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Comment by autokad | Hacker News Reader

to say philosophy majors are better managers than mbas already shows that the person doesnt know what an mba is.

mbas can go any number of directions, and while one clearly does not need an mba to be a good manager, most (actually all) mbas I know that did go into management are much better at it than the philosophy majors I know.

Edit: I also wanted to say that the management classes I did take were super interesting. Management 101 is more like a psychology class than I would have expected. Also, I'm pretty sure the author got an MBA between 2008 and 2010

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After taking management courses at a local community college, I was underwhelmed by the management courses at my state university's Top 15 Management College.

The community college had courses on interpersonal management techniques, and the purpose of a manager in a company. (Hint: It's to find and remove a worker's blockers, not to brow-beat lazy workers.) Though designed for front-line supervisors and other low-middle management, it was some of the best management education I've ever received. I was stunned not to find any similar courses at the higher level.

I am a consultant, usually not in management, and management is about actually participating and propping up, rationalizing, and preventing the firm from dying confronted with management dictats such as:

> Our firm wasn’t about bureaucratic control and robotic efficiency in the pursuit of profit. It was about love.

As opposed to bursting out in laughter.

I'll admit: I failed on this one.

What I found works best is that you assume that successful managers are just lucky. Treat them like an addicted gambler and you will be successful. More of what they think made them successful, never pointing out the odds and the fact that you'd expect people to succeed on occasion with pure randomness.

Treat them like they know best and never pin them down demanding a response from them, because they don't have an answer, just "work" to create an answer. Yes technical people who bubble up are an exception to this for the first few years of being manager but it doesn't last.

Believe me it gets worse when you teach on management subjects ... Judging by your comment I might have flagged you as a "good" student.

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