Book Tamers| book reviews

“Don’t go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trace…” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

That is what entrepreneurs want most of the time, to leave a trace, to change something. And some of them succeed in ignoring obstacles, to accept getting injured by those left aside, to keep their vision and not to forget that, in fact, most of them are nothing more than dealers of hope, as Napoleon used to say.

They deliver hope, they help people to dream, and afterwards they just make their best in keeping their promises. By definitions, entrepreneurs create systems. On the other hand, managers are totally different. First of all, managers are recognized as specialists the moment they end their MBA, while entrepreneurs have a unique credit card: the amount of their achievements. Second of all, managers are leaders of an already existing system, but those systems were created by entrepreneurs.
It is not a management book

Manager, not MBAs is not a management book, but a deep analysis of the educational system that should form managers. Mintzberg harshly criticizes the system and through the whole book, he will systematically suppress this system, offering instead solutions and methods for transforming it into something decent. Why just decent?

It is because managers can’t be trained in classes. Mintzberg says these MBA classes are good (or they could be if they followed the structure he suggested) to improve managers, but these classes can’t transform a person who lacks the slightest experience into a guru.

And many of those who complete this kind of Master for Business Administration get started with a serious dose of unjustified arrogance. I recommend this book, with ironic warmth to these MBA students, totally unprepared for what is next. I met some of these people. They have the impression that taking some classes will transform them into managers which is totally wrong. Why?
Yes! Management is about people

It’s because management is not only about procedures, standards and rules. It is about people. And human relations, empathy and respect for your co-workers can’t be learnt from books and case studies. I find interesting the parallel between “being a manager” and “being an entrepreneur” and I could write, probably, tens of pages about it.

I will not do it now, but Mintzberg says something I agree with, I’m surprised with the clarity of the idea, especially because it comes from a person that can be considered more of a manager than an entrepreneur. He says that entrepreneurs tend to obsessively devote themselves to the companies where they work, to fields and people. This kind of commitment is necessary for creating something powerful.

In Manager, not MBAs, entrepreneurs are presented in antithesis with the MBA graduates that don’t attach themselves to the idea of a company that start from scratch. MBA graduates are those who dream to become multinational managers and are willing to give up that uncertainty thrill, the courageous madness for minor cares and, most probably, for a good night’s sleep.

I end now suggesting that you should skip the first part of this book, where Mintzberg takes us on a journey through management’s history, which can be pretty dull. Also, don’t forget that the whole book has the same structure of a MBA and even though there are little practical information about management, the utility of this kind of program is expressed very clearly.

Written by Andrei