Why is a University such a confusing place for someone who served their professional apprenticeship in the private sector? It should be easy. Senior executives are simple creatures aren't they? They only care about three things: the top line (are we generating revenue?) the bottom line (are we managing costs?), risks (what bad things might happen?). Not in a University it seems. Here no one knows what anything costs, or whether anything is profitable and they certainly don't want to hear bad news.
So what do they care about? Finally it dawns. Knowledge, not money, is the value currency around here. A university is a knowledge factory, its job to create, share and breed wisdom. And this isn't a zero sum game either. We can all have more of it.
What a surprise then, that so many attempts to prioritise one investment over another have ended in dissonance. How stupid to ask the venture capitalist which project will give the best return when we can't quantify this knowledge currency.
Strangely though, we often witness remarkable consensus. Many will have the same gut feel that something is a good idea. I guess we are going to have to carry on following these hunches. If the purpose is true, and we have a way to serve it, let's JFDI and hope.
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