MBA Degree Holders Should Know When They Don't Know

When black entertainer and inspirational speaker Tyler Perry was shopping his movie ideas around Hollywood, a Paramount executive told him that church-going black folk don't go to movies.

Tyler Perry Shocked At 'Expertise'

Tyler Perry, who heads a multi-million dollar entertainment empire, immediately included that expert observation in his live routines. The MBA-type studio executive is definitely sorry he ever met or passed on Tyler Perry.

At the time, Tyler Perry was pitching Diary of A Mad Black Woman. The film, distributed by the independent studio Lionsgate, went on to make more than $50 million in the theaters and has sold over 3 million DVDs.

MBA Degree Holders Must Adapt

While MBA degree holders are very good at analyzing structures that are already in place, sometimes they are unknowingly blind to the next big thing. Good executives defer when they simply don't know.

The Lionsgate executives succeeded in that. When they met with Tyler Perry, who they had never heard of, they asked African American colleagues about him. The response was overwhelming. Everyone loved him so the executives signed on with Perry, giving him creative control other studios were unwilling to give him.

Understanding Tyler Perry

"If a few middle-aged white guys living in the insular world of Hollywood are going to make decisions for Tyler Perry, then we should not be in the Tyler Perry business," said Lionsgate executive Mike Paseornek in the Los Angeles Times.

Lionsgate is firmly in the Tyler Perry business now. The studio is releasing Madea's Family Reunion, a film based on a much-loved Grandma character Perry performs in his live shows. Lionsgate financed the complete budget for Madea and will do so for the next film as well.

MBA Programs And Unfamiliarity

One of the challenges of MBA degree programs is finding a way to function and flourish in unfamiliar markets. One of the great challenges of management is figuring out the boundaries between what you think you know and what you actually do. Wrong assumptions sadly last much longer than they should.

Just ask the Paramount executive.

Source:
Los Angeles Times