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Opinion
The Fox and the Hedgehog
9/6/2007
Is Google being a hedgehog and doing what it does best, and is the university also being a hedgehog and shrugging off something it shouldn't be doing anyway? I'm not so sure. I conceive of e-mail as part of an integrated package of learning communications that is pretty integral to however we're going to be delivering learning in the future. And I see colleges and universities as being in the business of information and knowledge.
Maybe the fact is that budget concerns will cause a lot of institutions to go with the outsourced e-mail packages. I'm not in favor of that. I think that institutions should be doing even more with e-mail and other electronic communications, and not just with students. We're missing the boat by not using these technologies to keep our graduates connected. And it's not just e-mail. I've been spending more time in FaceBook and similar places, and the unrealized potential for our institutions is tremendous.
I think colleges and universities (and professional associations) are by nature foxes, not hedgehogs. Maybe our academically most talented core of professionals, our top faculty, are hedgehogs because they curl up around a discrete core of knowledge and do it better than anyone else. But as organizations, we know a lot about a lot of things and wither if we don't.
Besides, think back to that Collins' quote: "The fox is complex; the hedgehog simple. And the hedgehog wins."
The hedgehog wins? C'mon! When you're talking about predator/prey behavior, like the fox and the hedgehog, the fox can afford to lose once in a while, as long as he gets lucky or skilled often enough to eat. On the other hand, if the hedgehog loses just once, he's dead meat. It's a terrible analogy, I don't get it, and it makes me a lot happier to think we're the fox, not the hedgehog.
About the author: Terry Calhoun is Director of Communications and Publications for the Society
for College and University Planning (SCUP). You can contact him through CT's IT Trends forum by clicking here. View more articles by Terry Calhoun.
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