Life Education
Does an Education make an Entrepreneur?
If this old saying is true ("The more you know... the more you do not know"), what good is an MBA degree? How many MBA degree-holders have gone into business for their own? How many financially "successful" Entrepreneurs ever had an MBA degree? Are MBA degree-holders better decision-makers in business? Is an educated logical thinking mind any better than "Common Sense"?
Tags: mba
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sandeep Lonkar on -
Hi Ernesto,
I think no degree is require to become a "successful" Entrepreneurs.
There are many factors which is essential for success in Business is Motivation, Passion, patience, dedication, desire and people management. In certain cases you have to have a degree or knowledge in that particular field.
There is no guarantee of good career after having degree though there are many successful entrepreneurs who didn’t need their college education and become millionaires anyway.
I might be wrong but this is my personal view.
Thanks
Sandeep
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Permalink Reply by Deborah J. Boyd on
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This is the way that works. If you are naturally inquisitive and self disciplined you do not need formal education. If you are not self-motivated then an education helps. The biggest difference in the method of education is time. Most formal education requires tasks to be completed in a limited period of time. The next advantage of formal education is the synergy developed when students engage in debate and discussion in organized fashion.
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Permalink Reply by Ernesto C del Castillo on -
Yes, Deborah. When I undertook my classroom MBA degree course at the Philippines' leading educational institution (Ateneo de Manila University, School of Business), about 3 decades ago, inter-acting with classmates during the many group Case-studies was more a learning process - than Book Assignments and Professorial Lectures. But back then, the Internet was not yet much in use. Nowadays, I value select Internet Fora even more than Group Case Studies because of the worldwide interest & participation (in real time) of Discussion Fora members. Thank God for the trickle-down benefits of modern-day Science-of-ICT.
Deborah J. Boyd said:This is the way that works. If you are naturally inquisitive and self disciplined you do not need formal education. If you are not self-motivated then an education helps. The biggest difference in the method of education is time. Most formal education requires tasks to be completed in a limited period of time. The next advantage of formal education is the synergy developed when students engage in debate and discussion in organized fashion.
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Permalink Reply by Rajesh Paruchuri on -
I always believed most of the critical decisions are made based on emotion, gut feel, common-sense. I guess one needs more than an MBA for effective decision making or becoming a successful entrepreneur.
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Permalink Reply by Ernesto C del Castillo on
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Which comes first? The "Icing" or the "Filling"? Credentials are like the Icing of a cake... and the in-depth Interviews could probe into the "Filling" of a man.
Rajesh Paruchuri said:I always believed most of the critical decisions are made based on emotion, gut feel, common-sense. I guess one needs more than an MBA for effective decision making or becoming a successful entrepreneur.
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Dear Rajesh, What you are referring to has little to do with education. Education is for preparation. All of those feelings you are referring to work very well for very small and simple businesses but not so well on the International and complex levels such as Technology presents us with today. There is a huge difference between taking a risk and taking a calculated risk. I have seen people who spend their whole life learning and never use the education to do anything. Most of them are professors. Now that doesn't mean that being an educator is not an honorable trade but it is not the same as being an entrepreneur.
Like that I also have 2 categories for managers. One can make something from nothing and the other must have the system and process in place. The second type can keep the business going but has no creative ability and really doesn't understand each process in the business.
Rajesh Paruchuri said:I always believed most of the critical decisions are made based on emotion, gut feel, common-sense. I guess one needs more than an MBA for effective decision making or becoming a successful entrepreneur.
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Permalink Reply by Jack Sandler Bloom on -
Two richest men in U.S. : Bill Gates - No MBA; Warren Buffet Columbia MBA. So - It varies.
There are a lot of very successful MBA's, and some not so successful. However, there are many counter examples because they started earlier and practiced longer. Basically, it seems it takes about 10,000 hours of experience to get good at something and have a chance to be world class. This data from studies on what it takes succeed in general.
So people like Larry Ellison at Oracle, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs started in high school, dropped out of college, and did great in business. Also, they were helped by huge market upswing in computer technology driven by engineering breakthroughs at Intel, etc. which they turned into consumer or corporate products.
However, many entrepreneurs had/have MBA's - they start later in life, and it may take them longer - so they may not be as the super rich but they have more likelihood of success.
So if you are talking on a percentage basis of success basis, then the MBA's win.
Of the non-MBA's who start - and don't fail -which is a small percentage - then some of them become the super rich who surpass most MBA's.
Getty said - Rise Early, Work Hard, Strike Oil.
In terms of non-entrepreneurial positions, almost all Fortune 500 CEO's have MBA's. And many of the most successful have MBA's and are great at running their businesses. For example, Best CEO in Banking: Jamie Dimon, CEO, MBA, JP Morgan Chase. Failure to run bank: Charles Prince, Lawyer, former CEO of Citibank.
