What's a Harvard MBA Worth in an Economic Downturn?

According to this millionaire hedge fund guru, not much.

"The low-hanging fruit, ie idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking," he wrote. "These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government," he said.

"All of this behaviour supporting the aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America."

There are a couple ways we could react to this less-than-fond farewell.

Rage. We could mistake his profiting from the collapse of the subprime mortgages as his having caused it, which is not the case. There are at least 5 parties to the mess.

1. The government that encouraged the practice
2. The borrower
3. The lender
4. The seller
5. The buyer

We could also resent how glib he's being, but that's not very productive either. We'll just work up our blood pressure and we'll be no closer to recovery.

Pity. I know. He's a mega millionaire, and I make it a habit to avoid feeling pity for mega millionaires. But think about it. This guy's only 37, but this lifestyle has left his health in shambles. The article doesn't say if he has or had a family, but if he does or did, you can bet the bank that they suffered.

Ambivalence. This is my preferred reaction (only his highly egocentric "farewell, world" letter caught my attention). So he made a bunch of money. Big deal. Good for him, too, for whatever it can buy him (apparently he's partial to pot).

I hope he finds the peace he obviously needs. His response to the stress in his life was more extreme than most of us can afford, but there's a grain of truth to his advice to businesspeople so tied to their jobs that they can't take a 2-week vacation without being glued to their Blackberries.

""Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life." - Cam Beck

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Ambivalence melded with your final quote works for me.

[Stephen Denny]

Never grasped how you learned accounting by the case method, but hey, I'm biased. What's the value of a Harvard MBA in an economic meltdown? Pretty much the same as any other time, really. MBA's (often correctly attributed as having one's "Masters of Blind Ambition") is a two-year crash course in the business of business, taught by and to the best and the brightest. But it ain't the Witness Protection Program (the "WPP" degree so many have sought), so being perpetually happy and wealthy aren't entitlements that go along with it like so many cufflinks.

As the weaving industry left New England, so the Investment Banking industry is going through some dramatic changes in NY. And you make an important point above, as well: the blame isn't centralized in one spot. The borrowers are the ones who ultimately caused this problem, with regulation and oversight being secondary symptoms. If you thought you could "flip this house" perpetually, you were wrong. Sometimes you lose money on investments.

If our protagonist left his post with millions in hand -- and is what? 37? Bastard. -- then let's assume he'll manage to get through the rest of life in a manner of his own choosing. No need for pity or anger. Ambivalence works for me, too.

[BizBlogged1]

Economy downturn is hitting almost every areas. How come an MBA student can escape from it? Quote is appropriate here..

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