Professor Charles R. Kesler doubts whether President Bush's MBA has been an advantage to his presidency.
His point concerning the rhetoric about applying business principles to government is a strong one. It is easier to draw management lessons from government and apply them to business than the other way around. Government's mixture of interest groups, negotiation, and compromise can make it a very different environment.
Former general Dwight Eisenhower had to shift gears once arriving in the presidency. Ike was able to do that smoothly because he'd had extensive diplomatic and political experience while in the Army. That experience far exceeded the average Fortune 500 CEO's.
That said, what type of degree would be best for a president? I don't see how any particular one produces an automatic edge. We want peculiar combinations - depth plus street smarts, creativity plus decisiveness - and the personal characteristics can easily trump the formal credentials.
JFK's inner circle had a lot of Ivy Leaguers but then so did Chiang Kai-shek's.
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