15 Famous CEOs Who Didn’t Major in Business

Back when I was applying to business school, I thought that I didn’t have a legitimate shot because I had no background in business. Until then, my professional career had consisted of several years’ worth of plugging away at Java code and an academic background focused on Technology. According to what I’d heard from other applicants at info sessions and on online message boards, business schools would never consider someone like me to be a viable candidate for admission to business school. I now know that those people were likely trying to pysch me out and throw me off my game, but, at the time, I was worried by the thought that the business world was out of reach for me. Thank goodness the good folks at Stanford GSB’s Admissions office were checkin’ for The Kid…

That brings me to the article that I’d like to share with all of you in this entry. The article below came in from Carrie Oakley, who runs OnlineColleges.org, a site dedicated to disseminating information about online education. Carrie recently compiled a list of CEOs that don’t hold degrees in business and thought that my readers might find it interesting. I don’t know about you guys, but I certainly found it to be eye-opening.

The folks listed in Carrie’s article should give hope to all of you out there who want to pursue careers in business, but don’t yet have an MBA or any structured studies in business. Sometimes, it just takes a good amount of motivation and a desire to do it up big to be extremely successful in the business world.

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Title: 15 Famous CEOs Who Didn’t Major in Business
Author: Carrie Oakley
Source: OnlineColleges.org – http://www.onlinecolleges.org/15-famous-ceos-who-didnt-major-in-business/

Excerpt text from the article:

Common assumption touts that one must acquire a business degree – preferably advanced – in order to land a prime position as the CEO of a major corporation. In reality, many of the most famous and financially successful executives received their educations outside the field. Some earn degrees in industries related to their careers. Some earn degrees in entirely unrelated fields, but still manage to succeed due to their own wits and flexibility. Others never finished college at all. Any students holding lofty goals of fronting their own companies someday do not have to feel locked into any specific major. They need a specific skill set involving critical thinking, creativity, responsibility, leadership and more…but a business degree does not automatically equal success. It can help, certainly. But the talents one either naturally possesses or hones in an educational setting and/or through practice resonate significantly further than any piece of paper.