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[-] stoly@lemmy.world 25 points 4 weeks ago

All this article is showing is that a large number of CEOs are swayed by hype and make poor decisions. What other poor decisions are they making all the time?

I am thoroughly convinced that the MBA is the most useless degree ever because when you look at how large businesses run so poorly, and are run by MBAs.

[-] thesohoriots@lemmy.world 7 points 4 weeks ago

As I’ve always said, defund MBAs

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 5 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

Look I want kids to grow up and be able to pursue any passion they want, but we have to ask serious real world questions here about Austerity and I am starting to think we should entirely cut MBA programs and in general business education.

I know that sounds extreme, but we have to focus on training kids on skills that will actually be productive, useful and lead to new breakthroughs. We clearly need to fund the hard stuff like art, music and theater or we are going to collapse as a society and continue to fall behind more competitive nations because we got distracted by fluff and empty ideologies masquerading as knowledge, MBAs being exhibit A.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

defund it in the universities and turn that resource to STEM which always anemic, unaccrediate them.

[-] bagsy@lemmy.world 6 points 4 weeks ago

In Japan, engineeing companies are run by the engineers which I think is the better way.

Ill never understand why American companies insist on being led by business majors who know nothing and dont care about the product being built.

[-] oce@jlai.lu 2 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Are they? Rakuten is led by a business guru and the products are subpar unless they bought them. Also Japan has a huge deficit of native (software) engineers, so most of the engineers at this kind of companies are Chinese and Indian. Which companies are you thinking about?

[-] Opisek@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 weeks ago
[-] Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 weeks ago

except for now where that line isn't doing shit but getting shoved far up their greedy asses

[-] angstylittlecatboy@reddthat.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

A lot of it isn't an "insistence" per se as much as it's company founders who did have some kind of connection with the product the company makes dying or retiring and getting replaced with people who don't.

Ironically, the MBA was originally created as a way for people with degrees in more "boots on the ground" positions to learn about business so they could more easily move into management positions. What it's morphed into is unfortunate.

[-] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

Making money by shuffling money around.

[-] Rooster326@programming.dev 2 points 4 weeks ago

AI is the new "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM".

You're either following the crowd or getting replaced by someone who will. Its insane

[-] morto@piefed.social 2 points 4 weeks ago

Meanwhile, small family-owned businesses struggle so hard financially, but make miracles to stay afloat for decades, taking the most viable long-term decisions, despite the lack of options and resource. And these people often have no formal education in the area, just the survival instinct and the pressure of a family to feed.

[-] Greddan@feddit.org 1 points 4 weeks ago

Every CEO I've ever worked for except one, has been a moron. And the scary thing is that these morons, have also been criminals. They of course didn't view themselves as criminals, because what they did was "smart", not crime.

[-] curiousaur@reddthat.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

You are correct. The issue is one of projection. CEOs and MBAs think AI is amazing and can replace everyone because it can replace them. They are the ones replaceable. So they think AI is so amazing and they should use it to replace everyone else.

Folks doing actual work with meaningful output absolutely can and should use AI as a force multipyer where applicable, but they know they're meaningful work can't be fully replaced.

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago)

What other poor decisions are they making all the time?

See also: investment in Theranos.

These people are so easy to fucking scam with buzzwords and the right "look."

[-] Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 weeks ago

What other poor decisions are they making all the time?

Not resigning.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 4 weeks ago

they run it like a PE firm.

[-] afk_strats@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

Broken systems elevate psychopath leaders into positions of wealth and power, and people who want those things exploit the fastest path there by getting degrees who put you on that track.

By this MBA logic, do we close CompSci for the the poor code coming out of Microsoft, close Law Schools because social rights are being lost, engineering schoolings because infrastructure doesn't meet current needs?

My point is to blame the CEOs and their shitty behaviour, not the schools that, to my knowledge, try to educate reasonable policy, law, ethics, HR, etc.

Disclaimer: not an MBA

[-] ruekk@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

What school encourages ethical business practices? Most schools have a 1 credit hour class on business ethics, but really teach you legalism and how to avoid breaking the law. Nowhere are they teaching actual ethics in business

[-] afk_strats@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

Here are some of the schools I know set the pace for Business education in the US. Feels like social responsibility is more than an afterthought.

Again, not defeding, "the MBAs" running companies. I'm defending the schools

https://www.hbs.edu/mba/academic-experience/curriculum

https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/programs/mba/why-stanford-mba

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/values/our-values

[-] orclev@lemmy.world 0 points 4 weeks ago

The point is we don't need more MBAs, we need people educated in useful skills. Should every MBA program be closed? No probably not, but we definitely have way more than we need. Cutting funding for things like MBA scholarships and closing down the majority of those programs will go a long way towards moving the majority of potential future MBA students into useful programs. We need less managers and more engineers, fewer CEOs and more chemists, hell fewer analysts and more plumbers.

There are many problems with modern capitalism and even if we never handed out another MBA degree again that would not even remotely solve everything, but the MBAs are making the problem worse. It's a minor thing but it's an easy thing to do and it would make a difference small as it is.

[-] afk_strats@lemmy.world 0 points 4 weeks ago

I think organizing labor is a useful skill. I just think doing it to the sole benefit of "shareholder value" is what's killing us. Is that liberal of me? I can't imagine a society where work isn't done by people and work needs some form of organization.

[-] orclev@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

Sure it's a useful skill but not one in significant demand. We have an absolute glut of MBAs and a desperate need for anything but an MBA so why are we paying people to get more MBAs?

[-] DandomRude@lemmy.world 0 points 4 weeks ago

The purpose of business school MBAs is nothing more than networking. These degrees cost a fortune, and that's exactly the point: to bring opportunists together. I'm almost sure it's next to impossible to fail this degree, because it's not about knowledge at all, but merely about gaining entry into senior management.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 weeks ago

Sort of, there are actually smart people who go there too. The kids with connections to the jobs pull smart kids with them and then use them as workhorses and basically claim all the glory from their work. Then you might get poached by someone willing to pay more who is less abusive.

this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2026
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