WHY PEOPLE GO INTO AN MBA PROGRAM

I had dinner the other night with two of my wife’s close friends and their husbands whom I’ve met a couple of times but hadn’t seen in several months. One husband is a plastic surgeon who seems like he’s always in the operating room and the other practices law. I think the last time we got together, the lawyer told me he was involved in six separate ongoing litigations. He said he barely had time to sleep.  Both husbands knew I was Dean of the College of Business at UHD but in our previous encounters, most of the conversation had centered around their busy practices and lives.

Well imagine my surprise when the surgeon announced that his son was starting an MBA in the Fall and how disappointed he, the father, was that his son was taking this educational route and who in their right mind would sign-up to take a bunch of on-line “how to manage” courses from a group of college professors far removed from the real world?

The lawyer looked directly at me and quickly asked, “Aren’t you guys starting an MBA program?” and when I stated that, “Yes, we were about to launch our MBA,” he asked, “Do you think Ross’s (the surgeon) son is making a mistake?”

I was about to jokingly say that Ross’s son’s MBA was probably just a precursor to medical school but I noticed that all the side conversations had stopped abruptly and, in particular, Ross’s wife Jeanine looked troubled by what her husband had said and it was suddenly obvious to me that they had had a serious argument about their son’s career direction.

“I’ve been involved in four different MBA programs,” I started, “And there are just a few reasons people want this advanced business degree. MBA programs are the incubators and proving grounds for best future business practices and being a part of this ensures the participant an opportunity to be at the forefront of a better world, society and economy. At the same time (and I looked directly at both the surgeon and lawyer), many fields are becoming more restrictive and there is considerably less opportunity to be your own boss and/or run your own company (I learned later that the surgeon had just joined a large hospital group while the attorney’s firm had been purchased by a large national firm and he had gone from being 1 of 45 to 1 of 375 litigators). MBAs are heavily indoctrinated in entrepreneurship and many graduate and start their own businesses. Today’s youth is a lot more interested than their parents were in having control of their future and their time by being their own boss and being able to spend time with their families.”

Everyone was listening now. “And regardless of what you think,” I continued, “Our free market system is the best in the world and there are few barriers to prevent good people from moving around with relative ease. An MBA might also fit for the “do-gooder”, the person who wants the world to be a better place and wants to make a difference. Business Schools are doing research and leading the way toward best practices in areas such as the environment and diversity. But above all, an MBA prepares a person to think critically, assess and take risks, make decisions, evaluate uncertainty, and work closely with other people.”

Jeanine had a little smile on her face and I could see that Ross was thinking about what I had said so I added, “Oh, yes, and I forgot to mention, all that time they spend on Facebook --- we teach them how that translates into valuable customer relationships!!”

Ross seemed to be at a loss for words so I just asked for the check….