Comments on: The 4 Most Valuable Things I Learned in Business School

By: Robert McFarlane

Robert McFarlane — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:00:55 +0000

Good stuff!

By: Kathy Korman Frey

Kathy Korman Frey — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:00:11 +0000

It’s human nature to present and defend our own perception of the world and success. And, if that works for you – great! However, as someone with a foot in both higher education and the real world I’ve observed the following: Experience AND your academic credential will give you the best competitive edge long term. One can argue how a cheap MBA online worked for them because they know how to sell themselves. Another could say a top tier MBA changed their life because of the doors opened. But, again, just seeing people mature in their careers – my money is on the credential combined with the experience. You double your chances to placate your judges/audience. Different things are important to different employers and investors. However, you must be prepared to deliver RESULTS no matter what your experience or pedigree. I’ve encountered man fabulous students willing to do the work, but, a few who over-sell themselves, point to a few cushy internships, then fall short on delivering results in the real world. Ulitmately, this is how we are all judged.

By: MDH

MDH — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:25:36 +0000

Isn’t this sort of a chicken and egg situation though? You need credentials to get the quality experience.

_______
I beg to differ. I know several executives from VP of Marketing to COO and CEO whose only credentials are based on the work that they did. I personally am beginning on a college career at 31, not because I am unemployable, but because I no longer want to be in the industry I recently left. I want to be in a highly specialized field that requires the degree. I have employed hundreds of great employees with no credentials. I have also had employees with MS, BS, BA degrees who were non functioning in the simplest of productive capacities. Credentials are overrated except where there is a direct application of them. Without the real life experience, as an employer, I could care less how much paper sits on the wall above your desk, you simply do not know the business.

By: John Hunter

John Hunter — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:58:53 +0000

Great post. The value of actual workplace experience is important. And the value of education built around real work experience makes the learning experience much greater. I am a big fan of Deming’s ideas. Fordham University has a Deming Scholars program which heavily uses internships. http://management.curiouscatblog.net/2008/06/08/internships-increasing/

By: Chris Lamping

Chris Lamping — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:51:02 +0000

Hey, Josh.

I am currently a University of Cincinnati College of Business student, im in the college’s Kolodzik Business Scholars Program(I don’t think the college had this program when you were a student). I’ve been reading your blog for a while, I’ve never known you were a UC graduate. That is remarkable. I’ve always found your writings to be very relevant to me, but now they seem even more so. Have you ever thought about coming back to the college to talk to students?

Chris

By: Ryan Wagner

Ryan Wagner — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 21:23:22 +0000

Pick the best business schoool you can get into with the best career services options.

The principles I learned in Supply Chain Management will be obsolete eventually, and in my computer information systems classes, some already are.

What will never go bad is the skills I learned in the 2 career classes I had to take, and the value that was provided to me by having 365 companies come and interview on campus for full time positions just from the business school. That afforded me my first, high paying job, and has made me far and away the youngest person in every position I have held so far.

By: Meagan

Meagan — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:16:08 +0000

Simon (comment 14) – my fellow Aussie!
I think it depends what field you are in. I’m a graphic designer (in Sydney) and have found that a well structured portfolio lined up with industry knowledge helps more than whether you studied at University, Tafe or a private college and I believe the same goes for web design too. If you know exactly what you’re doing, you have the knowledge and talent then I think moving through the industry is quite easy (in the respective career choices just listed). When I am hiring, there are a lot of factors which trump qualifications. Although, I do understand that perhaps recent qualifications may mean up-to-date industry knowledge.

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 06:28:36 +0000

Here are the three answers to any question in business:

“It depends”, “variability is the devil” and “pooling!”

By: Simon

Simon — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:31:21 +0000

Great article, but in Australia don’t take the “real experience trumps credentials every time” advice. I am in IT and never got the opportunity to go the university but have been programming for over 15 years. In Australia it is not “can you do the work” it is “what qualification do you have”.

By: Alec Sharp

Alec Sharp — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:27:30 +0000

Great post – thanks! I’d like to add a comment on two of the points you raised:

1 – The reminder to consider opportunity costs is something I’ll take to heart. A lot of opportunities come my way, and I tend to jump on them without thinking through what else I could do with my time. Opportunity being the topic, I’ll throw in a favourite quote from that well-known management theorist, Ann Landers – “Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.”

2 – I couldn’t agree more with your observation about the value of experience over credentials, and I’d add that you can (and should) invest in creating your own credentials, even if you have a good degree. When I was in university I had a co-op term and never went back to finish my degree – I just liked the world of work too much. (Funny, given that your post also talked about the value of a co-op program.) That was over 30 years ago, and in all the time since, no one (other than immigration authorities granting work visas) ever asked for my credentials, or even a resume, at least until a request came out of the blue this year. What’s key is to (a) regularly take the time to reflect on your experience and capture it (not just think about it!) and (b) find ways to demonstrate/share your growing experience and knowledge. Even in that first job, I didn’t hesitate to share what I’d learned through presentations within the company and to relevant groups around town. Later, I built courses to teach it to other people, and started getting asked to travel to conferences to speak. I did a lot of that, and eventually wrote a book that is widely used as a text in MBA programs. (Ironic, given that I don’t have a degree.) The point – lots of people are smarter, more articulate, or have richer experience than me, but even in the age of blogging and social media, a surprisingly small percentage of professionals take their *own* experience, distill an asset from it, and then do something with it.

I’m still glad that all four of my kids have, or are working on, their university degrees – I don’t want to sound like I’m saying that isn’t important, because it is, and increasingly so. But experience, and demonstrating that you’ve learned from it, counts for more than some might think.

This comment is already too long, so I’ll resist the urge to go on about the apparent conundrum of “you need the credentials before you can get the experience.” In short, it’s more cliché than fact.

Thanks again for the excellent post – I’ll be sharing it.