Why So Many CEOs Are Engineers

There's one similarity between Amazon and Blue  Origin CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook, Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, AMD's Lisa Su, General Motors'  Mary Barra and NVIDIA's Jensen Huang. These days, the heads of some of the most successful  companies in the world have one thing in common. They're engineers.

For those who aspire to be  CEO of a company one day, getting an MBA - a Master of Business Administration degree - used to be  the way to go. But that's not so true anymore. Harvard Business Review used to publish an annual  list of the top 100 best-performing CEOs.

In 2018, they found that for a second year in a row, there  were more CEOs with an engineering degree than an MBA. 34 compared to 32. Some had both.

Getting an  MBA can come with a hefty price tag. Top graduate schools such as the University of Pennsylvania's  Wharton or Harvard Business School will set you back over $200,000. Now, some CEOs are telling you to save your money.

Elon Musk went so far as to say, "I think there  might be too many MBAs running companies" in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. He thinks  those with business degrees spend too much time in board meetings pouring over power points and  finances when their focus should be on the product. The thinking being that if the product is good the  profits will follow.

In the case of Musk that means building great electric cars at Tesla or great  reusable rockets at SpaceX. That's where being an engineer is helpful. Engineers can design, build, create, and improve their product because of their background in math, science, and technology.

And they  can help solve challenging technical problems that might otherwise scuttle their dreams. Technically,  Musk has a degree in physics and economics not engineering. He's a self-taught engineer who  read books to learn about rocket science.

When engineering consultant Sandy Munro interviewed him for his YouTube channel Munro Live, he said it's Musk's knowledge that  stands out. I was blown away. I've seen dozens of CEOs.

I've never seen a CEO ever or a president  that knew more about the product. That technical know-how that comes with an engineering background  goes a long way toward building better products. Just ask Satya Nadella, the engineer  at Microsoft who rose to become CEO.

When he took over the top job in 2014, he had to  figure out a way to make Microsoft relevant as it faced an onslaught from Apple. We now need to make  Microsoft thrive. The software company struggled to thrive under the leadership of his predecessor  Steve Ballmer.

Its products were far from revolutionary. The Surface was a response to the  iPad, the Windows phone and answer to the iPhone. Ballmer has a degree in mathematics and economics  from Harvard which helped balance the books but didn't do much when it comes to innovation.

When  Nadella took over, he transformed Microsoft - moving its software to non-Windows devices. For example,  bringing Microsoft Word to the iPad and the iPhone. He also expanded its cloud business Azure which  has become the biggest rival to Amazon's AWS.

In his first email to employees as CEO, Nadella  wrote: "Our industry does not respect tradition - it only respects innovation. " That innovative spirit  of engineering saved Microsoft. But it's not easy.

It requires risky moves and not accepting failure.  As American inventor Thomas Edison famously said: "I have not failed. I've only found 10,000 ways that  won't work.

" James Dyson, the British engineer, knows a thing or two about not giving up. He became  frustrated when a vacuum he had at home kept losing suction. So he decided to build a better  vacuum himself.

He spent 15 years tinkering with over 5,000 different prototypes to come up with  the perfect bagless design. I'd like to give you a little demonstration. The payoff for his  perseverance was a multi-billion dollar company that bears his name.

In order to be successful,  Dyson was invested in the fine details of his company. Engineers aren't afraid to get involved in  the day-to-day business - especially when it comes to hiring. Amazon is notorious for tough interviews. 

Bezos, who has a degree in electrical engineering and computer science, used to meet every candidate  himself during Amazon's early days. He would ask quirky questions like: How many gas stations are  there in America? He wasn't after the right answer but wanted to see whether the candidate had an  analytical approach in order to come up with an informed response.

Bezos once said setting the bar  high for hiring was the most important factor for the online retailer's success. It's no surprise that  engineers make it to the top of the tech industry which has seen explosive growth over the years.  But they're also doing well at non-tech companies.

Like Jeffrey Sprecher, the CEO of the holding  company that owns the New York Stock Exchange. He has a degree in chemical engineering. I've never  had a job that had anything to do with chemistry but the discipline that I went through there  taught me about problem-solving and business is really just that.

Engineers are very good at  solving problems and that's the key to doing everything from building a bridge across a  river to designing a rocket to get to Mars. If you've been inspired to become an engineer  or simply want to learn more about the world, a good foundation in math and computer science is  crucial. A problem-solving website called Brilliant can help put you on the path to success.

And it's  free to sign up. Whether you want to practice programming, you're struggling with calculus, or  you're hoping to brush up on your algorithms, my sponsor Brilliant offers over 60 interactive  courses in math, science, and computer science. You can learn at your own pace, there are no  exams.

If you make mistakes while practicing, Brilliant explains exactly where you went wrong.  You can sign up with the link in my description. And the first 200 people to use my link will  get 20% off the Premium subscription which gives you unlimited access to all the courses.

Thanks for watching Newsthink. I'm Cindy Pom.