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Rupert Murdoch dropped out of school at the age of 15. What I got from this book is, HBS is an elite school for the elite. People at HBS have great instructors. Now about the book. Bill Gates never got a degree. Not nurses, microbiologists, or English majors.
I received my MBA a few years ago, in a school across the river from Harvard Business School. The author was overwhelmed by the curriculum, because he was a journalist, not an analytical type. If applicants couldn't do simple algebra, they should not have been admitted. The HBS degree opens doors closed to ordinary people with MBA's. There's a glut of MBA's. People who did best in business school were finance majors and project managers. We used the case method also, and I have to say, our program was more difficult than HBS. Why.
An MBA doesn't mean much if you're an idiot. It's expensive, and geared towards Wall Street and the old boy network. Ratio analysis is simple fractions. George W Bush received his MBA from Harvard. I found Organizational Behavior myself to be a challenging course, Operations Management fun.
(In all fairness, people who wrote the software for the derivatives models were not MBA's). If you need a HBS degree to get ahead, maybe you should look at yourself more closely. People at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have Harvard MBA's They were responsible for the financial meltdown recently. Some of our instructors spoke such poor English that they were almost unintelligible. When I interviewed for engineering jobs I was told about HBS hot shots who tried and failed to be productive.
Why HBS needed a math camp was a mystery to me. Reading about what the courses were like, and how teams sat around discussing financial ratios, and balance sheets was a bore. HBS wanted a diverse mix of students."Ahead of the Curve" could have been a course description in a catalog.
Averell Harriman's father, E.H., was president of the Union Pacific Railroad, not the ".U.S. Go to HBS and learn how to play financial hot potato. Nice anecdotes throughout the book which I enjoyed. Pacific Railroad." And one an editor should have got, "principle/agent" should of course be "principal/agent." Again proving what my disgruntled writer friend told me 40 years ago, "Those that can't do, teach, and those who can't do or teach, edit."Hope that Mr. I was hoping that all this effort was to make the American and world economies better with new ideas for tangible stuff instead of the financial product crap that we have now. Wouldn't have read the book except that my two engineer sons are thinking about MBAs.
I got the impression at first that this was going to be a negative book but it didn't turn out that way. Luckily we have a government that can print money and bail these creeps out.Saw one minor error which the fact checker should have got. I was always curious about what exactly they taught you at HBS and this book pretty much tells you that. So much for that. Broughton has found his post HBS niche and not one like Bob Dylan sang about: "20 years of schoolin' and they put you on the day shift."Good book And also how much the 2 years cost: $175,000.
I was disheartened to see how many grads went to Wall Street.
In addition, he explains various business concepts e.g. and also describes the interview processes of major companies such as Google and other consulting companies. This book give you an overview of the HBS curriculum. how do venture capitalists earn $ etc. It is definitely an interesting read. Of course, the experience of the author is subjective. Nevertheless, the author provides interesting details and gives the reader a good sense of life as an MBA student.
Harvard Business School---With the precision of the journalist that he is, Broughton dissects the ivory tower world of HBS. Personal introspection---Broughton does a nice job in describing his personal and family struggles with adjusting to life as an MBA student from his former post as a Paris-based journalist. Ahead of the Curve was a fascinating read. Just as important as the technical aspects, he emphasizes the effect an MBA education has on the student's thought processes and confidence. He shares authentically, graphically, and often humorously about his trials and tribulations. The book provides several platforms of enjoyable exploration. 261). 3).
2). Broughton chronicles his recent two-year trek through the Harvard MBA program. 277). 4). He explains the details of an MBA education, the case-study method of learning, and how these components help mold the student's business mind.
The MBA degree---Broughton does an excellent job in assessing the history and standing of the MBA degree itself regardless of which school produced the graduate. Broughton muses, "If you are ready to give up your soul or, failing that, a child, the devil will give you anything" (p. I highly recommend the book to anyone at all interested in the world of the MBA or the world of HBS. Although he doesn't come out and say that ethical business is an oxymoron, he does emphasize the constant threat of ethical compromise both personally and professionally. The reader gains many insights into the machinations of the school and its place in history. The proverbial ethical challenges---Broughton explores the persistent challenge of doing business ethically. 1).
Broughton summarizes, "The words master's in business administration captured so little of what I had learned" (p. These revelations alone are quite interesting. This is affirming to anyone going through transition. Politics, relationships, reputation, and perceptions are equally examined.
I liked remembering the B-school days and reviewing the classes they teach at Harvard Business School. It was an easy read, well written book. The writer, as an ex-journalist, makes the topic even more interesting.
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