At LessConf Nick Pettit was told by the panel that as an entreprenuer he shouldn’t get an MBA. I don’t fully agree. Getting an MBA is good, just wait until later.
Full Transcript
Hey, everybody. Robert Dempsey here, CEO and founder of Atlantic Dominion Solutions.
And there was something that I’ve been thinking about this week that I wanted to address, and that was something that happened at LessConf, which was a fantastic conference, but something that happened at that conference this weekend.
Now, a friend of mine, Nick Pettit, of Done 21, had gotten up and asked the panel, at the very end, that consisted of all of the speakers there that day, and said that he was finishing up school and he was considering getting an MBA. And he’s also trying to do his own thing and he has a full-time job right now as well, so should he pursue an MBA.
And everyone on the panel quickly said, “No.” And the reasons that they gave for that, basically, really revolved around the fact that they thought it might kind of stymie his efforts as an entrepreneur if he has an MBA.
And now, I’m an entrepreneur. I consider myself an entrepreneur. I started my own business. And I also have an MBA. Now the reasons for me getting an MBA might be different than, say, Nick getting an MBA where I wanted to see how the big boys did it and see what I was, not really up against per se, but what I was working with, because we have a lot of large customers including folks at Chrysler.
But, I think to dismiss getting an MBA right away is not necessarily the best thing to do. Now, I don’t think that you need an MBA to start a business and probably you don’t want to get an MBA right out of school. I was lucky with my MBA program to be in a program where I was working with folks that already had experience. And I think the thing is is that if you get an MBA right out of college, and you don’t go and get that real world experience, you’re going to miss a lot of things.
An MBA is targeted for people that want, that are executives of large publicly traded companies that are producing something. At least that’s the impression I got with my MBA.  And if you’re an entrepreneur, then yes, that can definitely stymie you, if you’re always worried about doing everything in an exact kind of way and in that “Big Picture” way, not necessarily running a very lean and mean operation.
So, don’t discount getting an MBA if you’re an entrepreneur. Just wait until later.
And that’s all I’ve got for this time. I look forward to your comments about how you feel about getting an MBA and being an entrepreneur and until next time, peace!
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