MBA'S – climb every mountain

A great deal has been written recently about MBAs, much of it negative.

To some, MBA graduates are seen as the arrogant, process driven terminators of the modern business age, sent like swarms of locusts by the big consulting firms to tell you how to run your business.

To others, they are the elite; the best people trained in the best schools to lead the world for future generations.

But whichever view you take, neither one explains why MBA schools are generally so poor at branding, advertising or creating a unique and differentiating image.

Turn to the The Economist's back pages and you’ll see what I mean. If adverts for MBA courses showcase what the best of the best can come up with when they're asked to be creative, we're all in trouble!

How do all those earnest, clean shaven MBA students find the time to study when most of their days are spent rock climbing. Who knows, maybe ‘rising to the challenge’ and ‘reaching for the top’ are important learning modules in the majority of courses?

Climbing, leaping and overcoming imaginary obstacles may be the hoariest of business clichés, but it hasn’t stopped most of the MBA schools from employing them with relish – strange given that the management school sector is so highly competitive.

And isn't it a little worrying that the business leaders of tomorrow (and their schools) have neglected to learn those central tenets of communication – intelligence, relevance, differentiation, and building positive reputation – in favour of tedious, me too, lowest common denominator consensus?