July 31st, 2009
I've got a friend on her way to Daytona next February. She's gonna blog about it here: http://www.cndnascarchick.blogspot.com. I wish her the best of luck, of course. I also wish more people would race on the track and not treat every single traffic situation as an opportunity to drive like an F1 wannabe in a mini-van. (Some day some frustrated unhappy-with-his-life dad in a mini-van is going to squish me on my motorcycle in his quest to beat me to the next red light.)
* * *
Sir Winston Churchill said, "You can't teach a man anything." And he was right. Oh, sure, you can facilitate people learning, and you can encourage and enable all kinds of discovery by others, but dumb-assed lectures and expository orations are nothing but ego-stroking of the highest order.
I know this, because, despite my best intentions, I am constantly ranting and lecturing at work. My team takes on a glazed, "I am thinking of sunny fields, fluffy bunnies, and pink cottton candy" look in their eyes whenever I start talking about Technical Documentation Authoring and Publishing Process (or whatever). They are good people to me, bless them all.
But it really is an abuse of my free speech, you know. Actually, I'm not even sure that there is such a thing as free speech inside the corporate world. And I don't say that in an ominous, meaningful, dangerous, subtexty kind of way. My company doesn't own me, and I don't think it thinks it does either, but it certainly puts restrictions on what I should be allowed to say and do.
But just to clarify, in other arenas I fully support free speech: If for no other reason, I support it because we need it to figure out who the assholes are.
Read more rants - Comment on this rant - Email me