The MBA, once seen as a golden ticket to success, may no longer carry the weight it once did.
At least that’s the view of Seema Raghunath, a CHRO, who wrote on LinkedIn: "MBA is history."
In her post, Raghunath questions whether MBAs still add real value in today's workplaces, arguing that many graduates are unremarkable and lack the critical thinking required to stand out.
She reminds readers that the MBA dates back to 1908 as a "Master of Administration", created to prepare people for general management roles when industries needed desk managers, not leaders.
“Harvard came up with an idea to qualify those with no real qualities — who can do general management of anything,” she writes. Over time, she says, what began as a basic course turned into an expensive product — “boring khichdi” rebranded as Chicken Biryani, Mughlai, Dalcha, and Dindigul — often costing "a kidney or a lung."
But despite the rising costs, Raghunath argues that without an IQ of 125+ or creative genius, the MBA is “toilet paper.”
She’s particularly critical of MBAs in HR. “If an MBA could not inject common sense and natural intellect during the world’s worst time — pandemic — it has failed.”
Looking ahead, Raghunath believes companies are shifting their focus. Instead of collecting degrees, they’re now searching for "true blue intellectuals" — people from humanities, philosophy, psychology, history, sociology, and politics.
“Intelligence is independent of stamps. Welcome to the new world,” she concludes — a world where credentials alone no longer impress.