Careers & Alumni

MBA for Entrepreneurs

Forging the Path Forward: Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the MBA Classroom  

Some are skeptical about whether a true entrepreneurial spirit can be cultivated in an academic environment such as a business school, pointing to the success of entrepreneurs who do not hold MBAs, while ignoring the many successful entrepreneurs who do, such as Elon Musk, founder of Tesla; Phil Knight, founder of NIKE; and Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg. Further, it disregards the MBA graduates that are found amongst the executives and team members driving successful companies. For instance, while it is true that Apple founder Steve Jobs did not hold an MBA himself, the firm's success is owed in large part to MBA graduates including current CEO Tim Cook and former Senior Vice President of Retail Operations Ron Johnson, the innovator behind the Apple Store.

Entrepreneurship in MBA lecture auditoriums is already the norm at top overseas schools, where students who study business administration acquire the entrepreneurial mindset and the skillset necessary for innovation by engaging with the most creative and knowledgeable faculty and peers. Ideas borne from that creativity and knowledge are the building blocks for tomorrow's society, with which entrepreneurs animated by MBA consciousness will pave the way for the construction of an ecosystem powered by the process of value creation.