I’m interested in hearing from people who have experience in business, marketing or management. There seems to be quite a bit of debate about whether formal qualifications are still important when practical experience and learning on the job can be just as valuable. For someone looking to develop a career in business or management, would you recommend gaining a formal qualification alongside practical experience, or focusing mainly on developing skills through work and independent learning? I’d also be interested to hear whether gaining a qualification has actually helped anyone progress into a management or leadership position. What approach has worked best for you?
Absolutely essential if you want to succeed in someone else's business. Not so much in your own. Luckily many qualifications can be earnt while working. My sister got to a very senior management position in the UK hospital system - she started as a nurse, immigrated to the UK, got many more qualifications, including an MBA from the London School of Economics - there's no way she'd have risen so high without obtaining her management qualifications.
Depends on the country and specific businesses. For example in my country (I'm in the EU), you cannot do pest control and disinfections without an agronomist/chemist degree. Either you need to have one to do these services legally or you'll have to employ a person with these degrees as "responsible scientist".