When my company’s former president retired last year, there was a lot of talk about the “Mack truck problem.“ Known also as the “bus problem,” the idea is that some people are so organizationally important that it would be a real issue if they stepped out into the street and got mowed down by a … Continue reading On being the one getting hit by the truck
Tag: knowledge
On withholding knowledge
There was a period last week—a full 36 hours—when I knew I was going to quit my job, but no one I worked with did. I was not a fan. I’m sure that some out there enjoy the subterfuge, the game you have to play. But I don’t much like saying things I don’t mean. … Continue reading On withholding knowledge
On being indispensable
It's the best job security advice there is: Be indispensable. Well, sure—but what does that look like in practice? In my 10 years of work, I've seen the advice enacted in many ways. There was the business administrator who held company finances so close that they couldn't take more than a week off without serious … Continue reading On being indispensable
On the thrill of not knowing
Look, I don’t like to admit this: It’s sort of fun to not know. It’s at the heart of pursuit marketing—not knowing. Will we make the shortlist? Will the team interview well? Did we win? I love that mystery, the distance between what we know and what we don’t. Or, to put it more directly, … Continue reading On the thrill of not knowing
On the stories we tell ourselves (that are wrong)
It’s a human thing: we tell stories. We create narrative frameworks for ourselves as we look out at the world from within our own heads. Why this, and why that, and how could that possible make sense. Sometimes, the stories we tell ourselves are true. (Or mostly true.) When this happens, it’s just the best. … Continue reading On the stories we tell ourselves (that are wrong)
On the content of the lesson
Yesterday, I mentioned one takeaway from Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. Here is another, though really it is a nod toward John Dewey: John Dewey wrote in Experience and Education, "Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person learns only what he is studying at the time. Collateral learning … Continue reading On the content of the lesson
On how the value of trivial knowledge has an expiration date
When I started my first A/E/C marketing job several years ago, the colleague who onboarded me presented a challenge on my first day. “Twenty photos of 20 of our most important projects—I’ll quiz you on these at the end of the week.” When I got 19/20 correct come Friday, he was surprised—but I wasn’t. I … Continue reading On how the value of trivial knowledge has an expiration date
On the possibility of explaining your job away
Because we're expecting another baby in a few weeks, my wife and I have been preparing for a boring but important inevitability: Someone else will have to do our jobs for a little while. One way we've preparing, aside from directly on-boarding colleagues in meetings, is by writing stuff down. In doing this, we wondered: … Continue reading On the possibility of explaining your job away
Accumulating skills instead of knowledge
Knowledge is relatively easy to accumulate quickly, but it also depreciates quickly. Skills are hard to win, but keep their value a little longer. David Maister Knowledge is easy. Crack open a book, peruse your New York Times app, hop over to Wikipedia—all you need is attention and retention. Easy enough! In the workplace, though, … Continue reading Accumulating skills instead of knowledge
Taylor Coe 