How the Bosses Rate Them

To the chief executive officers who watch young newcomers scrambling to get into the executive suite, the market value of an M.B.A. is a matter of sharp debate. Typical of the bears is Peter Storer, chairman of the Miami-based Storer Broadcasting Corp.: "The M.B.A. is just not meaningful in our business. The guy who has gone through that program obviously has considerable academic brains, but the fact that he might make a great banker does not mean that we are going to hire him." Considerably more bullish is John Fery, a Stanford M.B.A. who is now chairman of Boise Cascade: "I'm a strong supporter of the M.B.A. degree. The program provides an individual with the analytical tools of business, and it is a maturing process in itself."

Even Fery, though, is quick to qualify his enthusiasm. "M.B.A.s have not proved themselves in all areas, and especially not in the people area," he says. "Our company is willing to red-circle a young M.B.A. and give him an opportunity on the faster track because he has earned that. But that's only a fast track to success in middle management, not to the C.E.O.'s chair. By the time an M.B.A. reaches middle management, the M.B.A. tool kit is not as valuable. Talent rises, not M.B.A.s. And if that young M.B.A. is not successful early on, he then falls all the more precipitously, which is something people usually forget to mention."

Other C.E.O.s share Fery's mixed feelings. A sampling of their views:

Walter Wriston, chairman of New York's Citibank, who has no M.B.A.: "We look on the M.B.A. degree as a tough filter through which people pass. It's one that lets them hit the deck running. But after you've been around a few months, nobody asks you where you went to school. They ask: 'What can you do?' "

Samuel Armacost, a Stanford M.B.A. who took over last week as president of the Bank of America: "There's nothing magical about the M.B.A. It's just natural selection. If you hire the top 10% from the top three or four business schools, your expectations will generally be met in the course of time. Our M.B.A.s are always teaching us new ways of doing things, but performance is all. If an M.B.A.'s peers perceive him as someone who thinks he's different, they'll cut him off, and he won't do well. There's something very democratic about promotions."

William McGowan, a Harvard M.B.A. who is founder and chairman of MCI Communications Corp., the long-distance telephone company: "They have great ambition, great minds, love to do things, but they just don't have the competence, maturity or capability to do them. They don't understand what is doable, vs. what is idealistic. After they get some experience, a little of the school of hard knocks, then they understand the reality of the job."

Reginald H. Jones, a Wharton M.B.A. who just retired as chairman of General Electric: "I think the top business schools do a good job, though they could do better at teaching communication skills, providing greater exposure to the humanities and in lowering expectations of graduates. Finally, some M.B.A.s must realize that you don't come out ready to run a large corporation."

Peter Haas, a Harvard M.B.A. who will soon retire as president of Levi Strauss: "The M.B.A. is not a necessity, and for some people it is probably a waste of time. I've also seen some M.B.A.s flop because of their personal characteristics. Education doesn't do that kind of people any good. But if someone really aspires to the top, and he has talent, ambition and all the rest, then the M.B.A. is a tremendous tool."

James Bere, a Northwestern M.B.A. who is chairman of Borg-Warner: "We are slowing the pace in recruiting M.B.A.s. They can be too bottom-line oriented, looking inward rather than outward. M.B.A.s are often quite impatient, and they can be a bit condescending toward others. They forget it takes time and patience to learn customers and their needs."

William M. Agee, a Harvard M.B.A. and chairman of the Bendix Corp. who acquired unwanted celebrity after promoting Mary Cunningham (Harvard M.B.A. '79) to vice president for strategic planning within 15 months of hiring, but who still believes in the value of special training: "It's a mindset, an approach to problem solving every day. I wonder, though, whether the M.B.A. programs have overexpanded. What we really need now is technocrats, engineers. There was a time in the early '70s when many M.B.A.s thought they were above all that--the prima donna syndrome--but now they seem to be more serious, more willing to pay their dues. The dream is still there, but many more are prepared to get training as a production foreman. I hope the dream never dies."

Luther Hodges Jr., a Harvard M.B.A. who is the new chairman of the National Bank of Washington: "I tend to think we look for M.B.A.s, but to me it is not so much the business expertise as it is the additional education or maturing. We do not like to hire somebody just out of college. Age 21, that's too young. Graduate school, age 23 or 24, that's better. Graduate school after military service, age 25 or 26, that's even better. Graduate school plus the military and some work, that's better still. Not because of how much talent they bring, but they are settled down. They were knocked around a little bit."

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