Using Radar to Find Your Future

This Jim Rogers talk presents some interesting, seemingly paradoxical, advice to young people about preparing for their futures.

He sings the praises of studying history and philosophy in college and denigrates business schools and the MBA degree in particular. But then he says that if an MBA is your passion, get there as soon as you can. He praises farming, but says not to do it if it is not your passion.

I see this as a parallel to the way that radar works.  Typically, radars have two modes: search and track.  In search mode they are sweeping the sky looking for anything of interest.  Once they find what they are looking for, they switch to track mode and all of their power is directed at that target.

Until you find your target, cast a wide net to see what interests you and learn about the world along the way. Sooner or later, you will find the precise thing that interests you and you can narrow your focus.

Made You Look vs. Made You Look Again

There are many tricks to make someone look at something.  The goal in business is to create something that people want to look at over and over again.

I saw a very heavy person wearing a t-shirt that said "Made You Look".  People might look once, but they are unlikely to look again.  An attractive person does not need to wear something special to get you to look again.

Shared Offices Inhibit Communication and Productivity

Advocates of shared offices believe they facilitate communication.  They do increase communication of all types, productive and unproductive, voluntary and involuntary, between the occupants. They do this at the cost of concentration and productivity.

Shared spaces also inhibit some valuable communication.  When someone from another office wants to talk to one of the office inhabitants, they have to weigh whether the communication is worth interrupting two or more people, perhaps for an extended period of time.  This acts to inhibit communication from thoughtful, shy, or junior personnel who may incorrectly feel that their need to talk is not worth the cost.

Knowledge workers need to control their environment for maximum productivity.  This implies private offices that are large enough for a couple of visitors, and a variety of other work spaces available for larger groups.

The topic of people with their own offices who insist on using the speaker phone with their door open is left as an exercise for the reader.