July 8th, 2008 by
Chris Harris
There is an interesting post in the New York Times about Google day care. Getting everything you ask for is a problem, once you get used to it. As human beings we just don’t seem to be that well suited to being super comfortable. Sadly, it tends to make us worse in all the ways that really matter.Janet Ray-Dupree also wrote a great column about the duality of those who have a mindset that’s open to growth vs. protecting one’s reputation. The results are predictable, but worth focusing on for a few minutes, especially in the context of the Google story. Intellectual classism is just as harsh a cultural weapon as any other kind of social division. It requires drawing a line in the sand between those who are in teh club and those who aren’t. Those who obtain membership have to be treated special - and there is always a growing fringe who feels it necessary to further cement their membership by ostracizing those who lack membership. Machiavelli wrote that it is better to be feared than loved, perhaps these people are just taking a page from The Prince?Google is an amazing company, I know super smart people work there who I respect a lot, and their engineering skills are beyond reproach. However, I’ve always thought that the most interesting inflection point in Google’s history will be the day that things stop going their way.
This post is particularly timely for me because a few friends of mine have come to me within the last couple months asking me if the culture of Google is really something they are interested in joining. Once Google stops losing the ability to snap up the smartest and most motivated people, they’re clearly headed in the wrong direction. It will be interesting to watch the next year or two at Google.
Posted in Ethics, Psychology | 
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May 15th, 2007 by
Amish Parashar
I am a strong believer in two simple tests for business ethics which goes as follows:
1) If you find yourself asking “Is this ethical?” then chances are that it isn’t.
2) If the independent outside observer would view situation as potential unethical, it probably is.
With these in mind I thought it would be fun to share a story I heard from a student. There is a local entrepreneur who is running a very successful business in the collegiate tutoring space. So what you ask? Here’s the rub — he who shall remain nameless makes a habit of collecting old homework assignment and old midterm and final exams. He has been doing so for some years and has amassed a large pool of questions. Students pay per review session to go over questions that are likely to appear on exams or to work out homework questions with the tutor. Those who are able to attend the tutoring sessions (for a fee) generally do extremely well on the assignments (that were worked out for them) and well on the exams (as the tutor knows the types of questions each professor has a propensity to ask). Those who do not attend the sessions study like the rest of us did…
So what?
In the face of this competitive learning establishment, a certain department has assigned virtually no homework assignments (as many students were submitting nearly identical solutions). As long as professors exist they will draw from old exams and question pools, and as long as the entrepreneur exists there will be an industry set up around even the finest academic institutions - the questions is how much is too much?
Posted in Entrepreneurial, Ethics, Psychology | 1 Comment »
