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So you are saying its like a prerequisite for success, but not a predictor of it. I agree with that.
Not quite. I think people can do well in business without doing well on this test. I just think that a large number of people who do well in business will probably do well on this test, as they will probably know the terminology and follow the news reasonably closely. Of course, a lot does depend on the type of business.
On the flip side, there are probably lots of people who could do well on this test but be miserable at running a business.
GOCuBS - Thanks for the list. I just though my business failed because the Raygun Ruin killed all the alternate energy tax incentives. Now I realize it failed because I was not superman with a big wad of money in the bank. BTW -The business closed with all debts paid which is better than some of our recent examples.
One of the things I did realize was running your own business while doing all the things my customers were paying for was way more work than I wanted to do for zero payoff. I found a more frustrating but easier way to keep body and soul together while avoiding the heart attack. In a couple of years I will go on the acceptable dole called retirement. I can't wait.
My test is essentially about 1/3 vocabulary of business terms, 1/3 business math and 1/3 factual knowledge of business. Anyone who would do good in business would be at a severe disadvantage if they didn't have a large vocabulary, skilled at math and at least understood basic facts about business. I think you are underestimating the caliber of people at the highest level of business. These people aren't pushovers, they are the best of the best.
Couldn't agree more with the bolded sentence.... And how exactly does your multiple choice test predict which people are "the best of the best and not pushovers?" These are traits that can not be measured by a test such as yours.... I think a psychological/personality test is a much better measurement tool..
As a 10 year business owner and active member of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce, I have been privileged to work with some of the "highest level of people at the highest caliber of business." I still argue that there is little correlation between your online test and the major, common characteristics of these people (other than, perhaps, the business math portion).
For example, just about every JoeSchmo office worker knows the difference between a bear/bull market yet you still use this question as a predictor of business success? Knowing the language of business (e.g. business terms/acronyms) does not mean you will do well in business. One might be able to master the 1/3 vocab. portion of your test by taking 15 minutes to read "The Economics Dictionary for Kids" book my 10 year old is now reading. I probably could have even aced your test by taking my extra 5 minutes and googling each term/fact before I answered. So how can this predict business success? Many of my family members are in corporate america middle-management and they speak in corpu-speak. Half the words out of their mouth are correctly used business terms and acronyms. Knowing their personalities, I believe they would be miserable running their own business.
Also, your test seems to have a lot of factual knowledge questions about who's who in business/business history. Knowing the history of Monet, Renoir does not make you a good painter. Knowing the history of Shakespeare, Yeats does not make you a good writer. AND knowing the history of Carnegie, Gates does not make you successful in business. It may show that one has an interest in the field, but they are a student/historian not a successful practitioner.
Again, I think the best part of your test is the 1/3 business math portion.
GOCuBS - Thanks for the list. I just though my business failed because the Raygun Ruin killed all the alternate energy tax incentives. Now I realize it failed because I was not superman with a big wad of money in the bank. BTW -The business closed with all debts paid which is better than some of our recent examples.
One of the things I did realize was running your own business while doing all the things my customers were paying for was way more work than I wanted to do for zero payoff. I found a more frustrating but easier way to keep body and soul together while avoiding the heart attack. In a couple of years I will go on the acceptable dole called retirement. I can't wait.
Hey, don't shoot the messenger... I thought the test was being used as a predictor for likelihood of business success during a lifetime career? Perhaps I misunderstand what it measures? We all know that businesses ebb and flow, change directions based on market opportunites, start-up and fail.... But isn't it the successful owners who can change directions or reorganize after failure and start anew? We only need to look at people like Donald Trump to confirm this. Call him what you may but he does know how to bounce back from bankruptcies, develop property at the cheapest production/contractor costs, market the sh*t out of the facade/image of his product, and then get people to pay exorbitant prices while still keeping the good part for himself... The guy's a genius.
Creating a successful business can be an excrutiatingly hard, stress-filled, heart-straining lifestyle if you don't have the aptitude AND personality for it. Does the OP's multiple choice test truly test for this personality type?
Not quite. I think people can do well in business without doing well on this test. I just think that a large number of people who do well in business will probably do well on this test, as they will probably know the terminology and follow the news reasonably closely. Of course, a lot does depend on the type of business.
On the flip side, there are probably lots of people who could do well on this test but be miserable at running a business.
Couldn't have said it better.... This is why I think this test is unreliable. I bet there are lots of MBA students who would do well on this test but could not run a successful business. Maybe the test is a better measurement of how well you'd do in MBA school or working for a corporation?
Couldn't have said it better.... This is why I think this test is unreliable. I bet there are lots of MBA students who would do well on this test but could not run a successful business. Maybe the test is a better measurement of how well you'd do in MBA school or working for a corporation?
Yes, also, the type of business is important. If someone wants to work as an independent analyst or consultant (as I do), he/she should probably know the kinds of things in this test. If someone wants to run a successful bakery, construction firm, retail chain, or any other number of businesses, I don't think this test, save for some of the math questions, is very relevant.
Yes, also, the type of business is important. If someone wants to work as an independent analyst or consultant (as I do), he/she should probably know the kinds of things in this test. If someone wants to run a successful bakery, construction firm, retail chain, or any other number of businesses, I don't think this test, save for some of the math questions, is very relevant.
This is true... I was in business consulting for a few years after college and I really needed to know how to "talk the talk" then. Funny though, I had much less business acumen back then but was much more fluent in the business tech terms/acronyms/name-dropping, etc.. I'm now so focused on making my particular business a success that I've forgotten half the stuff from the textbooks!
I have had enough people take the test now that I have been able to establish a baseline score, which is ~60%. This is presumably people who are interested in business and know more than average which is probably ~35% or so. I calculate that people who score ~ 60% are in the top 25 percentile of business knowledge. Only 1 person has scored > 90% on the test of around 42 takers.
Now that I think about it, if you wanted to make the test more universal, I'd consider adding some questions having to do with various labor, disability and environmental laws. They don't need to be highly detailed, but they should be the kinds of things that everyone running a business ought to know.
For a test like this to be truly indicative and universal, you're going to have to drastically increase the number of questions to at least 100 or more. As it stands right now, it's really geared toward corporate management / analyst / consulting types. All of these are important, but they're not representative of the larger "business" community.
I have had enough people take the test now that I have been able to establish a baseline score, which is ~60%. This is presumably people who are interested in business and know more than average which is probably ~35% or so. I calculate that people who score ~ 60% are in the top 25 percentile of business knowledge. Only 1 person has scored > 90% on the test of around 42 takers.
Not to sound harsh, but you're really not getting it. You're trying to draw a correlation between a baseline score on your "test" and the real world of business knowledge. You're also still convinced that there is some series of questions that will predict how well one will do in business. My take is really quite simple. If you think that a test can predict how well someone will do in business, you're probably not going to do well in business yourself.
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