MBAs, Innovation, and Search
April 29, 2013
I read “If MBAs Are Useless, We’re All in Big Trouble.” My interest is search which gives me considerable room to wander in the intellectual farm land. The key point, in my opinion, is that MBAs are not useless and smart money types who suggests MBAs are losers to some degree are off base.
Here’s the snippet which caught my attention:
While creating a product and starting a company have never been easier, building and sustaining a business have never been harder. And lean is not everything. That means business education has never been more important. But first, both b-schools and companies need to learn some new tricks.
Several thoughts crossed my mind. The argument points out what any one who owes money knows. Producing revenue is pretty important to avoid failure, humiliation, or legal action. Also, the idea that a person can do everything by himself or herself is not such a good idea. The underlying truism is that many tasks are complex. Renaissance men and women are in short supply. Ergo a team is needed. Also, the notion of learning new “tricks” is interesting. A trick is, in my view, a short cut. And as any one who struggled in math class knows, tricks make the difference between an A and a C or D for some people.
Even the US government embraces the precepts of MBA-type principles. How is that working out for the US debt? Image source: http://www.hhs.gov/open/images/innovations_fellows.jpg
The next key argument is that “growth” is difficult to achieve. I automatically substitute the phrase “making sales and getting paid” for growth, but the comment is spot on. The subordinate points just polish the discount forks and knives.
Here’s a passage I highlighted:
business education needs to be more practical. Moving faster means leaders have to make more decisions with incomplete, unstructured or ambiguous information. That requires a stronger emphasis on judgment and problem solving, not just analysis. And that realization is already driving both startups and established companies to ditch market research and business plans in favor of prototypes and experiments. The same thing is happening in classrooms.
I don’t agree. What seems to be happening is that the shift to online education is having a disruptive impact on education. I live in a fourth class city in a state which has modest traction in the wide world of higher learning. There are instant schools which provide education and degrees. There are universities which field athletic teams which get more attention than academic programs. There are lots of folks who graduate with degrees and have difficulty reading. I have met some MBAs who work in restaurants. Not good.
So what’s this have to do with search?
Actually the new online users have to have systems which think for them. If these users do not know how to separate the goose feathers from the giblets, the users will depend on systems and services which provide answers. Without the ability to determine if the answers are correct, the big computer outfits are in control
And MBAs? In my experience most MBAs want to make money, be successful, make decisions, and be able to create a killer golf or bridge group. The smart money reaction against MBAs, if it is indeed happening, is a “birds of a feather” action. An MBA who succeeds knows that MBAs are not central to the success equation.
I am not an MBA or M anything. I look at the situation many executives at search companies have as a working environment. I am not sure an MBA or even a degree in nuclear physics is going to provide a clear path to innovation or financial success.
Focusing on a degree or a particular attribute highlights the self evident fact that making money is tough. Looking for a trick, a recipe, or a short cut satisfies the mind which struggles with more sophisticated ideas.
Yep, I too want “speed, agility, and adaptability”. Unfortunately, none of those characteristics works like following a Lego diagram to build a castle. What does work? If someone knew, the dismal success rate of start ups, new products, and sustainable revenue would not be the defining characteristic of today’s business environment.
And search? How many of those content processing outfits which have been in business for four years or more will be able to emulate the success of an Endeca or Google? Does an MBA has the answer? Let me know. My searching online returns no usable system or method.
Stephen E Arnold, April 29, 2013
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