WHO REALLY NEEDS AN MBA?

If you will recall, my last blog recounted a conversation I had over dinner with a couple of professionals and their wives about the merits of an MBA for one of their sons. What follows is a slightly different angle and exchange on the same subject.

I was at lunch the other day (I try not to miss too many meals) with three graduates from our undergraduate business program, all of whom were successful 30-35 year olds. One of the three was contemplating an MBA degree to “further her education” and was asking some general questions about our new program.

She was interrupted by one of the other two who laid the following egg/statement on the table: “An MBA is for someone who doesn’t know what they want to do, hasn’t made it yet, and/or has money/time to burn. Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Larry Ellison (Oracle) didn’t need business school, Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Jobs (Apple, Pixar) dropped out of college, and Brin and Page (Google) dropped out of their Ph.D. programs in computer science at Stanford (they didn’t have MBAs) – all to start successful companies. So, therefore, why does anyone need an MBA?”

As I looked around the table, all eyes were on me wondering, I suppose, how I would respond.

“Well, there are two important dimensions to your question,” I began, “And they both need to be addressed. First, you are absolutely right. There are several high profile CEOs who don’t have MBAs and you’ve named most of them. These are the Kobe Bryants and LeBron Jameses of the business world. Most NBA players go from high school to college and play at least a year or more before going to the NBA. Less than 10% of all NBA players come directly from high school to the NBA. Kobe and LeBron, however, did just that and have been pretty successful.”

“The other side of the equation is this: of the 100 largest, most successful companies in the U.S., 42 are run by CEOs with MBAs. In fact, the MBA is 5x more prevalent than the next closest degree (JD [law]). CEOs with MBAs include Jeff Immelt at GE, Phil Knight at Nike, Warren Buffet at Berkshire Hathaway, and Indra Nooyi at PepsiCo, just to name a few. So if your goal is to ever run a successful company, an MBA is one of the best investments you can possibly make.”

The woman who had been asking the original questions sort of laughed and said, “Well, I’m not Kobe or LeBron, so I’ll be applying.” Two days later, I had a follow-up email from the graduate who had asked “Why anyone needed an MBA”, thanking me for my time at lunch and asking if I could talk to the MBA Admissions Committee on his behalf. He had also decided to pursue an MBA.

So, contrary to what my wife likes to tell me, conversations over lunch sometimes do make a lasting point…..

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….