MBA Master Business Administration (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Here is an argument by Irina Patterson against going to do an MBA if you want to become an entrepreneur. Like her, I believe that to become an entrepreneur you do not need formal study. This does not mean that formal education in business does not help you but it does not transform you into an entrepreneur.
Here is her case and my observations below. Irina says, “I recently read a book by Philip Delves Broughton called Ahead of the Curve – Two Years at Harvard Business School. The book is about Philip’s first hand experience at HBS during 2004-2006. The book is so sarcastic that, reportedly, it made Harvard very unhappy.
I enjoyed the book but it also made me wonder if getting an MBA worth the investment?
Philip left a job as a Paris correspondent for The Daily Telegraph (UK) to get his Harvard MBA in 2004. At the time he had a wife and a small son and his second son was born while he was at HBS. His school-related debt for the two years at HBS amounted to over $170,000.
When he graduated, Philip couldn’t get a job related to business. He writes for The Financial Times now. So, he went from being a writer to being … a writer. I am not sure that is what he had in mind when he applied to HBS.
In the book, among other things, Philip tells a story how he and his buddy started a media business while at HBS, how it didn’t go anywhere, and how the HBS entrepreneurship professor wasn’t of much help.”
I think entrepreneurs need to undertake some form of study. This study can be formal, experience or with a mentor. However none of those things will teach you how to become an entrepreneur, but they are all useful starting points and some are more useful than others – just like Philip’s experience with the Harvard Business School.
