Bob Sutton writes an interesting article on MBAs. He notes that research has turned up that unless you get into a top ten school you reduce your lifetime income because you are out of the workforce for two years and only the top ten schools give a sufficient pay boost to cover it.

He also notes that the main advantage of an MBA is entering an elite social network, and again that comes from a top ten school and has no relationship to grades. For instance, an extreme example is the founders of yahoo who did not finish business school, but instead were able to use their new elite social network to start their very successful company.

Sutton asks why there isn't more focus on whether a management education helps serve the customer, client, employees, etc;

The discussion about the "value" of the MBA always seems to end -- no matter where it starts and no matter what nuances are discussed by Pfeffer and others -- with a focus on how much money it puts (or doesn't put) in the recipient's pocket.

Sutton compares this to Doctors and Lawyers, who put their clients interests ahead of their as part of their professional code; rather the managerial code is to make as money from their customers as their customer can bear before they run 'into the arms of a competitor'.

Capitalism is inflationary at its core, as companies are required to grow, make new products, expand their reach, etc. So the managerial doctrine of increasing revenue has its place. I suspect Suttons's argument is that there is more to management than just adding a new service charge to a bill to extract some more wealth from customers instead focusing on innovation, productivity and efficiency.

More Reading on Bob sutton

• Bob Sutton
• MBA
• Value of an MBA
• American MBAs and Lifetime Income