Tell me what you think about this, The 10 Biggest Business School Lies The Ten Biggest Lies of B-School - Forbes I like #10 best.
Good article, but much of it has been passed along here in pieces. On another board I frequent, people are constantly singing the praises of AACSB MBA's. While I agree that "get the best you can afford" is generally sound advice, it's evident from this article that expensive degrees are overrated.
#7 is absolutely true. The soft skills are very much played down in almost every MBA with the exception of course being St. Joseph's College of Maine. If I had not had an emphasis in Organizational Leadership in my MBA program I think I would be at somewhat of a disadvantage in my job today. I say "somewhat" because most of my soft skills come from years working in law enforcement and experience as a supervisor in that capacity. I am not the best people person, yet 95% of what I do on the job day in and day out is working with people, managing expectations and helping to solve problems that are usually non-technical in nature (read: people problems). I have to rely on my experience and education for this daily, yet I spent more time in my MBA program figuring out various statistical models and financial and accounting tools than I did on things like conflict resolution or the even more important negotiation skills. I've said before that St. Joseph's College of Maine had the most forward thinking MBA program out there with their leadership emphasis. Shortly after completing my MBA I retracted that statement saying that they do not teach the hard skills MBAs are expected to have on the job (which is somewhat true). But honestly as I get further and further into greater levels of responsibility I become more and more removed from the hard skills that were seemingly so important at the beginning (even though I use them rarely). So I have to say once again, St. Joe's probably better prepares people for leadership and management positions than the typical MBA program. Same with many MS in Leadership type degrees or possibly even some MS in Management positions. The drawback is that it seems that hiring managers seem to seek out MBAs over the others (for example most people I work with are MBAs). Anyhow, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the traditional business gradutate should take soft skills classes deadly serious and not just as a break from the hard stuff.
Pretty much spot on. Of course, I know a lot of people who DIDN'T go to b-school who have similarly overinflated visions of themselves and their talents.
So far this is all very very accurate from what I've seen in my MBA program, especially #7-#9. All of my soft skills classes were amazing to me (Mgrl Comm, Org Behavior, even Business Law)- I learned a lot, performed very well, and it "clicked" with me. All of my analytical classes (the dreaded "Quantitative hump" that I'm at the tail end of right now) are brutal and necessary for knowledge, but they don't teach us how to work with people very well. I can calculate ROI and DCF til the cows come home, but if I can't get anyone else to back me up, then what good does it do? Also, I'm already seeing a lot of entitlement in my fellow classmates' posts, and it irks me. We are not special snowflakes because we're working on MBAs. I certainly don't think I am. I just like learning and feel like it's helped me grow as an employee and a person. I'm not smarter, better, prettier, more capable, etc. than someone else who didn't go. If I am any of those things, it's because I've worked at it, not because I'm pursuing a piece of paper.
I saw a lot of entitlement mindsets in my class too, except from the older students already working as professionals. Don't worry, they'll figure it out the hard way. But I do have to say...I am "prettier".
