The Fairytale of the European MBA

I just found this in my daily log from September 2005 when I crossed the United States in a car:

While driving along the endless mountain range of the Apalachian Mountains from Tennessee to Kentucky I had time to reflect and try to make sense of the last few months. I had signed up for a 'European MBA' program, notably different and academically rigourous. Earlier today in South Carolina I had the chance to meet a top manager of a very large and very international company who told me how he had finished his MBA 15 years ago in South Africa. Even though we both came from different generations, different continents, and met on the other side of the globe he stated the same reasons for his MBA that I had two years ago: the standardization of business knowledge on a level that cannot be reached 'learning by doing'.

If we need to standardize our business education in a globalizing world, how European can an originally American business course actually be? Should I see a localization of an MBA program as a repositioning effort of the marketing department of the school, or as dangerous? Does it lead to compatibility problems when schools try to differentiate themselves too much? How do we function in the global challenges of the business world that we are supposed to be trained to master so well?

A 'European MBA' is appealing to those who want to make a difference. Who are we kidding? We all must learn to perform in the same world. The MBA is worth more than the next promotion in the local company around the corner. It teaches to see connections, get a new perspective on the world, grow out of the little hole in which I was comfortably hiding before.

I am wearing shoes made in Mexico, a jacket made in China (but bought in Pennsylvania), my laptop was made in Korea, and while I am burning Middle Eastern oil in a German car a Chinese friend sends me an SMS from Great Britain. A truely global life is not for a chosen few who get lucky. It is reality for those who make a choice. The MBA is an excellent way to get started. But it is wasted when localization and regional patriotism lower its importance to the level of national or European academic titles or awards. Instead of proudly being different we should proudly be similar and compatible, and join those in other parts of the world who have gone down that route before us.

"The 20th century is over, if you don't speak more than one language, and have at least two degrees, you will go nowhere today" was the advice that the global manager had given me earlier today. Leaving his office I had had a short conversation with his secretary. She was from Germany. It could not have been more obvious that we need international standards in order to communicate and work effectively across political and cultural borders. Inventing European MBA program is not a counter-balance to an American dominance. In a world in which the US remains the largest business driver and the richest nation it is simply counterproductive.

So what's next? Tomorrow I will be in Canada, meeting with students who do their PhD 5000 miles away at the Bristol Business School in England.