Learning Together

One of the few benefits of the MBA that I will admit without too much coercion: it exposed me to a lot of people from different backgrounds. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that, outside the MBA, the major failing of the current form of university education is its narrow focus on a single field or discipline.

Think about it: the main purpose of university is to bring in smart people, separate them into silos, and then equip them with an exclusive vocabulary known only to peers in their own discipline. Once their degree ends, they’re shipped off into a heterogeneous world where no one but their immediate peers speaks their language. And we wonder why it’s so hard to get anything done, be it in the corporate world or the public sector.

By and large, we never actually teach people how to work together. The majority of their education is spent being trained to only be responsible for their own work, their own success. Team projects in the world of higher education are hardly representative either – after all, you’re all in the same degree program!

What I wonder is why we don’t see universities creating courses that bridge disciplines? For example, why not have a course that brings together engineers and business students? You could have the business students write a product spec based on market research, have the engineers design and build it, and then have both present the project from a technical and business standpoint?

Maybe if we had these kinds of project courses, companies wouldn’t spend as much time learning and re-learning as an organization how to span the individual specialties. It seems to me like so much of my early career has been spent trying to figure out why every company always seems to encounter similar problems. Then again, maybe I’m completely off base with this approach. It could just be that people are non-linear, and no amount of formal education will provide a solution to the problem.

Christmas in CA

It’s closing in on the final two weeks to Christmas, and I still don’t feel the holiday spirit. It was 64 degrees Fahrenheit (~20 degrees Celsius) today! There’s no snow. Heck, the grass on the hills south of 280 just finally turned green. We’re in California, what holiday spirit?

Living in California is like being an insomniac. You get loopy without a perceptible change in seasons. It’s always sunny – not that there’s anything wrong with that. But sometimes you’d just like to lay about the house and not have to close all to blinds to avoid feeling guilty about choosing to miss out on the sunshine. I’m such a Vancouverite – the temporary appearance of rain last week was cause for minor jubilation on my part at work:

Co-worker: Boy, it sure is coming down out there. I can’t believe the miserable weather we’re having!

Me: I know! Isn’t it fantastic?!?

Co-worker: ???

The really weird part about the impending arrival of Christmas in California is all the traditional imagery used to sell the season to shoppers. White Christmas? Are you kidding me? Eggnog lattes? Dude, those are meant to be spiked with rum, and their true purpose is to ward off frostbite. Take it from the son of a Scot, I know.

The pinnacle of this surreal experience has been the “Christmas in the Park” display in downtown San Jose. Picture this: a good acre of park covered in some kind of white mesh, surrounded by miniature displays of Santa’s elves throwing cotton-ball snowballs at each other, and other Christmas schtick. I feel sorry for the kids.