Originally Posted by
bocastephen
MBAs and 'dissertations' are all fine and good - but not the end-all or even the most accurate source of good strategic thinking.
If MBA and dissertations were always correct, we would never need to ask the customer anything, right? The product would always be perfect and the customer would always buy it.
Most businesses find it easier to predict and manage costs than to achieve revenue targets - IMO that's because they tend to be too introspective and are not honest enough with themselves about the value they bring to their customers.
As I've twice proved to a former boss, MBA and VC in the High Tech. business, if you want to make a quantum change in a business, blind faith and conviction are more valuable than ability with numbers.
I don't think this probably is limited to CO - the one that worries me most on a personal level is BA which was dragged into it's present shape largely by Colin Marshall, and is rapidly losing all it's differentiation under the management of Willie Walsh - the personality traits required to be a pilot & MBA are, once again, not those required to reinvent yourself during major change.