MBA clone and how to de-clone yourself

The article is actually borrowed from Dr. Dan Herman. As a MBA myself, I think this article is a warning to myself in applying the MBA arsenal to the real business practice. Business is complicate and dynamic, not every business model I learned in the classroom would repeat its power in solving daily management problems. In addition, as a MBA, I am more proned to shooting the MBA jargons to my colleagues, somehow it makes myself feel good but the response from the colleagues is either puzzled or distasteful. I would not go to the extreme to deny all the training I got from a MBA education, but I should not pitfall myself into the MBA clone and forget about the real needs of the business. Below is the articles from Dr.Dan Herman.

In our hyper-competitive markets, MBA clones pose an imminent and tangible threat to the competitiveness of the companies they work for. Many executives today attend the same MBA programs, study the same books, read the same newspapers and magazines, and go to the same conferences and workshops. Standardization in MBA programs results in a similarity in the professional approach and managerial thinking of their graduates. It also shapes the vocabulary and agenda of all the business media and training activities. Thus many executives today turn into "MBA clones."

What's wrong with MBA-graduate managers who apply the professional knowledge and skills they have learned? All those managers who are supposed to compete with one another and create that very differentiation which gives consumers a good reason to prefer one brand over another, end up using the same data; they conduct the same focus groups and draw conclusions from the same surveys using same methods; they analyze the same data with the same tools, and use same concepts and approaches in order to create products and brands. The result? Inevitably, most products, and even most brands, eventually evolve to appear as "same" to the consumer. These managers are not even playing me-too. Without consciously imitating each other, they achieve the same results, simply because they think and act the same way.

Not every MBA graduate necessarily becomes an MBA clone. But MBA graduates definitely constitute an at-high-risk population. What about you? Do you have the symptoms? Let me reassure you that being an MBA clone is not a condition beyond cure.

De-cloning is possible and rather painless. But first please take this short test to assess your situation. All you have to do is answer with candor, courage and integrity the following 10 questions with a "Yes" or a "No". I promise not to tell anyone if you won't…

Question 1:

Do you often use concepts such as "striving for a sustainable competitive advantage", "segmenting the market", "assuming a niche strategy", "fostering customer loyalty", "developing a corporate vision", "adopting brand values"?

Question 2:

Do you prefer courses of action that already worked for others?

Question 3:

Do you focus on blocking competitors from gaining an advantage more than on attempting to achieve one yourself?

Question 4:

Would you agree that both you and your competitors segment the market in a similar manner and then focus on the same attractive groups?

Question 5:

To gain a competitive advantage, do you strive to be better than your competitors in providing clients with benefits that are known to be important in your market?

Question 6:

Do you consider strategy to be an analytic process of research, analysis, setting objectives and planning?

Question 7:

Do you address mostly direct competitive threats, while disregarding other product categories in which future competition could emerge such as substitutes?

Question 8:

Do you try to think outside the box and consider out of the box thinking as an important capability for managers?

Question 9:

Do you think that customers generally know what they want and where their preferences lie, and consequently if you keep them satisfied (even delighted) they will remain loyal to you?

Question 10:

Do you believe that all brands are created for the long term and become stronger as they stand the test of time?

If you gave an affirmative answer to more than 5 of these questions, I am sorry to inform you that you are, at least to some extent, an MBA clone. I hope that it is of no consolation to you that many of your colleagues and competitors alike suffer the same condition. De-cloning yourself will not only set you free but also do wonders for your ability to thrive in competitive markets. You might even be able to take advantage of MBA clones' biases and achieve an "unfair advantage": the successful differentiation that your customers will be wild about - and your competitors will not imitate, ever!



Are you an MBA Clone? Was your business education more like "business programming"? If your answer is yes, you are probably not fully aware of the fact that you have been "produced", together with many other executives, to think and act in a similar predictable manner, as many MBA programs around the world gravitate towards standard no-diversity sets of default concepts and tools. As a result, many executives have been turning into what I call, MBA Clones, thus undermining the competitiveness of the companies they lead.

I challenge you to read my article titled: "Test Yourself: Are You an MBA Clone?". Take the short test and find out if you are an MBA Clone. If you've been diagnosed as one, I strongly suggest that you consider de-cloning, ASAP. De-cloning is possible, painless and very lucrative.

