[thechat] MBA -- any use?

[Chris Marsh]

> > A cousin of mine is going for an international mba program
> in europe
> > at a pretty good school -- though he is in a major
> quandary.  The guy

It's not INSEAD, by any chance?

> > has to cough up a major
> > chunk of money to pay for the MBA -- because of that he is
> in a quandary
> > as to whether business school is really worth the investment...
>
> Will it make him better at the stuff he does? Doubtful.

My personal experience of working with people with MBAs backs this up.
What they did seem to learn was an awful lot of jargon and buzzwords
which enabled them to present stuff that was essentially common sense in
a manner that made it seem an awful lot more complicated than it was;
thus giving the perception to the uninitiated that they added a lot more
value to the organisation than they actualy did.

> Will it help him get better paying jobs in certain commercial
> sectors? If the programmes reputation is any good, probably.

Having spoken to a few of my friends with MBAs it seems that they are
not as valuable as they used to be. In the bad old days it seemed that
you invested a large amount of money in your MBA, the return being that
you could at least double your wages after graduating. This seems no
longer automatically the case, although of course this evidence is
anecdotal.

> Having an MBA is as much a personal branding, big tick on the
> CV, thing than an educational experience (although a good MBA
> will give students international work exposure, but that
> again is CV-building material)

If I were to attempt an MBA it would be much the same reason as
attempting a MCSE. IOW, I wouldn't expect it to necessarily teach me a
whole bunch of stuff that I didn't know/couldn't figure out for myself.
However, if I have the time and the money why not? It's bound to impress
someone, and this could well increase my perceived value. I certainly
wouldn't bank on it, though. In the last 5 years I haven't had anyone
care what my educational qualifications are, just what my last few
jobs/contracts have been. Then again, I'm not a BizDev/Marketing type,
so things could be different in that marketplace.

HTH

Regards

Chris Marsh