A few years ago, Seth Godin, who (barely) received a Stanford MBA, wrote that “there are only three reasons to apply to business school,” and his proposed New Order Business School (NoBS) would “focus on excelling at all three”:
- First, business school provides a tremendous screen for future employers.
- The second reason that people go to school is to build a network.
- The third (and least important) reason to go to business school is actually to learn something. And this is where traditional business schools really fail.
So what would his NoBS teach?
- Finding, hiring, and managing supergreat people
- Embracing change and moving quickly
- Understanding and excelling at business development and at making deals with other companies
- Prioritizing tasks in a job that changes every day
- Selling — to people, to companies, and to markets