Many MBA's are better at running established businesses. They learn in class, they learn from case studies, books, early jobs where they to run a small part of the business, friends from school, working with others, etc. Most MBA schools require 3 or more years business experience plus outstanding intelligence. Then they put all those people together for 2 years in classes with case studies, debates, projects, etc. So the education definitely helps.
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Permalink Reply by Ernesto C del Castillo on
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Jack,
Thanks for your comparative analysis. As the saying goes: "Statistics do not lie", and with your long list of successful MBA holders, then indeed an MBA degree does help - but there are no guarantees.
Ernie
Jack Sandler Bloom said:Two richest men in U.S. : Bill Gates - No MBA; Warren Buffet Columbia MBA. So - It varies.
There are a lot of very successful MBA's, and some not so successful. However, there are many counter examples because they started earlier and practiced longer. Basically, it seems it takes about 10,000 hours of experience to get good at something and have a chance to be world class. This data from studies on what it takes succeed in general.
So people like Larry Ellison at Oracle, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs started in high school, dropped out of college, and did great in business. Also, they were helped by huge market upswing in computer technology driven by engineering breakthroughs at Intel, etc. which they turned into consumer or corporate products.
However, many entrepreneurs had/have MBA's - they start later in life, and it may take them longer - so they may not be as the super rich but they have more likelihood of success.
So if you are talking on a percentage basis of success basis, then the MBA's win.
Of the non-MBA's who start - and don't fail -which is a small percentage - then some of them become the super rich who surpass most MBA's.
Getty said - Rise Early, Work Hard, Strike Oil.
In terms of non-entrepreneurial positions, almost all Fortune 500 CEO's have MBA's. And many of the most successful have MBA's and are great at running their businesses. For example, Best CEO in Banking: Jamie Dimon, CEO, MBA, JP Morgan Chase. Failure to run bank: Charles Prince, Lawyer, former CEO of Citibank.
Many MBA's are better at running established businesses. They learn in class, they learn from case studies, books, early jobs where they to run a small part of the business, friends from school, working with others, etc. Most MBA schools require 3 or more years business experience plus outstanding intelligence. Then they put all those people together for 2 years in classes with case studies, debates, projects, etc. So the education definitely helps.
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Permalink Reply by Pavla on -
Hi all you experienced and clever people,
I enjoyed reading your discussion. I have been thinking about this for some time now as regards - what should I do after I get my degree. Should I go to work OR continue studying?
You speak only of MBA but it seems to me that here in Malta MBA's are less respected than other Masters. I guess because there are so many, so many people are getting them, you can get one even in 1 year or online... noone asks you where you got it. I had people with me on the course for BSc. who already have MBA's... Wonder why. I had people telling me to better choose MSc. than MBA for my future. I wondered what is your opinion...
Also: I feel that most of the MBA's are structured similar to what I did in my degree study (It is Management and Economics). I must admit I prefer the econ, fin or maths subjects more as with management it seems there are no clear answers! I have a feeling that reading more about management will not give me as much as getting some actual practice.
As regards to Ernesto's question whether education matters - I believe it does - if only for the opportunities one is given. There will always be people like Richard Branson who dropped out from school at 15 because of dyslexia and look at him now. But I think they are more an exception than a rule.
Thank you and kind regards.
Pavla
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Permalink Reply by christopher tidman on -
The answer Ernesto is NO. An education can however give a person the confidence to try something, and it will give him a better chance of being hired to help in someone else's business. Most businesses are copies of companies already operating, but each person runs a business differently, so the whole idea of copying something is not that easy.
In the Franchise business, we spend a lot of time profiling the applicant, because it takes a different kind of person to be happy running a Franchise. I bring up Franchising because it has a greater percentage of successes. In start up small businesses only ten percent survive beyond 5 years. In Franchises 90% survive. A Franchisee has to have a lot of the entrepreneurial qualities - but he still has to follow someone else's rules. There are more entrepreneurs than there are successful entrepreneurs.
Personal attributes, many of which can be learned, are definitely essential for success, but knowing all the answers and not being able to apply them is a recipe for failure.
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Permalink Reply by Ernesto C del Castillo on
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Indeed, FRANCHISING is a win-win scenario for the Entrepreneur-Originator and his "Copy Cats".
christopher tidman said:The answer Ernesto is NO. An education can however give a person the confidence to try something, and it will give him a better chance of being hired to help in someone else's business. Most businesses are copies of companies already operating, but each person runs a business differently, so the whole idea of copying something is not that easy.
In the Franchise business, we spend a lot of time profiling the applicant, because it takes a different kind of person to be happy running a Franchise. I bring up Franchising because it has a greater percentage of successes. In start up small businesses only ten percent survive beyond 5 years. In Franchises 90% survive. A Franchisee has to have a lot of the entrepreneurial qualities - but he still has to follow someone else's rules. There are more entrepreneurs than there are successful entrepreneurs.
Personal attributes, many of which can be learned, are definitely essential for success, but knowing all the answers and not being able to apply them is a recipe for failure.
© 2010 Created by Jack Sandler Bloom.
