inluminent

In the latest I, Cringley column: The Case Against Professionalism Robert X. Cringely argues against professionalism, MBA’s, and so much more (though its just below the surface of his writing)

It is easy to forget that professionalism is the enemy of the high-tech startup. If these companies were operated by professionals, they would never have been founded. Nor would a professional tolerate the conditions necessary for startup survival. Michael Eisner never emptied a wastebasket at work, but I’ll bet Walt Disney did.

I’ll bet Mr. Disney did as well. Any entreprenuer has to do it all at some point… that’s the whole point of starting your own business… you get to have all the fun, even if that means you have to do some of the non-fun stuff. But, Cringley’s right. I bet the majority of ‘professionals’ don’t ever want to have to think about emptying the trash.

This is all a trick promulgated by people who do not in any way care about the company or its people. But visit most any business school and what I just described is taught in case studies as examples of good management. It is maximizing shareholder value, they’ll say.

Pity the poor MBAs, for they know not what they do, nor do they seem to care.

I agree with Cringley completely. The problems we see in any ‘good’ company is that most companies don’t have a long term game plan. I don’t mean a 10 year, or 20 year plan, I mean a 50 or 100 year vision. We as a people (society) don’t think that far ahead, so why should our companies.

Seeking short-term gains, we have sacrificed not just the futures of our enterprises, but also their characters. Often all that’s left is the logo.

And that’s the crux isn’t it? Quick return. More money now. That’s what it’s all about generally. The pressures are almsot all too heavy to even think about something more long term than this year, or this quarter for the majority of the companies (and thus the managers in them) that are out in front.

I think alot of these issues are really societal issues, not just business issues. People just live to fast these days… all of us. Stress comes from many different sources, and it all compacts itself in our woking lives, cause that’s where we spend most of our days.

We’ve got to figure out a way to slow things down at some point, for the good of our sanity, if for no other reason.