AMBA Connect 2023

Scott Mackin: “The only rule is there are no rules anymore”

“When I was 17, my dad lost his job after 21 years working for the same company. It was the eve of the dotcom crash, and the work market was frozen. But two years after, he found another job. And since then, he switched jobs 4 times in the following 15 years, again with high responsibilities”, remembered 41-year-old Scott Mackin, entrepreneur and MBA professor, last week at the AMBA Connect event that took place at UPF Barcelona School of Management.

“It was a harsh lesson, but he recovered”, he resumed. “And in a new world, my dad couldn’t be loyal to the company he worked in”. Two decades later, artificial intelligence will have a similar impact, said Mackin, who in his path as an entrepreneur has started three companies: “one failed, one I sold and the third one is going strong”.

Indeed, for a good number of years, Mackin hasn’t had a boss, but co-founders, employees, investors, and clients, “who can be as tough as a boss”, he admitted. And after this long track, three big takeaways had forged his path:

• First, no one’s coming to save you. There’s no magic blueprint. I sold my car, my house and all my possessions, and I came to Barcelona to found a company. No doubt it was hard, and there were times I thought I made a huge mistake. Because no one is going to give you success, you have to take it.
• Secondly, never put yourself at the mercy of other people. The riskiest situation is having a single source of income. I’ve seen what happens when that goes away, and that’s why I’ve prioritized having different sources of income.
• Last but not least, success is not a destination, it’s a mindset. There’s a huge change and it’s going to speed up.

But in an optimistic forecast, Mackin’s bet was that “we can make the new tools work for us”, and although “problems are infinite, there are people willing to pay to solve those problems. Therefore, money is infinite as well. The only resource that is limited is time. So, if you want to do something, begin it today, even if it’s only for some minutes a day”.

Mackin concluded that, just as his dad in his late working life, today workers are no longer tied with a single company, and will always have to reinvent themselves, because the only rule is there are no rules anymore.

In fact, there are two critical rules for success. And the first one is “never tell everything you know”, he settled.

Scott Mackin is an entrepreneur and MBA professor whose career has spanned multiple industries and continents over the last 20 years. His experience includes management roles in business development, marketing and operations, and has advised high-growth start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. He currently lives in Barcelona with his wife and two children.

What is AMBA Connect?

AMBA Connect events are a series of member-focused, evening events designed to bring together student and graduate members from their ever-growing network of MBAs, MBMs and DBAs around the world. This was the first AMBA Connect event since 2019.

AMBA is the accreditation MBA standard in over 75 countries, and offers network and services such as career development, digital credentials and professional development.