Managers Not MBAs: Debating the Merits of Business Education

Managers Not MBAs: Debating the Merits of Business Education

Ricardo Semler, Henry Mintzberg

Most MBAs aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, suggests Henry Mintzberg. “Management is where art and craft and science meet,” and most MBA programs are simply “training in analytical skills for analytical jobs… like investment banking and consulting.” Whatever you do, don’t confuse an MBA with a license to manage. “If people want to be managers, there’s a better route to it: get into an industry, know it, prove yourself, get promoted into a managerial position—and then, go to a program that uses managerial experience explicitly—not other people’s cases, but your own experience.”