Schumpeter writes recently in The Economist (http://www.economist.com/node/18802722) that the world of business schools is indeed huge.  Huge in size–13,000 programs worldwide and counting…big in power–graduates line up for “master of the universe” tittles, and very big in rich, fast, jet-set values.  He asks if the many cosmopolitan polyglots are spun into a hall of mirrors where it is a false reality in terms of the actual global world.  Wall Street can develop tunnel-vision…narrow streets, tall buildings, monetary vertigo, you know?

The globalization has been rather sudden.  I estimate the number of business schools has actually doubled in the last 12 years.  It cannot sustain that pace for long.  The world market is not big enough for that.  There would be a bubble or an overbuilt global supply and it would lead to a blemish on the shining star rising of the MBA credential.  Nobody can afford that!

Partner and sister school relations across borders is still exploding and is very exciting, but may be elite oriented and may be trying to tap a small segment of the total market….those who can actually afford to and want to leave ho,me and travel to another land for study abroad.  Europe and Asia are leading in this category, and the US is following far behind.  So very few US students still travel out there and study.
Schumpeter does not deal that much with another of the big rocket-propelled grenades of this higher education global business-ed picture.  That is the huge mass market distant learning schools and programs which actually cross borders electronically and sort of inhibit travel-oriented students from the temptation to get up and actually travel abroad for study.  It is so easy to be an armchair student.  But masses are doing it and getting “global exposure” from home, literally within their house.

Our school is one of 13,000 on the planet.  CIBU is defining its uniqueness daily.  But, for any of you who is wondering if we are bold enough, here is a snapshot of CIBU’s brave stake in this game.

You are in a class in an MBA program at CIBU.  Your student team has:  One Canadian, one from Holland, one from France, one from China, one from Vietnam, and one from Korea.  They all have the necessary background degrees, test scores and minimum English to be qualified to be there.  BUT, English skill varies across the students and in the order of the above listed team members it goes from very fluent to just intermediate.

Now introduce the team’s project:  it is a real live case.  The company under study is a Korean company in California.  The team must make a research project, and a presentation to the Korean executives.  A Powerpoint slide show is going to be key.

The team members are restless.  A few of the very fluent in English ones are very uncomfortable with the few who are not.  This leads to feelings of which ones are most important and which ones are not.

Now, enter how CIBU is different:  at CIBU under these conditions described above, the presentation and powerpoint to Korean executives live in person, must be in both English and Korean!  That is CIBU policy.  No exceptions.  No English-only superiority or forced linguistic-cultural superiority will be allowed.  The client wants it and deserves it in both languages.  That is real world.  The same is true at McCann-Erickson Worldwide, Citicorp, Siemens, Toyota or Hyundai in any professional global environment.  English is the platform and the universal gateway agent language, but the client culture and language is totally honored and respected and used.

Now, who is the very most important member of this student team?  Who may be less dominant, but deeply knows the cultural manner of communicating the message with ultimate best emphasis, tone, rhythm, and drama?  It is the Korean student, of course.

In many, many, many business schools, this is totally overlooked and not practised.  At CIBU, it is everyday policy.  CIBU is not only global, it is like an international airport.  English is the base, but we are multilingual.  Striving for multicultural homogeneity through an English-only classroom is a contrived and false reality and leads to students being overlooked and neglected by all.  CIBU breaks this mold with bravery and boldness.

I figure I sit at least 100 hours each year for 20 years or more in rooms and meetings where I hear other languages and I do not follow or understand.  We always come to English.  But I always show respect.  It is never time wasted.  It is time invested and respected.  That lesson starts at CIBU, not on the first job assignment.

We are defining our true uniqueness everyday and every minute, and every student is equally a miracle.

To read more from Dr. Mcmanus visit blog http://myblueflash.blogspot.com/

Welcome to MBA euphoria, sweeping the globe.  We knew this way ahead of the education industry and the pundits.  It is partly why CIBU exists….to help potential leaders and creative entrepreneurs get the educational and motivational platform to launch their lives into the global economy.

Schumpeter lays out the new paradigm of business school elites, for better and for worse, growing on all fronts Click here for the article.

This is a great discussion.  Let us know what you think…Jump into this pool and share your opinion and experience…Did the experience of the MBA help you get launched?  Was it worth the effort?  Did the experience do anything for you beyond what Schumpeter describes?

