1) John Heintz, a former assistant superintendent and chief legal officer, advocates bringing private sector management techniques to public education leadership through degrees like an MBA. 2) Increasingly, leaders of innovative public and private schools seek training outside traditional education programs, instead obtaining degrees like an MBA focused on outcomes and business strategies. 3) An MBA teaches valuable skills like effective talent management that can improve student achievement when applied to schools, in contrast to traditional education degrees that emphasize political concerns over outcomes.

1. Talent Management, Educational
Leadership, and the MBA Degree
John Heintz, Chicago

2. Introduction
• A resident of Chicago, John Heintz formerly served as assistant
superintendent for operations and chief legal officer of Niles Township
High School District 219. A frequent presenter and publisher, John Heintz
has been a vocal advocate for bringing private sector management
techniques to public sector leadership. Earning a master of business
administration from the University of Chicago is an increasingly common
career path for education leaders like Ron Huberman, Nanciann Gatta,
John Heintz and other superintendents, chief executive officers, principals
and directors of schools nationwide. The University of Pennsylvania's Mid-
Career Doctoral Program in Education Leadership has more in common
with Wharton's MBA than any traditional education doctoral program.
What is happening?
Cutting-edge schools that may include traditional public schools, public and
private charter schools, newly opening schools and progressive private
schools increasingly seek leaders trained outside colleges of education.
Improving the lives of children is the driver. Better management leads to
improved student achievement, and traditional education leadership
programs offer scant evidence of producing those successful outcomes.

3. MBA Degree
• People in leadership positions in education typically earn a master
of public administration or even a doctor of education, but few of
these individuals have a background in business. Traditional school
leaders would likely balk at even comparing a school to a business.
The is-a-school-a-business debate is more about politics than
reality.
Traditional education degrees do a great job emphasizing the
political concerns of educational leaders. Progressively-run schools
are increasingly aware of their need for outcomes-driven business
perspectives when creating and running schools that outperform
their peers.
As an example, most MBAs offers particularly useful training in
talent management. School systems that modernize talent processes
have measurable success in improving student achievement. Why
don't more schools do this?

4. Conclusion
• Local control of schools has historically allowed local political
interests to predominate over best practices. By contrast, businesses
cannot let politics come in the way out outcomes. Bringing outcome-
driven leadership to schools is important as mountains of evidence
pile up showing exactly what children and adults need to learn. An
MBA-trained superintendent has spent more time learning how to
hire for success than hiring for political gain. An MBA teaches
individuals how to clearly define hiring goals and find the best
people to meet those goals. School leadership training programs
tend to assume that all administrators or teachers can perform
critical functions equally well.
Talent management strategies need to focus less on politics and
more on improving outcomes, specifically with the goal of making
student education more effective. MBA programs help give leaders
the perspective they need to make such shifts in hiring strategy.