The MBA Bubble : Why Getting an MBA Degree Is a Bad Idea by Mariana Zanetti

Author:Mariana Zanetti
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2013-11-05T14:00:00+00:00

12

Recognize Your Professional Goals

First

Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.

Tactics without strategy is noise before defeat.

Sun Tzu

It is sad, but many MBA applicants pursue the degree for the wrong reasons. I did it for the wrong reasons, and I was not the only one.

When I say “wrong reasons,” I do not mean that the applicants are not necessarily going to meet their professional goals but that the MBA is not the ideal accelerator to reach them, nor is it the most profitable path. In the following chapters of this book, I am going to show you that there are almost always more effective and profitable ways of meeting your goals. The MBA may look like the fast track, but it is not.

Let’s be honest. What most people look for when getting an MBA is better jobs and higher salaries, although they do not specify how the MBA will help them reach those goals. A higher salary was not exactly what I was looking for, but it seemed to be an inherent benefit of getting the degree, and it was one of the major expectations of most of my classmates. Who doesn’t want to earn more money?

Some other people get an MBA mainly because of fear. They want to protect themselves from the degradation of the labor market. They have the illusion of being more employable with the degree. They hope that the nice piece of paper certifies that they belong to an elite club of people who have been trained in a few exceptional skills demanded by the market.

Others want, in a less precise way, to “improve their long-term career progression.” What exactly do they mean? Not all of them know. They feel that an MBA must be something good for their career. And nobody seems to say the opposite, after all.

Others want to project themselves into the international market and seek to become employed in a certain country. That was the case for me, and today it is the case for many applicants who go to study in the United States or in northern European countries looking for better economic opportunities.

Others, not many, have a real motivation for learning new abilities that could improve their careers. But most of them do not know what those abilities are or why the market might value them.

Others want to know extraordinary people who will forever provide access to the best professional opportunities.

Others want to change their day-to-day reality and be able to leave their boring and meaningless jobs. They want to find new horizons by changing industries or job functions. They want to escape, to return to college time, and to return with a stronger foothold in the professional world.

Many have unconscious goals that are implicit in their decision, but they are unable to articulate those goals. Some of them want to be more self-confident, and they think their professional value will be certified by a fancy degree. Some want to look important in the eyes of others or want their parents to feel proud of them or want recognition from their colleagues and bosses.

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