McGill Headliners

Business, betrothals and the evils of beer

M&M, together again

Management Professor Henry Mintzberg speaks out against conformity
Owen Egan

Neale McDevitt | Although people weren't camping out overnight to get tickets to his speaking engagements, management guru Henry Mintzberg got almost as much media time as Madonna recently. First, he weighed in on the ongoing debate on the effectiveness of MBA programs in an article in Business Week. Arguing that MBA programs actually teach business rather than management, Mintzberg suggested the best way to learn how to manage is to dive right in and get your hands dirty before taking a step back and analyzing your performance.

Next up, he and management prof Karl Moore co-authored an editorial for World Business magazine. The dynamic duo asserted that managers do themselves a disservice by adopting a global view that, they believe, encourages people to conform to the same beliefs and values. Instead, managers should aspire to a worldly mindset that embraces and uses the differences in each individual's life experience.

And we don't pick up our socks either

And now something from the Tell-Me-Something-I-Didn't-Already-Know department. On April 2, the New York Times ran an article on how, when it comes to marriage proposals, men tend to drag their feet more then women. The article goes on to give real-life examples of women who have cajoled, berated, coerced and browbeaten their prospective mates into finally popping the question. Psychology prof John Lydon was quoted as saying men need more time to make the mental shift from seeing the relationship as "you and me" to "us." With the aforementioned examples of coupledom in action, is it really any wonder why men would stay in their parent's basement?

Say it ain't so!

Just as the weather started heating up, biostatistician Andrea Benedetti delivered some devastating news for the chug-a-lug crowd regarding a possible link between beer and lung cancer. The April 12 edition of the National Post highlights Benedetti's study, which showed how quaffing up to six beers a week raised the risk of lung cancer by 20 percent, and up to 50 percent for people for drinkers who down seven or more. Did I just let the air out of your summer plans? No worries; the study also suggested that drinking wine can actually reduce the risk of lung cancer. Could be a sangria summer.