The book Managers Not MBAs: A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management Development came out in the U.S. in 2005; it was published in Japan under the sensational, tabloid-esque title MBAs Are Killing Companies! in 2006. The original title seems to send a clear message: businesses need managers, not MBAs. Reading it, however—not as an affiliate of a business school, but out of a sense of opposition—I found that unlike the apparent message of the (mistranslated? liberally-translated?) title, the book itself provides some valuable insights for management education.

One thing the book points out is that the three components required for business management are craft, art, and science. Managers Not MBAs asserts that MBA education tends to be overly biased toward the “science” element, which is detrimental to business management. In many ways, I agree with that statement. In fact, many applicants to MBA programs have fallen under the misconception that the value of an MBA lies in learning a lot of trendy science-based “frameworks” and applying them to business. However, frameworks produce only analysis—never new ideas.

Essentially, business schools must train managers who are armed with the leadership businesses want. It is difficult for an educational institution to connect directly to craft, a subject unique to hands-on work, but it is important to consider, at least, what a curriculum emphasizing art and science means for MBA education.