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DQ News: What an MBA Won’t Teach About Starting a Business

There is much discussion about how beneficial an MBA education is for entrepreneurs starting a business. The debate is about whether the skills required for success as an entrepreneur can be taught and whether the current MBA curriculum allows its graduates to succeed in today’s business landscape. Entrepreneurs must decide whether to invest in a top Online MBA as a prerequisite for starting a business, or rather instead to invest that money directly into a new business.

According to the article, “Seven Essential Qualities of a Successful Entrepreneur” published in the Wall Street Journal, having a vision and being passionate about pursuing that vision are believed to be key requirements for entrepreneurial success. Given that most entrepreneurs accept this driving force as a critical component for entrepreneurs, the question germane to the MBA debate is whether you can teach a student how to think in an innovative manner and to come up with a new idea that they are willing to pursue with an intense and ongoing commitment. Considering the enormous commitment and sacrifice that most new companies require, if an entrepreneur does not make a business dream a top priority in the beginning, it will be very difficult to stick with it when the big challenges arrive.

Education Cannot Teach Passion or Innovation

Considering the large number of highly successful entrepreneurs without formal MBA training, a persuasive argument can be made that entrepreneurs do not need an MBA to succeed when they have a good idea and are willing to pursue it against all odds. Some of the better-known entrepreneurs who are recognized as high-profile contributors to society without an MBA include Bill Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft. Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple computer is another entrepreneur that must be recognized as one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs without an advanced education. These visionaries created technologies that have directly impacted the lives of most people in technology-savvy cultures. The problem with MBAs is that its curriculum teaches students what’s worked for businesses in the past; it doesn’t teach them what being innovative and determined are.

People Skills

While many innovative entrepreneurs in the technology industry have not suffered from a lack of people skills, in many other industries this lack could prove a block to success. We’ve all heard the saying that it is not what you know, but whom you know that makes you successful. If this is true for most entrepreneurs, then it is easy to understand why so many people who are well liked do so well in business.

Networking is promoted as a plausible way to find business partners and key employees. An entrepreneur must be able to depend on talent and commitment to make up for a lack of other resources to compete. This is where leadership and charisma play a key role in recruiting the talent necessary for success.

Conclusion

The debate will continue about whether an entrepreneur needs an MBA to succeed as an entrepreneur. Some questions that any new entrepreneur must consider is whether they can commit for the long-term, and whether they can withstand the pressure to compete under duress. Some of the considerations to think about are financial demands and a support system. Entrepreneurs’ challenges are often not limited to business competition, but also include family concerns. Having a spouse or partner who is also committed to an entrepreneur’s dream can make a substantial difference in whether an entrepreneur succeeds.

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