Yeah, yeah. I know. Sometimes it seems as if the business world is being run by a bunch of college drop-outs. Degreeless business visionaries such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and the like are rightly celebrated for their contributions to business, but they are hardly the norm.
Now that the high cost of a college education causes many to question its value, the danger is that too many will cite such leaders to demonstrate that completing college is not necessary to succeed in business.
To get a quick sense of what it takes to lead a manufacturing company, IndustryWeek reviewed the educational attainment of the five top manufacturers in the IndustryWeek 50 Best Manufacturers list and five more from the top of the IW US 500 list.
Not a college drop-out among them.
Indeed, quite the opposite: Most of the leaders of the biggest and the best manufacturers didn't stop at a bachelor's degree; indeed only two of the ten in this gallery did.
