Do CIOs Need an MBA?
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I've been covering CIOs since 1987, but I can't recall a survey that has produced quite so much surprising information about this much-studied group of executives as our latest CIO Role survey. Here's the first in a series of entries about results from the survey that startled me. |
One surprise from the CIO Role survey is how few CIOs have earned business degrees. Just 31 percent of the 281 CIOs we polled have earned an MBA.The percentage drops to only 19 percent among CIOs at firms between $5 and $99 million in revenues. And even among $1 billion plus companies, only 49 percent of CIOs have an MBA degree. The percentage who have earned a bachelor's degree in business is even smaller--just 16 percent. (Most CIOs instead earned degrees in science, math and engineering.)
I'm sure it's a relief to many IT professionals that an MBA isn't a prerequisite for getting to the top of their profession. And the MBA isn't necessarily the be all and end all for advancement in business. MBA programs have come under attack by no less a figure than leadership expert Warren Bennis. Plenty of successful business people and entrepreneurs have succeeded without them.
But business education--both at the bachelor's and master's level--does provide instruction in business fundamentals like accounting, and (especially at the MBA level) a chance to explore strategy, operations, decision making, finance and the different business functions. How many CIOs, I wonder, are held back--not just in their careers, but in their ability to contribute and communicate--because they haven't learned the lingua franca of business?
There's another reason to earn an MBA: money. Since large companies are more likely to hire CIOs with MBAs, getting one opens the door to the larger salaries these firms pay. CIOs with MBAs earn about $25,000 more than CIOs who don't have one. (Click here for other ways to increase CIO pay.)
Comments (1)
An MBA does provide the basic foundations that an executive can utilize when communicating with other C-level executives, however, it does not replace the need for experience in the work force. I would prefer to hire a CIO that can show multiple cases of saving a business millions of dollars than an unproven college grad.
Posted by Jon Unger | April 10, 2008 1:01 AM