The Geek Way: A Radical Mindset That Drives Extraordinary Results by Andrew McAfee
Published in November 2023
We will not want to run our universities like technology companies. The culture, values ​​and norms of education stand—if anything—at odds with those of technology.
Rather than “go fast and break things,” our higher education motto might be “go slow and build knowledge and opportunity.”
That said, reading Andrew McAfee’s latest book, The Geek wayit may appeal to more than some of us in academia that we might have something to learn from technology after all.
McAfee, an MIT professor and author/co-author of some of my favorite books, is interested in why some companies combine highly desirable workplaces with superior financial results. The answers he came up with all had a lot to do with company culture. Geek companies, founded and run by those who try to create the fastest organizational structures, are defined by four basic values: speed, ownership, science and openness.
Speed ​​refers to a bias for action and a willingness to make quick decisions. Companies with this mindset follow a lean product strategy, introducing incomplete products (usually software) to the market and iterating based on user feedback.
Ownership is an organizational conflict in distributed responsibility and CYA. Deep domain expertise is respected by positions.
Science in this context is hypothesis testing and data-driven decision making. Evidence is more important than opinion. The decision-making HIPPO syndrome—based on the “high-paid man’s opinion”—must be avoided at all costs.
Openness is the willingness to discuss decisions across topics, governance and organizational contexts. Disagreement is allowed to avoid groupthink.
The Geek way it was written after the pandemic, when many tech companies (including ed-tech companies) are still flying high. Today, technology is a very brutal place to work, as layoffs are common and morale is low. However jobs are desirable for those who can navigate long hours and tech boom/bust cycles. Companies that prioritize impact over status and productivity over executives can be great places to work.
Do universities share any core values ​​of the Geek Way?
Of the four legs of the geek table that identifies McAfee (speed, ownership, science and openness), our biggest deficit is speed. While some universities are unique in proving law (ASU, SNHU), most universities are built for longevity rather than speed.
That we are not up to speed in higher education is both a feature and a hindrance. Collaborative management provides a method for deliberate decision-making, a framework that we hope allows us to avoid fads and fads.
Still, in the age of AI, math cliffs, public disinvestment, climate change and new competitors, we in higher education might want to think about moving faster.
Reading Geek Way may provide university leaders who want their institutions to take more risks (and, in my experience, most do) with specific language, frameworks and issues to help change their campus culture.
Sometimes discussing a book like The Geek way that has nothing to do with higher education can help leaders bring new ideas to the discussion.
What are you studying?
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