Thromigal's Blog

What makes a research environment in a business school thrive? Not the same stuff that makes firms profitable or breeds winning sports teams. It would be too easy. The good and the bad : Consider the following scenarios I see played out at campuses across the country: Just recently someone asked me - "Why do you come in to work when you are tenured?" He looked at me as if I was irrational and that I should be away somewhere lying on a beach or making heaps of money by starting a company. And again, another junior professor inquires of a tenured one - "Why are you in today, when you are not teaching?" I have noticed at many universities that junior faculty do not go to seminars as much as senior ones. Is this a permanent cultural shift in academia? How come junior faculty are not being shepherded by seniors as they used to be in the old days? Why are there so many empty offices, and so little discussion in the hallways? Is this a reflection of the new generation of y...

The more you learn, the less you know. What? How can this be? Some sort of weird paradox? No -- the more you learn, the vastness of what you do not know becomes more apparent, and hence, you become increasingly aware of how little you know. The ignorant are unusually blessed for they know not what they do not know. I think it is true to say that knowing what you don't know is even more important than what you know. So many mishaps have occurred because we assumed we knew, when we deep down we knew we didn't. You should not make a virtue of trusting in your ignorance. Instead, admit that you don't know, because it is the first step in knowing deeply. Half-knowing is just as bad. But not knowing and assuming that it's okay is worse. I'd feel much safer with a doctor who would tell me he did not know what was wrong with me than with one who said he did when he didn't. Or a lawyer for that matter who gave me false hope or advice. Because in the end, the truth is mos...