The “anti-MBA” speech is sometimes picked up by books and magazines. I can partially sympathize with the criticism leveled at MBA education, which often comes in the form of a failed experience by an MBA holder along with an interesting article. Because while it is possible to learn management theories that make up known frameworks, such as 3C, 4P, 5F, Six Sigma, SWOT, and EVA, in business schools, these theories do not teach the “path” or “key” that leads the business to success. In other words, a framework is a tool, much like a pair of glasses, that provides a bird’s-eye view on the business, but collecting the whole set of these tools should not be the goal behind pursuing an MBA.

Go to a business corner of a bookstore and you will see an enormous lineup of frameworks (glasses) developed by business school teachers from all over the world. What this indicates is that, in the end, an all-purpose ultimate pair of glasses does not exist. If this is the case, I do not think that competing for the largest number of glasses – in other words, becoming a glasses collector – is the secret to a successful business.

Instead, when the value as a degree is removed from an MBA education, what added value remains? Any person involved with a business school needs to be interested in this intrinsic question. If you are not conscious enough of the fact that an MBA is a self-investment for the future or about how you want to grow with the acquisition of an MBA, you become a target of the anti-MBA speech.