Free MBA / Business Lessons

[Kaye]

Excellent, short, business video tutorials: goto clickok.org and click on the youtube link.

 

[Aillum]

Hi,

I've only had a quick look at a couple of the videos and I'd say they are an OK source for picking up some business chatter and terminology.

However, having recently studied for and graduated with an MBA from Strathclyde Business School, I'm confident in saying that the MBA isn't just about terminology, models etc. The one thing it does provide (that I certainly gained mostly from) is real discussion and debate, and therefor a real growth in self awareness. Learning from real life experiences, gaining knowledge from different industries, building your own confidence through challenging scenarios and so on. Not all possible to teach via video.

So, while I would have much preferred a much cheaper option compared to the one I took (and believe me, it wasn't cheap) and I could've learnt a lot from video, I don't believe there is any substitute for a lecture theatre taught MBA.

Still, like I said at the start, a good source for picking up on some terminology and business chatter.

 

[Edward]

I want to support Allium's comments on the issue. The whole MBA imprimatur has been, sadly, much degraded by all sorts of piggy-back’ gimmicks. We’ve had videos, 3-minute MBA guides and MBA for idiots etc., etc.

These gimmicks all miss out on one of the critical aspects of the MBA learning and personal development experience, which is the real-life relationships with other students. The fact that I mixed with, and learned from, a wide range of fellow students from different sectors, backgrounds, displines and nationalities was just about one of the most valuable parts of my own MBA journey.

Another thing that irritates me is that the gimmicks can be dangerous. They enable inept managers to ‘talk-the-talk’ without having any real understanding of what is behind it. Worse still it allows such managers to con others, and themselves, into believing that they do understand it all. I find that the public and third sectors are particularly populated by such pseudo MBA managers; the give-away is often how they use slightly-out-of-date-jargon, thinking that they are up to the minute on latest strategic management thinking (cue for public or third sector manager to talk about getting ‘added value’ through ‘synergy’ by ‘assimilating’ two different departments or projects – in the real world it more usually means merging two inefficient departments or projects into one bigger, and still inefficient, one)

But worse than all of this, is the damaging impression that it creates on other managers and even clients, who eventually clock onto how the perpetrator is talking rubbish – and then conclude that ‘all this MBA stuff’ is also, therefore, rubbish.

Let’s stick with authenticity – if you haven’t learned it and don’t understand it, then don’t try to copy it and claim it.