can get that will single-handedly assure success in their caree

So...I guess I disagree with the premise. There is no single educational achievement that anyone can get that will single-handedly assure success in their career. Have there been many success stories of people with MBAs? Yes. Have there been many success stories of people with law /medicine/accounting degrees? Yes. Do each of those guarantee success. Hells no. Does an education guarantee success? No. The only thing that guarantees success is determination to be successful. For me...my MBA taught me how the world works. It is surprising how few people understand how it truly works - yet they speak as if they know. For that single achievement alone, I would encourage everyone to get an MBA. That being said, does that mean that everyone that gets an MBA understands the world? No. I think it was more my finance/economics slant that did that. Even still...does everybody with those slants achieve the results I did? Absolutely not. So as I said.....it's not about the single data point that will make you a success - it's more than that. Survivor's bias (not sure if that is the correct term here) does lead people to link the two - i.e. the people that are more likely to be successful are the ones that are more likely to get a degree like that. That being said...all people who get those degrees won't be "successful" and all successful people won't have those degrees.

cygwin98 14y ago
For me...my MBA taught me how the world works. It is surprising how few people understand how it truly works - yet they speak as if they know. For that single achievement alone, I would encourage everyone to get an MBA. That sounds like quite a claim. Can you shed some lights on how the world works from an MBA's perspective?
- marcamillion 14y ago
  Well...I can't speak from an "MBA's" perspective, because there isn't 1 MBA perspective. In terms of the way the world works, I can say that politicians are not in the business of running the world the way it should be run - they are in the business of politicking. It has become fanciful in the last decade or so, to blame bankers, wall street, the 1%, capitalism, etc. for all the worlds ills - but that's just not the case. Politicians (many who I support also) are just as guilty. Here is 1 truism that no politician of a heavily indebted country will say - bond markets are dead right. If they demand a higher yield on a country's debt - it isn't because there are some "nefarious speculators" trying to make bank off of the demise of the poor people in that country. It's because the stupid policymakers and politician s have fleeced the country, the affairs are not in order and in order for them (bond market investors) to lend to your country in the crappy state it is in, they charge more than they will charge to lend to the US Treasury, Germany, etc. Likewise, if the bond markets are showing very low yields to America despite all the rhetoric of America's economy in shambles and the debt-to-GDP ratio being too high at 90% - clearly something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems. Financial markets are forward looking indicators - and by all indications, as a general rule, when it comes to properly (and easily) communicating what is TRULY happening with the state's finances, they tend to be spot on. The issue is that politicians hate it because bond markets show up their lies and untruths. So they blame 'wreckless speculators' and tax bankers. When half of the time, the investors that are wrecking their bond yields are not even BANKERS! But...it sounds good in a newsbyte because people like to believe conspiracy stories about the wealthy bankers that are enslaving the masses with interest on debt. The fact is, debt, equity financing & capitalism in general have been the best mechanisms for growth, poverty reduction and standard of living increases over the past few centuries. Most things you hear politicians blame things on, are just simply scapegoats that people accept because they know no better.
  - cygwin98 14y ago
    Though I would disagree on the roles and power of politicians. I appreciate your inputs and some of them are quite insightful.
  - rquantz 14y ago
    Except that American bond yields are low because the US is in a depression (a liquidity trap), not because "the situation is not as bad as it seems." You're right though that debt, personal or sovereign, is not always bad.
  - snowwrestler 14y ago
    Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put their money than in U.S. bonds. That mindset could change quickly if market conditions change. It was not that long ago that mortgage-backed securities were highly rated and well-funded. Note: I'm not predicting doom for the U.S. here--just making the point that financial instruments really need to be evaluated by their business fundamentals, not how popular they are with other investors. Furthermore, while the U.S. bond market is resistance to manipulation due to its size, smaller bond markets are not so protected. Here's one example: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-at-890.html http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-at-890.html
    - marcamillion 14y ago
      > Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. I never said markets predict the future. I said they are a good forward looking indicator. Major difference ;) > The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put their money than in U.S. bonds. Well....implicit in my example was that what people tend to do is to complain about America's debt-to-GDP and then suggest some other asset class that investors should be putting their money in - like gold or w/e. Given the large gold sell off a few days ago, I am sure many of those guys are pissed. Either way, my point was simply that as a general rule, the sovereign bond markets are usually good, forward looking indicators about the health of the economy of a country (relative to others). That's all I was saying - which is contrary to what politicians tell the people. But because they don't know any better, they accept what they hear as gospel because it fits a narrative in their head - bankers are stealing the wealth of the world.
ThomPete 14y ago
You are missing the point here. The claims of the MBA education is extraordinary. They claim that this will give you an edge on everyone else. It's not just a normal business education. That's the measurement here. With regards to how the world truly works. The world truly works in many different ways depending on who you are, where you live and what you do. Did you learn how africans on the savannah live? How un-educated people in the Bronx live? How people without jobs get social security. Did you learn what a person who get cancer thinks or what someone who get their family killed feels? What you learned was how the world looks like through the eyes of an MBA, but you have not learned anything about the real world any more than someone living on the streets learn about the real world. If anything you are abstracted far far away from reality.

cygwin98 14y ago

For me...my MBA taught me how the world works. It is surprising how few people understand how it truly works - yet they speak as if they know. For that single achievement alone, I would encourage everyone to get an MBA. That sounds like quite a claim. Can you shed some lights on how the world works from an MBA's perspective?

marcamillion 14y ago
Well...I can't speak from an "MBA's" perspective, because there isn't 1 MBA perspective. In terms of the way the world works, I can say that politicians are not in the business of running the world the way it should be run - they are in the business of politicking. It has become fanciful in the last decade or so, to blame bankers, wall street, the 1%, capitalism, etc. for all the worlds ills - but that's just not the case. Politicians (many who I support also) are just as guilty. Here is 1 truism that no politician of a heavily indebted country will say - bond markets are dead right. If they demand a higher yield on a country's debt - it isn't because there are some "nefarious speculators" trying to make bank off of the demise of the poor people in that country. It's because the stupid policymakers and politician s have fleeced the country, the affairs are not in order and in order for them (bond market investors) to lend to your country in the crappy state it is in, they charge more than they will charge to lend to the US Treasury, Germany, etc. Likewise, if the bond markets are showing very low yields to America despite all the rhetoric of America's economy in shambles and the debt-to-GDP ratio being too high at 90% - clearly something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems. Financial markets are forward looking indicators - and by all indications, as a general rule, when it comes to properly (and easily) communicating what is TRULY happening with the state's finances, they tend to be spot on. The issue is that politicians hate it because bond markets show up their lies and untruths. So they blame 'wreckless speculators' and tax bankers. When half of the time, the investors that are wrecking their bond yields are not even BANKERS! But...it sounds good in a newsbyte because people like to believe conspiracy stories about the wealthy bankers that are enslaving the masses with interest on debt. The fact is, debt, equity financing & capitalism in general have been the best mechanisms for growth, poverty reduction and standard of living increases over the past few centuries. Most things you hear politicians blame things on, are just simply scapegoats that people accept because they know no better.
- cygwin98 14y ago
  Though I would disagree on the roles and power of politicians. I appreciate your inputs and some of them are quite insightful.
- rquantz 14y ago
  Except that American bond yields are low because the US is in a depression (a liquidity trap), not because "the situation is not as bad as it seems." You're right though that debt, personal or sovereign, is not always bad.
- snowwrestler 14y ago
  Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put their money than in U.S. bonds. That mindset could change quickly if market conditions change. It was not that long ago that mortgage-backed securities were highly rated and well-funded. Note: I'm not predicting doom for the U.S. here--just making the point that financial instruments really need to be evaluated by their business fundamentals, not how popular they are with other investors. Furthermore, while the U.S. bond market is resistance to manipulation due to its size, smaller bond markets are not so protected. Here's one example: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-at-890.html http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-at-890.html
  - marcamillion 14y ago
    > Markets do not predict the future, they only represent the current state of mind about the future. I never said markets predict the future. I said they are a good forward looking indicator. Major difference ;) > The fact that U.S. bond rates are so low does not mean that "something else is at work and the situation is not as bad as it seems." It just means that right now, folks can't think of a better place to put their money than in U.S. bonds. Well....implicit in my example was that what people tend to do is to complain about America's debt-to-GDP and then suggest some other asset class that investors should be putting their money in - like gold or w/e. Given the large gold sell off a few days ago, I am sure many of those guys are pissed. Either way, my point was simply that as a general rule, the sovereign bond markets are usually good, forward looking indicators about the health of the economy of a country (relative to others). That's all I was saying - which is contrary to what politicians tell the people. But because they don't know any better, they accept what they hear as gospel because it fits a narrative in their head - bankers are stealing the wealth of the world.

ThomPete 14y ago

You are missing the point here. The claims of the MBA education is extraordinary. They claim that this will give you an edge on everyone else. It's not just a normal business education. That's the measurement here. With regards to how the world truly works. The world truly works in many different ways depending on who you are, where you live and what you do. Did you learn how africans on the savannah live? How un-educated people in the Bronx live? How people without jobs get social security. Did you learn what a person who get cancer thinks or what someone who get their family killed feels? What you learned was how the world looks like through the eyes of an MBA, but you have not learned anything about the real world any more than someone living on the streets learn about the real world. If anything you are abstracted far far away from reality.