Regarding your "Go-faster bunnies" article on 25 April (pages 50-52), it was heartening to hear people in the industry talking about the benefits that education brings.
There is no downside to this; the industry's poor performance and relationships are a result of a lack of the strategic awareness that an MBA can bring.

Construction seems to want others to force it to change, rather than adopting innovative approaches from within. The whole reason for doing an MBA is not only to improve your chance of promotion, but also to sharpen an individual's thinking process.

Chris Cheetham's myopic view of MBAs as "only useful at the very highest level" does not recognise that people who have MBAs can bring the skills they've learned to their everyday business. Also, we are a project-based industry, so each project is run on a stand-alone basis, and is similar to running a business.

We have to alter the mindset of Mr Cheetham and others like him. They need to broaden their view. Education is not just about learning new concepts but is also about acquiring cognitive skills that enable you to improve your thought processes and recognise that other people and industries may do things better.

While there is a certain amount of academic snobbery associated with the qualification – fuelled by the terminology, such as "creative swiping", "knowledge management", and so on – the industry and its people need to see past their own prejudices. After all, construction has a relatively low dependence on technology and as such its people are its most important asset – and what better way of improving their performance?

Postscript

F Perry, via email.