Bellowing Dinosaurs: The Perils of Listening to Academic Advice

College people are smart, so college professors are even smarter, right?

Not always.

Today's world is moving fast (you know this), and many tenured academics have not been in the workforce for 10, 20 or even 30 years. Insulated (and often isolated), these educational professionals have the job security of tenure have very little incentive to change the status quo. In fact, it is often best for them to protect the status quo, because that is what will keep students headed in their direction, keeping them employeed.

Tenure is killing today's academic world. But that's a discussion for another time.

With the rotting infrastructure that tenure can create, more often than not the voice of academia is the voice of the dinosaur, who, like Tyrannosaurus Rex in the movie Jurassic Park, would bellow loudly at anything that threatened the status quo.

Like newspaper reporting.

My brother (and co-author of a new book) Patrick just alerted me to an article on Yahoo News about James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the two-year-old Web site pasadenanow.com in Pasedena, California who is outsourcing stories to reporters in India.

Entrepreneurs, as many of you know, are a hearty breed who need to be flexible and adaptive ... everything that academics are not.

Mr. Macpherson, our entrepreneurial hero in this tale is reported as saying (all quotes are from the article, which was written by AP writers Justin Pritchard and Matthew Rosenberg):

"I think it could be a significant way to increase the quality of journalism on the local level without the expense that is a major problem for local publications," said the 51-year-old Pasadena native. "Whether you're at a desk in Pasadena or a desk in Mumbai, you're still just a phone call or e-mail away from the interview."

Amen, Mr. Macpherson! Good for you for recognizing the reality of the global community in which we live!

Now, let's look at what the dinosaurs say:

"Nobody in their right mind would trust the reporting of people who not only don't know the institutions but aren't even there to witness the events and nuances," said Bryce Nelson, a University of Southern California journalism professor and Pasadena resident. "This is a truly sad picture of what American journalism could become."

Spoken like someone who has known an institution for far too long. These days, most employees, including reporters, stay at their jobs these days for less than 5 years. So where are the nuances?

Let's continue...

"It is a shaky business proposition as well, said Uday Karmarkar, a UCLA professor of technology and strategy who outsources copy editing and graphics work to Indian businesses. If the goal is sophisticated reporting, he said, Macpherson could end up spending more time editing than the labor savings are worth."

Why? Professor Karmarkar seems to be implying that Indian reporters are not capable of sophisticated writing. Rather elitist, no? There are no reporters in India who can write? Um....does Professor Karmarkar understand we're living in a global village?

I say, "GO, James Macpherson! Bully for you for being willing to innovate!"

Bottom Line: The next time you read about an academic pontificating--especially when said blathering has to do with the cutting-edge of business development--beware. Remember that many tenured faculty are little more than bellowing dinosaurs: low on practical marketplace experience and high on protecting the status quo. Listen to what they have to say, but take it with a LARGE helping of salt.