To launch Network Appliance into the Fortune 500, its CEO, Dan Warmenhoven, says he’ll need a focused strategy, innovative products, and the best talent his company can hire.

Today’s business schools are under fire, but what critics do not seem to realize is just how good 21st-century management education has become.

Critics of the MBA abound, even within our own ranks. An analysis suggests, however, that while there is a kernel of truth in some criticisms, often the claims are incomplete, unfounded, and off-base.

As AACSB focuses on its priorities for the future, the association’s new board chair considers the challenges and changes that face management education.

Advisory boards strengthen the connection between academia and the corporate world, as executives engage in the lives of schools through counsel, funding, and hands-on involvement.

The critics have been loud in their claims that business schools are failing at their job. But impassioned voices celebrating the successes of management education are creating a rising tide of enthusiasm that may drown out the critics.