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Contrarian Thinking

Business Education is Broken. Here’s How to Fix it

August 1, 2025
4 min read
Contrarian Thinking logo banner featuring a lightning bolt and a figure carrying a brain, set on a black background with teal border.

You know something’s wrong with the way things are going at business school when you see a headline like this:

Screenshot of a headline reading “We’re Not Learning Anything”: Stanford GSB Students Sound the Alarm Over Academics, with an image of the Stanford University campus in the background.

That’s one of the top business schools in the world.

A bunch of people will probably point out that this isn’t surprising, since business school isn’t really about learning anymore.

“It’s all about the networking.”

Even so, the network effect is now also a diminishing value prop, as technology enables new distributed networks that don’t cost an arm and a leg (~$250k).

Line chart comparing soaring college tuition inflation to overall inflation from 1980 to 2025, underscoring rising education costs.

And for what?

A high-paying consulting and finance role?

Those jobs can work wonders for your career, wallet, and network, but even they are looking increasingly risky to spend years of your life breaking into.

Screenshot of an article titled “The Consulting Crash Is Coming,” featuring suited professionals inside a café, suggesting outdated practices in consulting.

It’s not just business school, by the way.

Young men graduating from college are having as much trouble getting jobs as their non-college-educated peers.

Line chart comparing unemployment rates of US college grads vs. non-grads aged 22–27, showing they now face similar joblessness levels.

Educators themselves are having trouble, too.

Tweet by Geoffrey Miller criticizing the impact of AI on higher education and the decline of critical thinking and writing skills.

Ask the founders of AI’s hottest companies, and this is what they’ll tell you:

Anthropic co-founder Ben Mann:

“If this were 10–20 years ago, I’d be lining [my daughter] up for top-tier schools and extracurriculars. But now I don’t think any of it’s going to matter. Learning facts is going to fade into the background. What matters is that she’s happy, thoughtful, curious, and kind.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:

“My kid will never ever be smarter than an AI. That will never happen… But also, they’ll never know a world where products and services aren’t way smarter than them and and super capable… And in that world, I think education’s going to feel very different. I already think college is maybe not working great for most people… I think fast forward 18 years, it’s going to look like a very, very different thing.”

Education as we know it is facing a reckoning.

Mission: Impossible (The Final Reckoning)

But predicting the future is a losing game.

Peter Drucker said it best: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

So that’s what we’ve tried to do, at least for the people who want to buy, own, and scale real businesses.

See, most business schools weren’t built for this era or for most people’s jobs.

They teach you to analyze a deal from 2007, not negotiate one tomorrow morning. They’re simply not designed for immediate implementation.

Minimalist graphic comparing theory as disconnected knowledge and implementation as connected, actionable knowledge integrated into reality.

That’s not a dunk on MBAs. Plenty go on to build, lead, and shape the world.

But today, what you can do right now matters as much, if not more than what’s on your diploma. Skill > credentials. Execution > prestige. Business builders > résumé builders.

So if the old playbook won’t cut it in 2030… Then what’s the new one?

We wanted to know that answer, too, so instead of predicting one, we created one.

It’s serving ~2,000 students right now. Many of them are doing incredible things.

That’s because we believe black belts in business aren’t earned by watching.

They’re earned by doing.

Group of Contrarian Thinking community members on stage at an event, applauding a man holding up an award.

We also believe the next generation of business education won’t happen in lecture halls. It’ll happen online in business dojos: virtual, hands-on training grounds, built for real-time action.

Graphic breakdown of the DOJO Model: Do first, Own your pace, Joint learning, and Ongoing implementation.

Learning this way means:

  • Having a growing, curated library of hyper-relevant lessons that help you take action
  • Accessing live coaching + expert feedback, when you need it
  • Using AI tools to explain exactly what you need help with
  • Getting fast, tactical insights from people actively buying and building businesses just like you

In this format, you get a constant stream of data and insight from business owners, operators, and coaches…

Not case studies from 10 years ago, but from deals happening that day.

Two men in matching shirts and caps speaking at a business event in front of an audience, sharing their entrepreneurial story.

To make that happen, we designed a system with:

  • Concierges that keep you on track and make sure you have what you need
  • Coaches to help you push through roadblocks every day
  • Badges to gamify progress and share your wins with peers
  • Constant visibility into how others are progressing on deals, hiring, growth, and more
  • Live calls where coaches poke holes in your active deals and improve outcomes
  • Expert sessions designed to go deep on specific topics and friction points
  • In-person meetups and camps focused on connection and tactical implementation.
  • Due diligence tools and tech integrations that reduce time and cost.

At the end of it all, what do you get?

Collage of diverse people engaged in business and community events, including workshops, networking, and hands-on work.

1/10th the cost of a top MBA, and 10x more focus on what we think actually matters for most people. And inside, you see a whole lotta this…

We think this is where education is heading across many sectors.

Immediate application. Focused on results.

The old way is breaking.

And the new way?

It’s already working.

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Team Contrarian

The information contained here is educational, may not be typical, and does not guarantee returns. Background, education, effort, and application will affect your experience and the profitability of any business. Individual results may vary.

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