Business Education: What it Does and Doesn’t Do
Many of us have considered earning a business degree. Some choose to achieve an undergraduate business education. For others, the MBA is the preferred option. There are other avenues, but these two seem to be the most prevalent. As someone who has taught business for more than a quarter century, I’d like to share with you some of my thoughts on what a business education does and doesn’t do for your own personal growth. These are just my personal take on things, so take it for what it’s worth.
Business Education Shortfalls
1. Business is a Human Endeavour
A common misconception among many business students (and their professors as well, if I am blunt about it) is that nothing else matters. Some colleges and universities require students to take a liberal arts core, to widen their knowledge base. But most students see it as nothing more than an obstacle, and even their academic advisers see non-business subjects as something to “get it out of the way.” The reality is that life involves more than business, and indeed, business does not operate in a vacuum. We are all in and of the world, and part of the human condition. Learning business subjects is important, but it’s not the only important thing. Indeed, business is an inherently human endeavour; it does not exist in isolation.
2. Specialization Leaves us Ignorant
Even within business, our increasingly specialized world has induced schools to split business into many disciplines, like accounting, finance, marketing, and so on. Students who stream into one of these areas are told, and buy into, that this particular discipline is the be-all and end-all. Who told them so? Their professors, of course, who, because they only know one thing, elevate that one thing into the most important thing around. I had second-year MBA marketing students who were unable to read a balance sheet or tell me if the company’s margins were healthy. That’s how sad the state of affairs is. Of course, in the real world, you have to know stuff. A marketer needs to know about profits and loss, just as an accountant needs to understand the company actually needs customers, and an HR person should understand how the operations are financed.
3. Losing one’s Soul
In many ways, having knowledgeable managers to run businesses properly is a good thing. But unbridled capitalism is, well, unbridled. Debating capitalism is beyond the scope of what I’m trying to do here, but I do have serious doubts about the West’s infatuation with the so-called free market. Not that it’s anything new. We can’t even blame Thatcherism for it. Hell, over two centuries ago, in 1816, when there was worldwide famine due to volcanic-induced wholesale climate change, free-market adherents had similarly disregarded the plight of the impoverished. A rising tide may indeed lift all boats, but surely not those without one, or those whose boats leak. But that’s another story for another day.
Unfortunately, most business schools have eager beginners learn, almost before anything else, economics. And by that, I mean free market economics with all its nonexistent assumptions (e.g. rationality, full information, etc.). Fed this diet of profit maximization and the invisible hand, people become almost brainwashed into thinking that is the way things should be. That business is amoral. As a human endeavour, however, business has moral responsibilities, just as people do. Devoid of humanity, the creature we call business, like Skynet, takes over and enslaves us all. Sadly, this is how things seem today.
4. Education is More Than Memorizing Models
School is great, but only for certain things. I think sometimes professors and their students get too carried away by the academic emphasis on tests and such, which encourages people to learn the concept and the theory, memorize and rehearse the technicalities, as though that’s what education is about. Especially today with our connected world, with the internet and even AI, who needs to actually be able to regurgitate theories and concepts? If you don’t remember the exact formula, look it up! Besides, what are the odds that one will still remember a particular concept after the exam, let alone after graduation and beyond?
5. Hubris Foreshadows Demise
The degree is quite an accomplishment in most cases. No shortchanging that. But it only signals the beginning of a long journey into the world of business. However well (or mediocre) one did in school really has little to do with how well one will do in the future. School performance is based on an entirely different set of criteria from the real world. Unfortunately, most schools aren’t mindful of that. I guess it doesn’t help that a great many business professors have never had meaningful management experience. What one should know upon graduation is that, well, great, time to move on. And now you’re a rookie all over again. No, even your straight As from a prestigious business school doesn’t obviate the fact that you basically know nothing. Hubris won’t get you anywhere. A bit of humility will.
Benefits of Business Education
If you get the impression I’m dissing business schools, well, not quite. After all, I’ve had a rather long career as a tenured faculty in several of them. And my own academic background in business did help me in my pre-academic work life. So what does a business education have to offer?
I must emphasize, though, that not all business schools are equal. Some are more equal than others. And not all business professors are equal, either. For now, assuming one attends a respectable school with sincere and competent professors, here are some things I think a business education is beneficial.
1. It’s a Mindset
First, and probably the most important of all, is the business mindset. From my experience working in industry, and my interactions with non-business academic colleagues, I realize that business people approach issues differently. They frame problems in a particular way. They process information in a particular way. They solve those problems in a particular way. And they communicate their conclusions in a particular way.
Business students, without even recognizing it, adopt this mindset after years of training, especially in schools that use the case method. This mindset, this way of thinking and analyzing, is in my opinion the most valuable an aspiring business person gains from the education. Forget the theory stuff. Forget the formulas. Forget the models. The mindset stays with the person for decades, if not forever. And it keeps being reinforced as one enters the business world. Though, trust me, if one day you find it wanting, as I do, then upon retirement, you can simply kiss it all goodbye and good riddance.
2. In Touch With Stuff
Second, one gets forced into a habit of keeping up with what’s going on “out there.” We learn about mistakes that companies make, as much as we learn from their successes. If we keep this knowledge up to date, we become that much more valuable as a resource. Sure, we could simply do this on our own without going to school. And some people do it on their own accord. But be honest here, how many people really do that? School is good at forcing people to do things they won’t otherwise do. And sometimes it’s actually good for us!
In the first place, we can’t really successfully manage a business if we simply engage in navel-gazing. What’s happening around us offers both opportunities and threats. Intuitively we all know that. We plan to go hiking, but we would no doubt (I hope) at least check the weather forecast. Furthermore, we can’t very well criticize business if we know nothing about it. We cannot become change agents unless we keep abreast of the goings-on around us. Some people think because they buy stuff they are therefore informed about how businesses operate. That’s just crap. Learn the stuff before we can hope to improve it, that’s my motto.
Conclusion
I love school. Surprisingly, my academic career ended up almost double how long I spent in industry (26 vs 15 years). Business education is good if that’s the life one wants. That’s a big IF, by the way. One needs to do some serious soul-searching before deciding to make a business career their own. As Stephen King wrote in The Gunslinger, “There are other worlds than this.”
As well, just because a school offers a degree in business doesn’t mean it’s a good choice. I’d look for a school with professors who not only have terminal degrees, but extensive business experience (ten years + seems like a good number). You also want a school with strong connections to industry, that can invite people from substantial enterprises to interact with students. And preferably schools with a strong team in career services.
Do I regret going to business school? Nah. But I wish I had taken more classes in non-business subjects, instead of having to learn them haphazardly on my own. Certainly, I wish I didn’t have to wait till retirement to formally get into the humanities. A business education can be good for some, but perhaps not for the reasons people believe. Its main benefit is not the measurable things like grades or models (like the 4 of this and 5 of that, with arrows pointing this way and that), but something much more abstract — our worldviews and the way we think. Be mindful, though, that we may not like what we become!
