Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America (1 Viewer)

[sanman]

When asked if he needed to better delegate, Musk said his employees respected when he dived into the details of their work. “Think about war: Do you want the general in some ivory tower or on the front lines? The troops are going to fight a lot harder if they see the general on the front lines. Nobody bleeds with the prince in the palace. Get out there on the goddamn front line and show them that you care, and that you’re not just in some plush office somewhere.”

Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America

“I think there might be too many M.B.A.s running companies,” Tesla’s chief executive says. Many business-school leaders fire back, arguing his comments don’t match the reality of what is taught in M.B.A. programs.

www.wsj.com

What is wrong with American corporations? Elon Musk says too many M.B.A.s. are polluting companies’ ability to think creatively and give customers what they really want.

His comments criticizing M.B.A.s came amid a broader conversation about leadership before an online audience during The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council annual summit, where he also encouraged executives to step away from their spreadsheets and get out of the boardroom and onto the factory floor.

“I think there might be too many M.B.A.s running companies,” the Tesla Inc. chief executive said. “There’s the M.B.A.-ization of America, which I think is maybe not that great. There should be more focus on the product or service itself, less time on board meetings, less time on financials.”


Many business-school leaders shot back, saying that Mr. Musk’s comments don’t match the reality of what is taught in M.B.A. programs and that more students than ever who are pursuing the graduate degree are interested in entrepreneurship and tech rather than Wall Street.


“I have nothing but the utmost respect for Elon, but he’s wrong to focus the blame on M.B.A.s,” said Robert Siegel, a lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “I think he’s got a strong element of truth of what leaders should be focused on, but he is completely off base talking about M.B.A.s.”


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Some critics of the M.B.A applauded Mr. Musk. Dan Rasmussen, a partner at investment firm Verdad Advisers in Boston, said he was delighted by Mr. Musk questioning the value proposition of business education. Mr. Rasmussen wrote a report published in 2019 in Institutional Investor that found M.B.A. programs don’t produce CEOs who are better at running companies when their performance is measured by stock-price return.

“What Musk is pointing out here is rewarding doers rather than focusing on airy concepts such as management,” Mr. Rasmussen said. “I’m in favor of a society that favors doing and action rather than pedigree. People devoted to the company might be better or equal to a star M.B.A. that got head-hunted into the company.”

Perhaps that's why Musk is forging ahead while other traditional businesses are stagnating.