Thinking for a Living. The Coming Age of Knowledge Work PDF
Preview Thinking for a Living. The Coming Age of Knowledge Work
Kenneth Megill Thinking for a Living Kenneth Megill Thinking for a Living The Coming Age of Knowledge Work 2nd Edition DE GRUYTER SAUR ISBN 978-3-11-028948-0 e-ISBN 978-3-11-028967-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2013 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Typesetting: Michael Peschke, Berlin Printing: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ♾ Printed on acid free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com Alice Gannon A Knowledge Worker’s Perspective I’ll give you an idea worth a million dollars every year or two. Your job is to pay me in the meantime. This book is dedicated to the memory of Alice Gannon, a wonderful records manager, who specialized in managing records of nuclear power plants. We shared a minimalist view of our profession. We agreed we should keep as little as possible, but all of the right things, we should have as few staff as possible, and pay them very well, and we should automate every conceivable task. At our last lunch together shortly before she finally lost her battle with an illness that would have felled most of us years ago, she asked me what I was up to. When I told her I was thinking of writing a book with the title, “Thinking for a Living,” she said, “I know what that means.” She went on to say, “I tell my boss that I will come up with an idea to save him a million dollars or so every year or so. In the meantime, I expect him to pay me.” Alice was worth every penny she was paid, and I miss having lunch with her. Rest in Peace, Alice Tom Sawyer’s Theory of Work Tom said to himself that it was not such a hollow world after all... If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. (Mark Twain. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Chapter II: “The Glorious Whitewasher”) Tom Sawyer is perhaps the iconic American character. For those who have forgot- ten (or never read) Tom Sawyer, let’s set the stage for this quote. Aunt Polly, Tom’s keeper and guide in life, put Tom to work on a beautiful Saturday morning. At this dark and hopeless moment an inspiration burst upon him! Nothing less than a great, magnificent inspiration. He decided to turn work into play. When one of his colleagues came by, Tom allowed him to paint, after some persuasion, because Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day? Tom had his call to adventure. By the end of the day the fence is whitewashed and Tom walks away with many valuable objects as the various boys came by and paid him for the privilege to paint the fence. When asked, Why, ain’t that work? He says, Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer. One moral of the story is that our attitude (work culture) shapes whether a given task is work or play. Tom (who spoke for Mark Twain) did not use the proper definition of work = force x distance. But then Tom skipped a lot of school and learned life rather than physics. But Tom understood that all labor was becoming forced labor in the world in which he was growing up. The industrial revolution was getting off to a rip-roaring start along the Mississippi River where he learned life. Work, if it was work, was forced. School was a preparation for the work world. Tom Sawyer’s rebellion against that world captured the essence of humanity. Tom understood that what really counts is how much I get to play. A Philosopher’s View of Knowledge But how is it that some people enjoy spending a great deal of time in my company?... It is because they enjoy hearing me examine those who think that they are wise when they are not – an experience which has its amusing side. (Socrates, Apology, 19c) For those who have forgotten (or never read) Plato, let’s set the stage for this quote. Socrates is speaking to his fellow citizens in Athens. He is on trial for his life, accused of corrupting the youth. The report of his trial, called the Apology, was written by Plato. Socrates was a great teacher and thinker, but never wrote. He left that to his student, Plato. In the end, Socrates was convicted and sen- tenced to drink the poison, hemlock, which he did, with his students at his side. It is literally true, even if it sounds rather comical, that God has specially appointed me to this city, as though it were a large thoroughbred horse which because of its great size is inclined to be lazy and needs the stimulation of some stinging fly. It seems to me that God has attached me to this city to perform the office of such a fly, and all day long never cease to settle here, there, and everywhere, rousing, persuading, reproving every one of you. (Apology, 30e) It was Socrates who first asked, and answered, the question – what is knowledge? It is justified true belief, what we know works, what makes sense. Knowledge is information created by others and ourselves that we bring to bear on our lives and our work. Knowledgeable people like to be around those who make knowledge. It is their fun, their amusement.
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