Right On Time - MBA Programs Are In The Early Phases Of Their Transformation As We Anticipated
"Truth has to be repeated constantly, because error also is being preached all the time, and not just by a few, but by the multitude. In the press and encyclopedias, in schools and universities, everywhere error holds sway, feeling happy and comfortable in the knowledge of having majority on its side." -- JW von Goethe
That's a pretty radical statement. But one you should always find comfort in for its timelessness. von Goethe was one of the most enlightened people ever to pick up a pen. Frankly, what he was stating is much of what we accept as truth are actually lies. I prefer the term lies to that of errors. Not necessarily malicious lies or overt lies but lies of the mind based on worthless data and associated conclusions. While in a free society the lies are less inclined to be overt, indeed many are. Just not as overt as they might be in the Soviet Union. And, who better to perpetuate such lies than the finest institutions of learning money can buy.
I talked to a friend a few days ago and he said everyone he talks to says the same thing - I can't believe this is happening. Mind you, he is surrounded by finance MBAs in his professional capacity. For this environment to develop, our educational system has to play a key role in perpetuating misinformation for quite some period of time. I would guesstimate at least twenty to forty years of misinformation has been mistaken for education as it pertains to mainstream business, finance and economics taught at some of the finest universities. The range in years is dependent on the topic. Economics has generally been deluded for a longer period of time. Then, I would probably classify business and finally finance as the latest casualty only being hoodwinked for the last twenty years or so.
Ultimately, what this should alert everyone to is that no one who caused this problem is likely to represent any useful truth in getting out of it. That includes mainstream business executives, economists and Wall Street executives. In other words, anyone associated with generally accepted dogma over the last generation is unlikely to provide an ounce of useful information moving forward unless they have had some type of epiphany. But, then these are the people who generally have the microphone. So, we'll all witness the global disaster worsen as they keep trying what hasn't been working from the supposed experts recommending the wrong solutions. And, mind you, there are solutions. Letting the global debt pound down around us while we keep doing the same thing is one solution. One I prefer to mitigate to some extent. Not by bailing out crooks. But, we'll get to the solutions phase of this environment at some time in the future.
We have written on here a few times that U.S. MBA programs were lining the cattle up for slaughter as a record number of finance MBAs headed to Wall Street ready to apply their newly minted mind full of error. I mean education. And, we wrote that even though these MBA programs didn't realize it yet, they were going to have to transform their programs from pushing around money to something else to remain relevant. I left you with the question of what that something else would be. I left the hint that it wouldn't be finance. Do you know yet what this transformation will involve? It's not that difficult.
In the last few months Harvard has started to look at the viability of their MBA program. They'll be doing more than looking soon enough whether they yet know what it is. 'The MBA industry is in turmoil. Many business schools are revisiting their offerings to see if they still have relevance in the 21st century. And HBS (Harvard Business School) is using its centennial year to convene worldwide experts on business education and plot its directions for the next 100 years.'
Still have relevance? In fact, much of the MBA offerings are indeed irrelevant to the post globalization world. And in a great bit of irony, much of the pablum pumped out at Harvard's MBA program is now crippling that great institution of learning.
That's a pretty radical statement. But one you should always find comfort in for its timelessness. von Goethe was one of the most enlightened people ever to pick up a pen. Frankly, what he was stating is much of what we accept as truth are actually lies. I prefer the term lies to that of errors. Not necessarily malicious lies or overt lies but lies of the mind based on worthless data and associated conclusions. While in a free society the lies are less inclined to be overt, indeed many are. Just not as overt as they might be in the Soviet Union. And, who better to perpetuate such lies than the finest institutions of learning money can buy.
I talked to a friend a few days ago and he said everyone he talks to says the same thing - I can't believe this is happening. Mind you, he is surrounded by finance MBAs in his professional capacity. For this environment to develop, our educational system has to play a key role in perpetuating misinformation for quite some period of time. I would guesstimate at least twenty to forty years of misinformation has been mistaken for education as it pertains to mainstream business, finance and economics taught at some of the finest universities. The range in years is dependent on the topic. Economics has generally been deluded for a longer period of time. Then, I would probably classify business and finally finance as the latest casualty only being hoodwinked for the last twenty years or so.
Ultimately, what this should alert everyone to is that no one who caused this problem is likely to represent any useful truth in getting out of it. That includes mainstream business executives, economists and Wall Street executives. In other words, anyone associated with generally accepted dogma over the last generation is unlikely to provide an ounce of useful information moving forward unless they have had some type of epiphany. But, then these are the people who generally have the microphone. So, we'll all witness the global disaster worsen as they keep trying what hasn't been working from the supposed experts recommending the wrong solutions. And, mind you, there are solutions. Letting the global debt pound down around us while we keep doing the same thing is one solution. One I prefer to mitigate to some extent. Not by bailing out crooks. But, we'll get to the solutions phase of this environment at some time in the future.
We have written on here a few times that U.S. MBA programs were lining the cattle up for slaughter as a record number of finance MBAs headed to Wall Street ready to apply their newly minted mind full of error. I mean education. And, we wrote that even though these MBA programs didn't realize it yet, they were going to have to transform their programs from pushing around money to something else to remain relevant. I left you with the question of what that something else would be. I left the hint that it wouldn't be finance. Do you know yet what this transformation will involve? It's not that difficult.
In the last few months Harvard has started to look at the viability of their MBA program. They'll be doing more than looking soon enough whether they yet know what it is. 'The MBA industry is in turmoil. Many business schools are revisiting their offerings to see if they still have relevance in the 21st century. And HBS (Harvard Business School) is using its centennial year to convene worldwide experts on business education and plot its directions for the next 100 years.'
Still have relevance? In fact, much of the MBA offerings are indeed irrelevant to the post globalization world. And in a great bit of irony, much of the pablum pumped out at Harvard's MBA program is now crippling that great institution of learning.
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