Whether speaking to an Acceleration Group client or a group of MBAs in one of his e-Business strategy courses, Alejandro Crawford emphasizes two main points about marketing strategies today: What is the same and what is different.

I just returned from a great exchange of ideas organized by the Kellogg School of Management's Public-Private Initiative and the Aspen Institute. A key driver in the behavior of business and capital markets is how we describe -- and measure -- the purpose of the business corporation.

Dedicating 40 percent of a school's score to purely financial considerations seems to make a mockery of the fact that many students pursue an MBA as an avenue to higher education. Some even use that education to try and make the world a better place.

This week both my real life and my Twitter feed have been jumping with the question of post-nominal letters: what letters (if any) should you put after your name on a business card?

When it came to the fore that one of our colleagues had a "better" lifestyle than the rest of us, for about the same pay, it was interesting to watch everyone's behavior on the table: "Are there more openings in your company?"

If we could overhaul the way we think about the cost of education and the pursuit of entrepreneurship at our nation's MBA programs, perhaps, only then, we would see more entrepreneurs coming straight out of business school.

A better question is the following: What is the dominant value taught -- and learned -- in business schools?

My suggestion to those young people who are toying with the idea of going to graduate school to get an international education because the prospect of getting a job with a Bachelor's is slim is to pack their backpacks and hit the road.

As I write this, another class of MBA graduates is preparing to walk out of the classroom and into the business world. But will they have the skills they need to successfully lead a business in a digital age?

General Assembly online is an MBA killer. Unless a young person thinks they need a credential to get a job at Morgan Stanley or McKinsey, they'd be much better off in a startup, learning on the job, and accessing the extraordinary offerings at General Assembly when they need it.