Why Do College Business Professors Seem Out of Touch and Ineffective in Teaching Real Business Skills?
This spring, I was approached by a mid-tier state university in my town, looking for a small business to provide their students with hands-on experience in a real-world environment. Many of these students come from working-class, immigrant backgrounds—eager to learn and without family connections to business networks. They understood that practical experience would be their ticket to future job opportunities, and their excitement matched mine!
At the semester’s start, we held a group call where we brainstormed some engaging projects: conducting customer surveys, managing customer support interactions, running A/B tests on my website, and optimizing my social media and email marketing efforts. This was the kind of hands-on experience that genuinely builds skills and drives impact.
Fast forward nearly two months, and much of their time has been consumed by… creating PowerPoint presentations, writing SWOT analyses, building business model canvases, and analyzing competitors that aren’t even relevant to us. They’re stuck crafting lengthy reports on market positioning instead of actually doing business.
It feels like they’re caught in an academic cycle of gathering information and presenting it in visually appealing formats. With just about four weeks left for real execution, it’s clear from conversations with these students that they share a deep frustration. They yearn for real-world experience.
Here’s the crux of the matter: when we hire, we’re not seeking candidates who can merely assemble a neatly formatted business model canvas. Not every graduate is destined to be a consultant, and with AI poised to automate information gathering, those skills alone are not enough. We need individuals who can execute—who can tackle problems head-on and make things happen.
It appears that universities cling to an outdated model that emphasizes talking about business rather than actually doing it. And that’s concerning. What’s even more alarming is that AI today can handle much of the report writing. So what value does this education truly provide students?
Here are some fundamental issues I believe are at play:
- Excessive focus on theory, insufficient emphasis on execution – Schools are molding consultants instead of business leaders.
- Aversion to failure – In the business world, mistakes are essential for learning, yet academia often demands neat, easily graded work.
- Professors lacking real business experience – If you haven’t hired, scaled, or operated a business yourself, how can you effectively prepare students for its realities?
- Prioritizing grades over growth – Students are being trained to write about business instead of actively working in it.
Do others also observe that college business professors seem disconnected from the current job market and ineffective at teaching practical business skills? Is this the state of business education everywhere? Are we simply producing graduates who can expound on theories but lack the ability to operate in real business environments?
Your frustration resonates with many who are navigating the intersection of academic training and the real world of business. The contrast between theoretical knowledge and practical application is a longstanding issue in business education.
I agree that too much focus on theory often detracts from the essential skills needed in today’s business environment. While it’s important to understand foundational concepts, students should be encouraged to apply that knowledge in real-world scenarios. The emphasis on creating PowerPoints and lengthy reports, instead of engaging in active projects, can indeed feel like it’s wasting valuable time that could be spent on practical learning.
The fear of failure you mentioned is also a significant hurdle. In the real business world, experimentation and learning from mistakes is crucial for growth. Students should be in an environment where they can fail safely and learn from those experiences without the heavy weight of grades and rankings hanging over them.
The point about professors lacking real-world experience is particularly compelling. Educators who have firsthand experience in the business world bring invaluable insights. Their understanding of what truly drives success can bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Finally, reorienting the focus from grades to skill development and experiential learning opportunities is necessary. Partnerships between universities and local businesses, like yours, should be expanded to create better pathways for students to gain practical experience.
Business education should not only prepare students to talk about concepts but also equip them to effectively execute ideas and solve problems. Your initiative is an important step towards this goal, and hopefully, it can inspire a broader reevaluation of how business education is delivered. It might take time, but conversations like these could eventually lead to a shift in how future generations are trained to thrive in the workforce.