Last year, I wrote a book for the young company presidents of the future… Our business students of today.  In this book, I discussed how business schools, particularly East Coast US big name schools became hatching grounds for the most elegant hybrid and nefarious financial models….ideas and values and techniques which led up to and fed the Wall Street crises of the last several years.  Yes, that is it, the last several years…it was not just one year, and it is not over by a long shot.

Just this evening, May 10, 2011, on CBS News, the lead financial story focused on Mr. Perlman, an infamous hedge fund trader who is reported to have personally made out in the billions, not millions or hundreds of millions but billions on the Wall Street crash of Main Street.  The game goes on.  The names unfurl.  The tales balloon, even as most of us thought and hoped it was over.  No, the gaming goes on, and where is the SEC?  Has “insider trading” become the acceptable norm?

I remember when JFK was President.  Executives were hauled in from famous companies for “price fixing”.  Maybe it was the last big bust of business that we will ever see. It was on black and white TV.  There they were in shame.  Executives…for price fixing.  We have come a long way into the elixir of high level education and sophisticated business….the only lines of executives we see on TV is at the NFL box or at the teller’s window of investment banking.

An Ivy League institution made history today in announcing the largest ever gift to medical schools in US history.  $225 Million.  Very nice.  Congratulations to that family and to that medical school.  Seems small to be the largest gift in US history.  Compared to billions.

Apples and oranges?  All from the same orchard.  It is the fruit of this nation.  It is what we permit to be eaten and shared.  Large gifts….large thefts….we permit and seem to celebrate it all.

Thefts and gifts.  Maybe everything is connected, or is it?  One thing is for sure.  The picking of fruit is long underway and not all of it is fresh or delivered to market.  When a gift of this size is announced as the largest gift in US history to medical schools, and CBS news announces the same day that an individual hedge fund manager made billions, is there something wrong with this picture?

Business schools.  What are we saying about this?  I am, for one, not praising or adoring that hedge fund manager.  I am happy about that medical school and its relatively small gift in the scheme of things.  US history?  I suppose we are all taking that course….ongoing.

JFK….what would you have to say about this all today?  Thanks for what you tried to say.  I heard it then.  I hear it now.  I am not alone.

So what does this mean?   It is the by line of my book, the purpose of our lives in business, and in life in general…

We are supposed to not neglect, at least, as we go through life, and hopefully, at our best….push the envelope for what is our pursuit of happiness….we have only one life we can touch here right now…..

What that means… our purpose, our destiny…what we are supposed to do…if you ask me, it is to do something back….back to this planet….a company, an institute, a business, art, a family, a child, a tree….love back….
Because, you were given here by love…the love of your mother and father and the love of the Creator of the universe….you are unique gift to this world…we all are….

Who…means a lot of things…what company to associate with….what friends you have….who you would give your life for….who you love in the many….and who you love in the deepest, most secret places of your heart and that may be a few blessed people alive or heroes…fallen and gone, but with us every step…

Where…that can be anywhere or someplace on the global horizon….now or future….we do not know…we are right here now….

How….this is how you want to live….open, sharing, daring…however…it is everybody’s evolving lesson of life at that moment…how much risk…how much to hold back or to let free…

We are all so uniquely different just like snowflakes are universally unique…we just need to be conscious as we can be…our human best…for others and not least for our own soul and heart….it is, after all, where we live most of our lives…we can not neglect our own self, our heart, our soul…where will we be, when we are all old….we want to be surrounded by loving young….to keep our souls moving forward…we want to be giving to others….so we can have happy hearts…we want to be loving all our lives, so we enjoy the great big spaces of the universe….to create…to choose to create….after all, that is what we have been taught by our own mentors and family…remember?

We cannot completely choose our destiny, just as we could not choose how we got here.  But we can put our conscious belief in our choices….constantly looking to the side each way…because that is where it will come from…..guaranteed…not what is in front, but the sides….

The Best of What, Where, Who, and How….is everyday choices….and everyday looking for the surprises that are true gifts….we can never completely control or plan, just the best we know….remember?

This Holiday Season, it’s time to stop and take stock, make some new plans, and remember….who we are living for, how we got here and what we can do with our time….

Have a Happy Season, and stay warm…all the way!