Brickell Insights

Is an MBA Worth It If You Already Own a Business?

esteban.cordero@icx.co (Esteban Cordero) — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:40:36 GMT

It is eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night, and the owner of a consumer goods distributor is still at her desk. She just closed the best sales month in the company's history, yet the bank balance tells a different story. Her sales manager quit three weeks ago, her largest customer is pushing for another discount, and the bank wants a cash flow forecast before it renews the credit line. In one browser tab sits the admissions page of a well-known MBA program. She has been coming back to it for months, wondering if that is what she is missing, a serious education that would finally give her the language and the tools to stop fighting fires.

Why CEOs Should Surround Themselves With CEOs, Not Students

esteban.cordero@icx.co (Esteban Cordero) — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:36:48 GMT

It's 11:30 on a Tuesday night. The house is quiet, and you're still staring at the same spreadsheet you opened after dinner. You need to decide whether to open a second location or wait another year. Your sales director says go, because his bonus depends on growth. Your controller says hold, because protecting cash is her job. Your spouse asks you not to gamble what you've already built. And your business partner, who stepped back from day-to-day operations years ago, gives you the answer he always gives: "You know this better than anyone."

Business School or University? What a Business Owner Actually Needs

esteban.cordero@icx.co (Esteban Cordero) — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:33:33 GMT

It is 7:40 on a Tuesday morning. Picture the owner of a food distribution company with eighty employees, who gets to the office before anyone else because it is the only hour of the day when the phone stays quiet. She opens the weekly sales report and sees that revenue is up over last month, yet cash has never been tighter. Her sales director wants to cut prices to win a large account away from a competitor. Her controller warns that two product lines are losing money, although nobody can say for certain which ones. At nine she meets with the bank, at eleven she gets a resignation she did not see coming, and at three she has an uncomfortable conversation with her partner about whether to open a second warehouse. None of that was on the syllabus of any degree she could have earned.