Is an MBA necessary? If you are like me, a bizdriven person, one of whose goal is to make my dreams come true in the form of my business, then it is. If you want to excel in the field, be one of the top 5 percent of the business, you will. If you want to grow twice, thrice or 10 times your size now, you will.However, if you are the entrepreneur which I earlier dubbed as alterpreneurs, whose goal is to go into business for a certain lifestyle which the business will provide, and not necessarily focus on the satisfaction oor experience of owning or operating a business, maybe not. Your goal after all, is not to build something lasting, but just to make enough to ensure a comfortable lifestyle which allows you to do many other things.
Mike on September 7th, 2005 at 1:34 am
Rubbish! Your goal is to build a business consisting of people with the skills to help you develop and run the company for many years. These people will need a variety of skills sets - both academic and practical. YOU do not need an MBA to do this - just flair, drive, innovative thinking and great personal skills. None of which are taught on MBS courses.
The key is to understand your limitations (finance, technical etc.) and backfill with trusted people. Companies that are 100% reliant on one person’s ego/skill/MBA for their success are doomed to fail sooner or later.
Keith Longmire on September 7th, 2005 at 5:50 am
Umm, I have an MBA. I learned lots - most of it in the ‘but that’s simply common sense’. The strange thing about common sense is that there is not that much of it evident in most businesses.
For me the MBA has been great in getting me through the door for job interviews.
worth doing but it doesn’t change the world
Chris Campbell on September 7th, 2005 at 6:05 am
I’m going to have to disagree with this one. I am currently halfway through my MBA program and have learned very little practical information to help my small business. To be successful you need to learn constantly, innovate, and always challenge yourself. If anything, the MBA program seems to be a middle management farm with little focus on entrepreneurship and creativity.