That’s the thought that kept swirling in my head as I browsed through the Cornell course catalog. This doesn’t work for me. I was a college freshman planning out my next four years. But there was a problem: None of the available majors appealed to me. There were a few …
Decision Making
“We’ve always done it this way”
During my time in academia, I was appointed the chair of a faculty committee. When I took over as chair, the committee had a decades-old practice of holding meetings every month. Having sat through (more accurately, suffered through) these meetings as a junior committee member, I knew we could cut …
Be careful what you measure
During my time in academia, I was amazed by how much the U.S. News & World Report rankings influence decisions for both students and faculty. The Report, as you might know, ranks colleges and other degree programs in the United States. The rankings rely on a formula to determine which …
What you can learn from Netflix’s biggest mistake
Imagine a courtroom. There’s a prosecutor, a jury, and a judge. The prosecutor uses convincing evidence and polished arguments to show beyond a reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed. The defendant has no lawyer. He’s not even allowed to present arguments. He sits silently as the prosecution paints …