Blame Business School
“How much blame do business schools deserve for the current economic crisis?”
Below are the answers as of 9:00 a.m., Monday, April 6, from a poll you can access by clicking on the ”HBR Debate: How to Fix Business Schools.” You can find it on the Harvard Business Review home page. Click on the words HBR Debate and you’ll arrive at the Harvard Publishing site where there’s an ongoing blog with “an impressive roster of experts to lead the debate.”
My vote is counted in this breakdown of 214 responses:
Most of the blame; they’re teaching the wrong things. 17% (36 votes)
Some of the blame; they’re not teaching everything they need to. 50% (106 votes)
None of the blame; it’s not what they teach but who’s being taught. 34% (72 votes)
My vote was the middle ground. The wheels of the economy are still churning so something is working. But business schools do deserve some of the blame. From my experiences working with business school graduates and teaching business school students, I believe that graduates are not adequately prepared for their roles as managers and leaders.
Briefly, the initials M.B.A. go to their heads. They lose track of the impact of their actions on others in both the short- and the long-term. Someone who starts business school as Bobby can graduate as Robert—and forget the lessons he learned working his way into college.
Will write more later. Wanted to post this to give you the chance to weigh in at HBR.