Continuing Education and the MBA
By Lisa Daly
In today's changing economy, continuing education is more helpful than ever.
In particular, an MBA degree improves knowledge, provides perspective, and can broaden your experience and understanding of national and international business dynamics.
Who's Earning an MBA?
An increasing number of Fortune 700 CEOs are earning MBAs, according to the 2004 Spencer Stuart Route to the Top survey. In the past five years, Fortune 100 CEOs with MBAs have increased from 26 percent to 37 percent. More than one-third of the Fortune 700 groups' CEOs (36 percent) have MBAs. At least 50 percent of the CEOs in the chemicals, communications, and financial services industries have obtained their MBA.
The Implications
What does this mean for today's eager employee or manager, who wants to move up the ladder or build a start-up venture?
'Continued learning is crucial today in a way that it was not a generation ago,' said national workplace authority John Challenger, of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. 'In the past, you could afford to build know-how on the job and supplement your experience by going back for a class or some training. Now, even doctors are out of the loop at 40 if they don't keep their skills current, because accreditation is constantly being revamped.'
The MBA Difference
'An MBA is valuable, as is real-world analytical experience. Any degree should have practical applications - particularly useful is an MBA that emphasizes an understanding of ethics, decision-making, the global marketplace, and how a business is valued,' said Demetria Giannisis, president and chief executive officer of the Chicago Manufacturing Center (CMC) since 1997.
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'The MBA experience left me with much stronger oral presentation skills, a faster decision-making skill set, a better sense of the ethical implications of business decisions, and an enhanced understanding of finance.'
President and Chief Operating Officer, PRO Group, Inc., Steve Synnott |  |
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| A not-for-profit organization, CMC operates as part of a national network, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which develops and delivers enterprise-wide solutions for manufacturing and the related technology-based industry.
'The MBA degree has been a key part of my career growth,' said Steve Synnott, president and chief operating officer at Colorado-based PRO Group, Inc., an international marketing and purchasing consortium made up of independent hardware (think hammers and saws) distributors. As a buying group, its purchasing strength exceeds $3.4 billion annually.
Synnott obtained his MBA in 1992 from the Jack C. Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee.
'The MBA experience left me with much stronger oral presentation skills, a faster decision-making skill set, a better sense of the ethical implications of business decisions, and an enhanced understanding of finance,' he said.
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Laura Tolic
NSHMBA San Antonio Chapter President
'The business world is moving faster than ever, and a perpetual necessity to seek out academically viable candidates in order to affect the bottom line and generate higher dividends for an organization has become paramount. That means only well-educated and skilled employees will be in a position, due to their education and training, to help companies deliver that objective. Additionally, in the days of mergers and acquisitions, if all employees are performing equally, my bet is that an MBA could be the final determinant for retaining or promoting an employee.' | |
About the writer
Lisa Daly has been a successful communications consultant for more than five years. She studied in the MBA program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and holds an M.A. in English from DePaul University.
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