Academia VS Business
Its an interesting subject, and one that I have discussed many times in the past. Everyone seems to think that "getting a job" and making money are the most important things to be successful in life.
Well, you can chuck that idea out the window. Because, IMHO, they go hand in hand.
The main priority of any good business is sustainability and flexibility within its main objective : making money for providing goods or services. It doesn't care about other businesses necessarily, especially if other businesses are competition and reduce the effectiveness of your own.
The main priority of academia, is research. Although great scope is given to teaching, it is the individuals who eventually take up the torch and head out in their own personal directions to take whatever science or art that little bit further than before.
Where academia takes us, is anyones' guess. Some of it has value. Some research projects have higher value or more influence than other projects. However, the purpose of research is the common goals of humanity - to move forward.
Where business takes us, is the practical application of research to the real world. Business is about survival. It is practical in so much that the bottom line, cash flow, is the most important element of business. But the entire business can be influence by the analyses and practiced developed within academia.
The biggest problem that faces academia, is, ironically, its main weakness - funding. Because academics tend not to be business minded, they don't necessarily have the skills to use the knowledge they have gained in a business setting, and have to get money, usually by proxy, such as via the government.
With this in mind, most people assume that money is the most important thing in life, purely in survival terms. And it is this bias towards the business side, rather than the academic side, that leads to biases in people's opinions of every day life. The bling culture has nothing to do with academia, and everything through social status through material wealth/possession.
And yet, that material wealth/possession is in constant flux, is ever changing, as do we, to keep working, our businesses keep changing, the markets keep changing. Nothing is set in stone. Business practices we take for granted now will be shunned in the future. The dot com bubble burst. Nothing is certain.
In which case, how can anyone seriously consider that the only purpose of life is a 9-5 job, where you do a minimum of what is required for your job to not get fired, then come home and blob in front of the tv watching soap operas?
To be truly in academia, you have to be in business, to survive, to understand how things work, to be able to sell your ideas, to appeal to people how things work, to communicate.
To be truly in business, you have to be in academia, to know your business, your area, your subject inside out, and to have the power to push it forward, to have the edge, to have the vision.
So, you are probably going to work, maybe 50 years of your life. Are you ready to rush straight into business and be set up with the attitudes and weakness of business from day one? Or are you going to go back into academia for a while, until you can at least start to think about where you, your business, your industry is going?
Personally, I am in both - and I am acutely aware of the strengths and weakness es of both philosophies. Both have their purists. But the smart man plays both games to the best of his ability, and builds teams that are able to take advantage of both worlds.
