Harvey Mackay Discusses the Merits of Getting an MBA
Debate is hot about the value of an MBA. Up until 2008, an MBA was viewed – wrongly, to be sure – as an overnight meal ticket to gourmet dining in a hot-shot Wall Street firm. It may be years before that play gets a revival, if it ever does.
You’re much smarter to regard the MBA as advanced survival training in a very competitive employment world. Take time to do hard research:
- Identify managers and professionals in positions you aspire to be in within the next ten years. Do they have an MBA in addition to their other college degrees?
- What parts of the MBA degree are most vital to their success? Is it the finance . . . the marketing . . . the strategic planning? Knowing the focus of your MBA needs may help you pick where you should study. (All MBA programs are not alike.) You also might decide you don’t really need an MBA as much as some selected business courses.
- During war time, armies have long used officer candidate schools for two- or three-month crash courses. Similarly, many business schools offer advanced management programs to give managers a mini MBA. Will this meet your needs? At age 35, I attended Stanford’s Advance Management program. It lasted 10 weeks with 100 attendees representing 20 countries. To this day, it was the best business decision I ever made in my career.
- Can you negotiate funding for an advanced management program or even all or part of an MBA as part of your severance package from your current employer? For you, this option can be pennies from heaven in more ways than one: First, it can cover up a crater in your resume. Second, when the economy swings around, your present employer may decide they need you more than they thought they did . . . especially with your additional credentials. Third, that fresh sheepskin makes you more marketable, of course.
Harvey Mackay is author of five New York Times bestsellers. His first two books–Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware The Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt–have been translated into 35 languages and distributed in 80 countries. Harvey is a nationally syndicated columnist for United Feature Syndicate. He also is one of America’s most popular and entertaining business speakers, speaking–on average–once a week to Fortune 500-sized companies and associations. His latest book is USE YOUR HEAD TO GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You (Portfolio / February 2010).
