On the Benefits of a Business Education

photo credit: jacky_oh_yeah

In 1986, when Russell Ackoff, a pioneer of management education, retired as Professor at the Wharton Business School, he was asked what were the benefits of a business education. With savage irony he replied that there were three.

1. To equip students with a vocabulary that enabled them to talk with authority about subjects they did not understand.
2. To give students principles that would demonstrate their ability to withstand any amount of dis-confirming evidence.
3. To give students a ticket of admission to a job where they could learn something about management.