Fast Company, July 2014 – My business partner Jamin is a seasoned and wildly successful entrepreneur and CEO, which is why it surprised me when he recently returned to school to earn his MBA.
The thought of going back to school at the age of 42 inspires something in me that can only be described as nausea. Between the three partners at my firm, the most schooling any of us has had is a bachelor’s degree, and yet in the past seven years we’ve transformed our business to become the fastest growing technology firm in the market research industry today. Personally, I’ve started and sold two successful firms with no advanced degree under my belt and nary even a formal course in business finance.
Yet throughout my career, I’ve seen colleagues and coworkers cut out at some critical points in search of the MBA that they’re sure is going to be the impetus for their “next big thing.” But in doing so are they missing out on the “big thing” they could have accomplished by focusing more of their time and energy on their business instead of in the classroom?