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Oct 6
Business students must learn to ask tough questions

BSBA and MBA graduates must learn to ask tough questions when they finally get jobs as managers. Perhaps they can develop this trait in business school, but in other cases they will have to acquire it on the job.manager.jpg

The expression tough questions includes asking "why are things done this way"? and "isn't there a better way to accomplish this"? In other cases, the question may be as simple as "are your workers trained and qualified for their jobs"?

I suspect that newly minted BSBA and MBA degree holders are reluctant to ask tough questions on the job site because they don't want to embarrass anyone. So they meekly nod and continue to look around, maybe taking notes.

Some years ago I was a battalion commander in the Marines, responsible for about 900 individuals and millions of dollars worth of equipment. One day I walked into the office of my personnel officer and engaged her in casual conversation. I then noticed what appeared to be a stack of computer printouts on top of a cabinet. I asked her what they were and why were they stacked that way. She glanced quickly at the noncommissioned officer who worked for her and then looked at me. "Just old printouts," she said. "Let me see them" I replied.

Everyone except the noncommissioned officer was surprised that the printouts were current leave-and-earnings (LES) statements that should've been distributed weeks ago to every man and woman in the battalion.

From that point on, my young lieutenant got into the habit of knowing exactly what was going on in her office and of asking tough questions from time to time.

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