Work Matters

The Punctuation of Academia vs. Industry

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supermoxie

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This post is by John Maeda and Becky Bermont at Harvard Business Press Online.   It is very helpful for understanding the disconnects that sometimes happen between academics and people with real jobs — we wonder why, while those of you with real jobs wonder what to do, for example!  Lovely stuff. Here is a taste, there is more.

comma.jpgIn
academia there is the luxury of time. Thus when a thought might start,
it doesn't necessarily have to finish. You can begin … and not
necessarily end. It is this kind of open-endedness that makes academia
a necessary space of free thought in the world. The free space is a
necessary inefficiency designed into the academic system so that new
thoughts can form in the most productive manner — which is through the
natural reinforcement of the passage of time.

period.jpg

In
industry we like to hear the virtues of "execution" and "getting things
done." Got an idea? Set a target deadline. When you're done, package
the result and move onto the next task. Don't think. Just do. And keep
on doing. One of my best friends at Samsung epitomizes this approach to
his life at work. And I admire it, and emulate it in things that I do
with my own work

.

Comments

4 responses to “The Punctuation of Academia vs. Industry”

  1. bfryer Avatar
    bfryer

    My father, an architect/entrepeneur, mourned daily the disappearing connection physical work and the transubstantiation of the poor pen for his muscle. He drew plans but longed to put stone upon stone until the edifice meant something.
    In Shakespeare’s Macbeth,the witches have an incantation:
    “Like a rat without a tail, I’ll do, I’ll do,I’ll do.”
    In the absence of physical work and connection between meaning and bullshit — the connection that our daily feeds people in a real way — we become disintermediated. We care more about our poker chips than about the people giving us their money in exchange for their hopes.
    Shakespeare implies that when our navigational mechanisms (tails) are cut off, that when men become all about mind devoid of body, we simply become rats on a wheel.
    For wisdom, seek Shakespeare. Seek real work. Get fingernails dirty.

    Reply
  2. bfryer Avatar
    bfryer

    My father, an architect/entrepeneur, mourned daily the disappearing connection physical work and the transubstantiation of the poor pen for his muscle. He drew plans but longed to put stone upon stone until the edifice meant something.
    In Shakespeare’s Macbeth,the witches have an incantation:
    “Like a rat without a tail, I’ll do, I’ll do,I’ll do.”
    In the absence of physical work and connection between meaning and bullshit — the connection that our daily feeds people in a real way — we become disintermediated. We care more about our poker chips than about the people giving us their money in exchange for their hopes.
    Shakespeare implies that when our navigational mechanisms (tails) are cut off, that when men become all about mind devoid of body, we simply become rats on a wheel.
    For wisdom, seek Shakespeare. Seek real work. Get fingernails dirty.

    Reply
  3. .eduGuru Avatar
    .eduGuru

    IMHO 7 Reasons Why Higher Ed Is the Toughest Gig in All the Web

    I was on Twitter last week when Mark Greenfield put out the following call: What? Mark Greenfield is giving us license to bitch?  Count me in. To be honest, I really wanted to jump right in.  However, I realized I needed more space than 140 characters …

    Reply
  4. .eduGuru Avatar
    .eduGuru

    IMHO 7 Reasons Why Higher Ed Is the Toughest Gig in All the Web

    I was on Twitter last week when Mark Greenfield put out the following call: What? Mark Greenfield is giving us license to bitch?  Count me in. To be honest, I really wanted to jump right in.  However, I realized I needed more space than 140 characters …

    Reply

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