THE ARGUMENT

Many successful entrepreneurs do not have an MBA and more than 60% don't even have an undergraduate degree! Empirical research shows that 96% of employers prefer to hire MBA graduates as it creates value for their business and MBA graduates offer transferable skills that hold value. However, so do entrepreneurs by experience.  When researching this topic we found more articles focused on successful entrepreneurs and company owners who did not have a MBA, let alone a college degree than we found that had an MBA.  What is the difference between the two mindsets?  Can we argue that entrepreneurs are more creative and use their passion as well as empathy for others to fuel their success while MBA graduates are more focused on knowledge learned in the classroom? Who is more successful and why?  

CASE STUDIES:  NO MBA, NO COLLEGE DEGREE.

  • ​Mark Zuckerberg - Born on May 14, 1984, in White Plains, New York, Mark Zuckerberg co-founded the social-networking website Facebook out of his college dorm room. He left Harvard after his sophomore year to concentrate on the site, the user base of which has grown to more than 500 million people, making Zuckerberg a billionaire with no college degree and no MBA.  *This being said, he did receive a honorary degree in 2017.  Zuckerberg has a net worth of $72.6 billion.
  • Rachael Ray - Ray attended Pace University for two years before stopping to work and save money. She developed "30 Minute Meals" classes while working at a gourmet food store in New York and then got her big break when her classes were picked up by a local television newscast. The cooking segments eventually led to her first book deal and a contract with Food Network. Her net worth is $60 million.
  • Simon Cowell - Cowell dropped out of school at age 17 after being kicked out of a number of institutions for bad behavior. He worked his way up the ladder in the music industry to become a producer and A&R professional, eventually founding the now-defunct Fanfare Records. Cowell later landed a gig as a judge on the talent show "Pop Idol" on British TV, which led to smash hits like "American Idol." His own production company, SYCOtv, later debuted "The X Factor." Cowell has a net worth of $550 million.
  • Richard Branson - Branson dropped out of school at age 16 to start the youth-culture magazine, Student. The success of this publication led to the creation of a mail-order record company called Virgin. He eventually built a recording studio and founded the Virgin Records label. Since then, he has expanded the Virgin portfolio to include more than 200 companies in 30 countries. Branson's net worth is $5.1 billion.

CASE STUDIES:  MBA

  • Elon Musk - Musk co-founded Zip2 and PayPal, and as if that’s not enough, he is now eyeing some very futuristic ideas, such as the colonisation and terraforming of Mars! At the moment, the African-born genius is testing his inventive skills at creating a high-speed transportation system by the name of Hyperloop, and has also proposed an electric VTOL supersonic jet aircraft. He currently resides in Bel Air, Los Angeles and is worth over $11.2 billion. He got his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School Of Business.
  • Michael Bloomberg - Michael Rubens Bloomberg is no strange name in the business world. Born in the United States, Bloomberg is a business magnate, politician, and philanthropist. He served as the 108th mayor of New York City and is the Founder and owner of Blomberg L.P., which is the global financial data and media company providing investment professionals around the world with valuable financial data. You want to know what else is interesting about him? He is the 7th richest person in the United States and supposedly the 13th wealthiest person in the world with a net worth of $41 billion.  Michael received his MBA from Harvard School of Business
  • Michael Chasen - If you’re at university it’s more than likely that you’ve used the online education software, Blackboard. Blackboard's course management system called Blackboard Learn, is used by over 37,000 clients worldwide, translating to 12 million individual users. One of its co-founders, Michael Chasen studied for an MBA at Georgetown University in 1995. 
  • Shaquille O'Neal - Despite nearly 20 years of success in the NBA, the legendary Shaq O’ Neal also holds a number of educational accolades to his name. These include an MBA earned online at the University of Phoenix; perhaps contributing to his achievements as a real estate entrepreneur.  Estimated net worth $250 million.

9 Reasons Why Not to Get MBA

  1. Return on Investment is not substantial  
  2. MBA does not teach on how to run a Business 
  3. An MBA does not make an Individual to Increase their Earnings 
  4. MBA Holders are not taught how to handle People  
  5. The Value of an MBA is short lived 
  6. An MBA Makes an Individual Irrelevant for Higher Positions 
  7. You do not Need MBA for a Career Pivot  
  8. You do not need an MBA to Build a Solid Professional Network  
  9. MBA Holders are Discriminated Based on the Institution they learned  

3 Reasons MBA is a Horrible Decision 

  1. Earning an MBA is a Time Suck 
  2. An MBA Puts an Individual in Mandatory Debt  
  3. MBA Stagnates an Individual in one Field of Operation  ​

5 Alternatives for The Gig Economy

  1. Entrepreneurship
  2. Explore Via Freelancing  
  3. Learn to Write Code  
  4. Online Course Creation  
  5.  Blogging  ​
 COPYRIGHT MBA PHILOSOPHY 2023 | SITE DESIGNED and CONTENT, SANS BLOG BY  SYDNEY RAY DESIGN 
PRIVACY POLICY - USER AGREEMENT -  PRESS
  •