leveltwo Business Architects

If you're like me, you're overeducated and under-skilled. You were told to attend college and study what you like, not what was profitable, unless you're one of the lucky few who wanted to study something that made you a decent living; I studied philosophy and politics - you do the math.

One thing a liberal arts degree has probably given you is an ability to communicate effectively, on paper and orally; my classes emphasized participation and clear written articulation of ideas as keys to success, which is typical. Consequently, you were given a broad set of tools to apply to an increasingly specialized world. This has either led you to a passionate pursuit of all sorts of knowledge or an ever-deepening cynicism towards a society that rewards depth of knowledge on a tiny matter and ignorance about almost everything else over breadth of knowledge over an entire array of topics.

I am here to tell you that in order to understand anything, and certainly to be knowledgeable enough to write about it, you have to be passionate and cynical. Passion should need no explanation: in order to learn anything about a particular subject matter, you have to want to learn. I'm sure what you remember from high school attests to the importance, or lack thereof, we assign to certain subjects.

Cynicism, on the other hand, is a little trickier. We struggle with competing mental strands that tell us at one moment to be team oriented and not to rock the boat, then later to question traditional ways of doing things and to vigorously defend different strategies against prevailing opinion. The fact of the matter is that if you don't find some lunacy in the work of others, or some backwards way of doing things, then they, and you, aren't going to learn anything.

New knowledge throughout history has come from outsiders infusing old subjects with new perspectives - Marx, a German economist, revolutionized political theory, Einstein...(more) - and meeting resistance along the way. As a major in the liberal arts, you've probably already been given a heavy dose of cynicism from those 'specialists' whose extensive knowledge of their infinitesimal universe has guaranteed their financial security (I received my share of rolling eyes and scoffing when discussing political theory or some comparable subject, followed by the customary, "what kind of job are you going to get with that?").

It's time to return the favor. Be irreverent; challenge the dogmas of a particular field; make the defenders of a prevailing theory or way of doing things explain their perspectives in a way that you can understand; provide alternative solutions - the worst you can be is wrong. And, if you have to write about these topics like I do, it will offer you a better understanding of your subject; not the kind of understanding a specialist possesses, but the understanding of an interested outsider. After all, isn't that what most readers will be anyway?