Why I’m Choosing an MBA
Those that know me already know that this fall I will be beginning a full-time MBA program at the University of Chicago. As is typical for many MBA students, I’ve chosen to take a little bit of time off before beginning my program, and as such last week was my last with Tumblr.
During my last week, many were exceptionally kind in approaching me to wish me well. In wishing me well, nearly all of those same people asked some variation of the same question: “Why go to get an MBA?”¹ Thankfully, if the MBA application process (essays, in-person interviews, networking events) prepares you well for anything, it’s to answer this question, and in speaking with people at Tumblr I was able to share (convincingly, I hope) a number of reasons why I think that pursuing an MBA makes sense for me personally.

After spending a lot of time last week talking through with others my rationale for getting an MBA, I realized that there were several reasons it would be helpful to document that rationale.
- Be able to share more easily with my friends and family about why I’m making this life-altering decision.
- Have something to point to in the future when advising people who are considering an MBA.
- Have clear documentation for why I made the decision so that I can later reflect back on it clearly and with as little unwarranted revisionism as possible.²
With all of that as prelude, here’s why I’m choosing an MBA.
I want to develop an understanding of business from the perspective of first principles, frameworks, and tools
Business and economics, like politics, seems to be one of those subjects in which the Dunning-Kruger effect is in full-force: people with a small amount of knowledge on the subject are overconfident in their abilities and unaware of how little they actually understand about them.³ In speaking with many people, the belief that business is mostly common sense applied to trying to make money seems pervasive.
Personally, I’m skeptical that that’s actually the case. I think business is much more difficult to learn and understand than it’s given credit for, and that one of the best ways to learn more about it is through understanding the theory and research that underpins modern business thought. From those core principles, it should be easier to understand and apply the tools and frameworks required to make difficult decisions under risk and uncertainty,⁴ as well as to execute against those decisions.⁵
I want exposure to people from many different industries and job functions
To date, I’ve held two very different positions in two very different industries. Both experiences have been tremendously beneficial in exposing me to different sets of business problems and approaches. The people I’ve met in each of those positions have likewise enriched my career, and I treasure those connections I’ve had the chance to form. Reflecting on the people I know, though, I realize that there’s not all that much diversity in their background and work experiences. None of that is the fault of any of the people I’ve worked with (who, for the record, are amazing); it’s instead a consequence of the fact that companies have missions and work cultures that tend to attract people who are compatible with those missions and cultures, and that oftentimes results in people who have a lot of important things in common. This is without even taking into consideration the fact that most of the people I’ve worked with have really only spent time working in the same two industries (consulting and technology) and job functions as I have (consulting and data analytics). While some would say that business school itself is just another kind of echo chamber lacking diversity, recent cohorts suggest that’s not true, or at least far less true than it once was.
Being a good manager provides an opportunity to have a profound impact on individuals’ lives
A favorite excerpt from Clayton Christensen’s book How Will You Measure Your Life discusses an epiphany he about the power he had to affect others’ lives as a manager.
“I used to think that if you cared for other people, you need to study sociology or something like it. But… if you want to help other people, be a manager. If done well, management is among the most noble of professions. You are in a position where you have eight or ten hours every day from every person who works for you. You have the opportunity to frame each person’s work so that, at the end of every day, your employees will go home… living a life filled with motivators.”
Having a positive effect on other individuals’ careers and lives is one of my own strongest motivators. It’s a feeling I learned that I loved while working as both a missionary in Colombia and later as a teacher and a TA. I’m confident that getting an MBA will improve my abilities and help me become a better manager than I would otherwise be, and that as a result I’ll be able to better help others while improving my own personal career satisfaction.
Solid business skills are strongly complementary to technical skills
This is a personal conjecture rather than an incontrovertible fact, but it’s my belief that a person’s ability to create “impact” or “leverage” (apologies for the nebulous terms) is generally a function of both business and technical skills. While I’d be willing to bet that the exponent on each factor varies across industries and positions, I feel comfortable saying that increasing ability in either one of these two areas increases overall potential for impact.
“impact” = business skill x technical skill
The fact that I believe strongly in this idea is exactly the reason why I’m pursuing an MBA to increase my business skills while working part-time towards completing a masters degree in computer science.
Signaling power⁶ and “brand”
Studies of “sheepskin effects” aren’t at all new, but there’s compelling evidence to suggest that they matter. While there are many credible ways to signal productivity to potential employers, I’d argue that an MBA is one particularly useful method. The cost of doing an MBA is high, a requirement for any effective signal. The filter applied by many programs is strong, offering additional signaling value to employers about candidates. This is almost certainly part of the reason that MBA job placement is strong.
What’s more, given our natural tendency towards representativeness heuristics, the association with an MBA and a particular school should make it far easier to communicate some basic information about who I am to others, relying on the school’s brand to precede me.
I like school a lot and am excited by the prospect of spending my time fully dedicated to learning and personal growth
One of the most common reactions I’ve had from people when I’ve told them that I’ll be heading back to school full-time is for them to say that they would never want to go back to school. I can understand where that sentiment comes from — I thoroughly enjoy working in industry and the problem-solving opportunities it provides. For me, though, I’ve always loved being in school. Few things energize me more than being in an academic environment in which everyone is eager to learn from one another. I’ve been fortunate to work in two settings in which learning and development was highly valued, but I look forward to making learning my full-time job once more.
Many people I admire have completed an MBA and found great professional success from doing so
There’s always good reason to be cautious when taking advice from successful people, but it is true that I have come across numerous people so far in my education and career who credit an MBA as being an important stepping stone to their professional success.
Footnotes:
[1] Common, generally well-meaning variations of the question include: “Why would you leave a good, well-paying job?”, “What will an MBA teach you that you couldn’t read in a book?”, “Couldn’t you make a career change or transition without an MBA?” (back)
[2] Selfishly, this is the most interesting reason to me. During my last several weeks at Tumblr I interviewed a number of candidates for our team’s Data Scientist opening, and many candidates asked me why I had chosen to come to Tumblr. Even though I’d made the decision only about two years prior and was pretty sure I’d remembered it clearly, I was left wondering if there were important details I’d forgotten over time. (back)
[3] Perhaps commenting on or invoking the Dunning-Kruger effect is also something that should fit into this category? I’ll cop to the fact that my knowledge of it is somewhat superficial, and yet I still find myself thinking about it and referring to it in conversation with some degree of regularity. Busted! (back)
[4] Understanding the differences is deserving of a post of its own, but I was reminded of the importance of this principle recently in an unexpected place in this great post by Ben Falk on how risk and uncertainty relate to NBA teams’ decision-making in drafting players. (back)
[5] The fact that I was interested in taking something like a first principles approach to business school is perhaps the biggest reason I ended up at University of Chicago, where that philosophy is part of “The Chicago Approach.” (back)
[6] While citing signaling power as a motivating factor and simultaneously citing the importance of learning specific skills might appear to be contradictory, I’d like to think that most people believe that labor markets are, in reality, based on some combination of a human capital model and a signaling model. If you really think that there’s a serious issue with that, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree. (back)
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