I look at the current crisis, and I think of all these heads of Quants departments who knew nothing about math, moddeling, etc, who are not taking any blame at all.Seems that if the Manhatan Project were runned today, Oppenheimmer would never had a chance to command it. Nor would Turing in Bletchley Park. Human Resources would have an imperative vote and put some MBA to run these achievements.Don´t you think this dicotomy of "technical vs human skills" so commonly preached nowadays had already bad consequences enough ?

If there is a lack of transparency in anything, in this case business dealings, then "human skills" are required to ease any "friction" in the dealings. If there is complete 100% transparency, and this is almost never the case, then "human skills" might be unnecessary.

Q. In a room of 10 people how do you know which one has an MBAA. He will tell you.

QuoteOriginally posted by: rmaxQ. In a room of 10 people how do you know which one has an MBAA. He will tell you.I thought the answer was:A. Ask each one a question. Anyone who starts answering before you've finished the question is an MBA.

QuoteOriginally posted by: HOOKI look at the current crisis, and I think of all these heads of Quants departments who knew nothing about math, moddeling, etc, who are not taking any blame at all.Seems that if the Manhatan Project were runned today, Oppenheimmer would never had a chance to command it. Nor would Turing in Bletchley Park. Human Resources would have an imperative vote and put some MBA to run these achievements.Don´t you think this dicotomy of "technical vs human skills" so commonly preached nowadays had already bad consequences enough ?I am with you. A mere MBA doesn't cut it with me. I think there are many who should not be in their positions.Many MBAs I have met are pitifully qualified to run a business.With a mere MBA degree, you have never had to tackle a discipline, learn it well, and then DO SOMETHING WITH IT. That's what I like to see.I think a lot of these programs can result in people who "Know everything about nothing, and nothing about everything."

QuoteOriginally posted by: HOOKI look at the current crisis, and I think of all these heads of Quants departments who knew nothing about math, moddeling, etc, who are not taking any blame at all.Yes, but, don't forget, they also just didn't have any common sense. Any bum on the street could see that there was too much money being made available for houses. People who had no stable income, and no prospects were buying large houses.

I think Karl Marx had been correct all along, crises are inevitable in a capitalist society. Coincidentally, most MBAs don't like Marx ... I wonder why.

QuoteOriginally posted by: HOOKI look at the current crisis, and I think of all these heads of Quants departments who knew nothing about math, moddeling, etc, who are not taking any blame at all.Seems that if the Manhatan Project were runned today, Oppenheimmer would never had a chance to command it. Nor would Turing in Bletchley Park. Human Resources would have an imperative vote and put some MBA to run these achievements.Don´t you think this dicotomy of "technical vs human skills" so commonly preached nowadays had already bad consequences enough ?Oppenheimmer did not run the manhattan project. He was head of scientific research. And he was picked as much for his social skills and ability to lead as for his scientific knowledge.

Instead of blaming MBAs, you should blame the system in American capitalism in general, and American banking system in particular. MBAs did not create this system, they are only functionaries in the system.In fact, this credit crisis originated in the US, and spread all around the world. You could also argue that MBAs are an Amerian product, not a French or German product.

QuoteOriginally posted by: gardener3QuoteOriginally posted by: HOOKI look at the current crisis, and I think of all these heads of Quants departments who knew nothing about math, moddeling, etc, who are not taking any blame at all.Seems that if the Manhatan Project were runned today, Oppenheimmer would never had a chance to command it. Nor would Turing in Bletchley Park. Human Resources would have an imperative vote and put some MBA to run these achievements.Don´t you think this dicotomy of "technical vs human skills" so commonly preached nowadays had already bad consequences enough ?Oppenheimmer did not run the manhattan project. He was head of scientific research. And he was picked as much for his social skills and ability to lead as for his scientific knowledge.Granted, but he was not just a leader/motivator. My point is that this dicotomy is a fallacy ! One thing does not exlude the other. People nowadays seem to think it´s all right to put guys with no technicall background to be heads of research departments, just because they have some MBA or whatsoever.

Actually I agree with author here. Applied scientists should run the business (I think it was actually suggested by Plato). And MBAs should run human resources departments.

I agree with the original post, which gets back to my point that we need "mathematocracy" now! Would the Apollo rockets even have gotten off the launch pad today, or would there have been endless political debates about the need for "diversity" in space? Does anyone think the Chinese are having these kinds of debates? Sadly, America and the West seem to no longer have the "right stuff", the blame for which I lay squarely at the feet of the non-quant deconstructionists. We live in an age of decadence and decline, and the only solution may be quant rule and techno-fascism. Kick the MBA's, lawyers and assorted bullshit artists to the curb and take over! Geeks of the world unite! Mathematocracy now!See my previous thread on this topic: http://wilmott.com/messageview.cfm?cati ... adid=66809

Are you blaming MBAs like Jamie Dimon (CEO of JPMorgan and Harvard MBA), Stan O'Neal (formerly of Merrill and Harvard MBA), John Thain (currently of Merrill and MIT MBA), and Hank Paulson (formerly of Goldman Sachs and Harvard MBA) for what's happening ?Would you rather have PhD's like Paul, Emanuel Derman, and Sharpe run the business instead ?Are you honest and courageous enough to post your answer here ?? Nah ... I doubt it.

Is there any conclusive scientific evidence that shows math/science Phd's make better better managers? Isn't spewing out anecdotal bullshit something an MBA would do?

LTCM was run by PhD's if I'm not mistaken. PhD's create toxic derivatives, MBA's manage and sell them... They're all liable. lol!