Innovation Blog
Want to be a Top CEO? Don’t Get an M.B.A.!
By Shlomo Maital
Steve Jobs: NO MBA!
Harvard Business Review’s latest issue offers a list of the top 50 CEO’s in the world. Each listing includes information on whether the CEO has an MBA or not. [1]
The study examined which CEOs of large public companies performed best over their entire time in office—or, for those still in the job, up until September 30, 2009. Data were collected on close to 2,000 CEOs worldwide.
The results are startling.
Of the world’s top 10 CEO’s, half do NOT have an MBA, incuding Steve Jobs (#1 – Apple), Eric Schmidt (#9 – Google), Jeff Bezos (#7 – Amazon), Yun Jong-Yong (#2 – Samsung), and Alexey Miller (#3 – Gazprom).
And of the world’s top 50 CEO’s, only 14 do have an MBA — or 28 per cent! Some 72 percent do NOT have an MBA.
Why? Isn’t the MBA degree, at vaunted schools like Harvard, MIT, INSEAD, Northwestern, London Business School, supposed to train managers for leadership roles? Why are many MBA programs worldwide facing shrinking enrollment? I know a major business leader who refused to hire MBA’s, for years, on the grounds the MBA did real damage.
There are many possible hypotheses. I have taught in MBA programs on three continents. My own explanation is simple. MBA programs all over the world are very similar. They provide packaged solutions to business issues and encourage conservative here-is-how-it-is-done learning. In one of my courses, I once asked my students if they would be upset if I criticized what they had been taught in a finance course (NPV, “net present value” – a major destroyer of human brain cells). The students unanimously welcomed it…but my colleagues did not. It just is not done.
Want to make the top 50 list? Lead a great company? Work for small companies, do a wide variety of functions, take risks, learn incessantly — and if you must do an MBA program, pick one that is innovative and challenges conventional wisdom.
[1] “The Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Morten T. Hansen, Herminia Ibarra, and Urs Peyer, Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb. 2010.
TIMnovate 
4 comments
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October 22, 2010 at 10:25 am
Antonio Silva
Hi, I know this is an old post but I’m hoping you have a comment alert system.
Do you know of any study of the CEO profiles of major companies? I’d like to know how many of the top CEOs (top companies, not top performance) actually have an MBA.
Thanks,
Antonio
October 24, 2010 at 4:10 pm
timnovate
38% of CEO’s hold MBA’s. Another 29% of CEO’s in the S&P 500 hold advanced degrees in fields other than one from an MBA. That’s 67% who hold a degree beyond their Bachelor’s.
Source(s):
http://www.taibros.net/archives/2005/11/…
December 17, 2010 at 2:33 am
Carlos
I don’t see what an MBA should qualify you for. It’s all common sense… I’d rather do an MSc or PhD in maths or theoretical physics, a real qualification. The thing is, every MSc math graduate would easily pass any MBA program whereas no more than 10 percent of all MBA holders would pass an MSc in math… and the 10 percent are the ones that also have a math degree.
August 21, 2012 at 7:54 am
Steve
You need pre-existing management experience to get into a good MBA. How many MSc Maths holders are rounded enough in terms of both soft skills and technical skills to gain management experience, gain an MBA and be a successful leader? Probably far less than 10 percent if you ask me.