10 personality types who should not study for an MBA

The benefits of completing a high-quality MBA programme in terms of your career and personal development are well documented.

But just as one should ask questions of any institute offering these courses before submitting an application, there are also certain character types – the sort of person who would probably never dream of reading Education Post –who are best advised to think twice before clicking the “send” key.

If you believe, in the words of Jean-Paul Sartre, that “hell is other people”, then you’re going to miss out on one of the great bonuses of an MBA programme: the chance to network. Whether it’s with the high-powered figures from the world of business who’ll drop in to pass on their words of wisdom, or through the regular contact you’ll have with your ambitious fellow students, this a wonderful opportunity to build lasting professional relationships.

We’re talking here about the variety of individual who, in fact, welcomes contact with other people – though only as long as those other people are exactly the same as them. Their outlook is based on the premise that no one interesting, and no useful idea, has originated from anywhere but their home town. Post-grad business courses, however, are designed to broaden participants’ horizons, encourage them to think globally and equip them for an international career. Thinking outside the box doesn't refer to whatever comes into your head the moment you’ve left your compact Hong Kong apartment in the morning.

As in so many other endeavours, one of the keys to success on an MBA programme is humility. In other words, the recognition that you don’t know everything – well, at least not yet. Having an open-mind and being prepared to listen to not only your instructors but also your fellow students is going to go a long way to helping you achieve your goals. Saying “I don’t know” is not an admission of failure, it’s the first step in developing or enhancing a skill.

These characters are unwilling to even consider what is shown to be a perfectly workable solution to a problem unless it has been backed up by volumes of theory and years of research. MBA programmes are designed to teach you useable skills, not a set of rules and terminology to baffle your colleagues with – fun though this may be. When evaluating the worth of this type of course the one question you should ask yourself is: on graduation will I be better equipped to do my job and make progress in my career?