How can you de-clone yourself? The process entails realizing that typical MBA thinking is not an ultimate truth but just one way of interpreting business reality and operating in the marketplace. You will need to coach yourself in alternative concepts and tool up accordingly. Soon you will discover that your view has broadened and you managerial capabilities will have improved dramatically.

The following 10 tips are meant to be a first aid kit as well as a tasting from my alternative approach.

The long-term, it's dead, caput, bygones. Deal with it.

In our accelerated and hypercompetitive world, there are no more long term strategies from which you may never digress. Most of the rules of strategy, marketing and branding that you learned are no longer relevant. They were created for the long term, but the long term has expired. The way to succeed over the long term is to succeed in the short term, time after time. For example: you do not "own" a market share, it is only an indication of your current situation.


Feel the fear of strategy and strategize anyway

Research has shown unequivocally that the secret of companies who succeed is well differentiated strategy and uncompromising implementation. Yet, like most of your colleagues and competitors, chances are that strategy gives you the shivers. It's called "Strategephobia". Strategy has two terrifying characteristics. First strategy is a choice, which is terrifying because you will have to let go of all the "could-have-been"s first: "We are going to target customers X, and leave out the rest" or "The major benefit we will offer consumers is Z and leave out the rest." When you adopt a strategy, you have to "give up" stuff you don't actually have in order to formulate something tangible, something you can sink your teeth into. The second characteristic of strategy is differentiation from competitors, which is terrifying because most of the managers feel more comfortable being similar to their competitors; therefore they busy themselves on trying to block competition's attempts to create an advantage, rather than on striving to be different.


Goals are goals, strategy is strategy - do not confuse

MBA clones often refer to their goals (e.g. "achieve a large market share") as "strategy". The guiding principle is: What you want to achieve is your goal. What you are doing to reach that goal is your strategy. From my experience, it's best to be very clear about the distinction between them.


Your company does not need a vision

Establishing a company's vision is a very trendy process. But be aware that your vision is not remarkably similar to your competitors'. Personally, I don't think you need a vision at all, but if you must have one, you should place two qualifications on the process to make it effective. First, your vision must be differentiated, not only in your eyes but most especially in the eyes of your consumer. Second, your vision must offer consumers some important benefit that they can't get from the competitors. In other words, your vision has to be a differentiation-based competitive strategy.


A satisfied customer is not necessarily a loyal customers

Customer satisfaction does not assure customer loyalty. Customers will move on to new products when turned on by a new and exciting benefit. Therefore, we must move from satisfying, subservient marketing - that gives consumers what they want and expect - to what I call Electrifying Marketing: dazzling them with what they never thought they wanted - until you offered it to them.


Think of your strategy's success as an occurrence of consumer behaviors

The most essential insight to strategic business thinking is the fact that customer behavior is the reason for strategies' success or failure. Moreover, a deep understanding of consumer psychology is crucial to successful strategizing. I advise you, therefore, to think of your strategy's success in terms of the specific consumer behaviors that will bring it about.


Market segmentation is a waste of time. Move on to Contextual

The traditional market segmentation doesn't work with today's consumer, who refuses almost completely to abide by segments that create homogeneous groups according to demographic, socio-economic variables, or even according to lifestyle. An alternative approach is "Contextual Segmentation", i.e. segmenting according to contexts of purchasing or using/consuming, in which consumers can participate from time to time (e.g. the "We celebrate grandpa's birthday" segment of the restaurant business).


Remember "The Marketing Approach"? Forget it!

The "marketing approach", based on identification of unsatisfied needs and how to satisfy them, is no longer a key to success for two reasons: first, there are few unsatisfied needs left. Second, in a competitive market, it is undesirable that all marketers act in the same matter. The alternative "competitive approach", is based on creating new ways to satisfy needs that are already satisfied.


Raise your prices - sell more

No market is price driven and neither are most consumers. It's the marketers who are price-driven. In practically all categories most consumers never buy the cheapest brand. The same consumer who in relation with your product is "price-driven" has no trouble spending high prices for other products and services. In many formerly "price-driven markets", a competitor came along who one day stopped talking about price and began offering an added value, the kind that turns consumers on.


Do not expect "Branding" to build brands

Managers often believe that a good name, a logo, a professional "corporate identity" design and some positive brand values, will suffice for winning competitive advantages, and that any effort required in order to create real differentiation or to develop a valid competitive edge should be spared. Wrong! Your differentiation creates the anticipation of a unique benefit that your brand provides. This anticipation is your brand.