Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

10 Reasons Why You Should Get an MBA

An MBA education provides communication skills and training in pragmatic, analytical thinking, argues Thomas MacKay
Page:

Thomas MacKay, the assistant director of IT at Christopher Newport University, in Newport News, Virginia, asserts the authentic business boost an MBA gives to an IT management career. Below, his 10-point argument in favour of earning an MBAs:

1. It gives you credibility with your business peers.
Having an MBA demonstrates your commitment to the business because you've invested the substantial time and energy required to obtain the degree. It shows that you value the business perspective and recognize that the technology you implement, support and develop is intended to enable business activities and is not an end in itself. An MBA also indicates that you've mastered a certain level of knowledge in business management, which gives you the ability and confidence to speak on equal terms with executives outside of IT. Because IT touches nearly every part of the modern business enterprise and because IT managers are increasingly involved in business processes, the MBA adds credibility to your perspective when you're discussing technical solutions to business problems with your colleagues.

2. It teaches you to think like a business person.
As technologists, we're used to thinking in a linear and logical fashion: "If this, then that." This logical mindset is essential to writing good software, troubleshooting technical problems and managing projects. Business people, on the other hand, tend to think in terms of strategies and value, and human (customers and investors) reactions. The business perspective, by its nature, tends to rely more on estimation and trial and error. The ability to think like a business person is critical for technology managers, especially those of us who wish to position IT strategically within the company. We need to know how to plan, design and build an information architecture that is capable of supporting the business as it adapts to a changing marketplace. Without this business mindset, a CIO is at risk of creating an IT department that is too rigid, too slow or too restrictive to fully support the company's needs.

An MBA teaches you to look at problems and opportunities holistically. It also provides analytical frameworks, such as risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses and strategic plans, that you can apply to any problem or opportunity you encounter, whether in or beyond IT. The business mindset that an MBA gives you becomes habit because you use those frameworks repeatedly in a rigorous academic environment, and you see how they can be applied in a variety of situations from one course to another.

Page:

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: AMP, Cardinal Health, Emory University, FedEx, Google, Harvard Business School, Home Depot, Logical, Mattel, Medtronic, Microsoft, Newport, University of South

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Managing Trust - Data protection and compliance for financial services
    If it’s becoming something of a cliché that the financial services industry is one of the world’s most heavily regulated, that’s largely because it’s true. Data retention and archiving, authentication and authorisation, data loss prevention and privacy regulations compete with demands for transparency and accountability, while market imperatives calling for multiple service channels delivered over a broad spread of technologies add to the pressure. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Best Practices for Secure Enterprise Content Mobility
    To secure mobile devices while enabling employees to share data securely, organisations need a comprehensive and flexible solution for secure enterprise content mobility. A secure enterprise content mobility solution complements Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions and enables mobile workers to easily share data with other authorised users, while ensuring that data is always secure and IT operations are always compliant. Read this whitepaper to learn: How the popularity of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is creating new security challenges; Why MDM is useful, but not sufficient; How enterprise content mobility provides an essential layer of security and control for organisations with mobile users.
    Learn more »
  • Forrester Research | Your Enterprise Database Security Strategy 2010
    With increasingly sophisticated attacks and rising internal data theft, database security merits a stronger focus that goes beyond traditional authentication, authorization, and access control. Learn how to secure your database - Read this strategy guide.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments