«Television and film demand that people at all levels have brass balls or brass ovaries. Unfortunately, we live in the reign of the eunuch.»
Rita Mae Brown
Looking back at all the projects I did with different project partners – including major telephone companies and large organizations — I think one of the major problems with — especially interdisciplinary — projects are impotent project partners. But here is something even worse, and that’s dealing with eunuchs. While someone who is impotent can be healed, eunuchs might know how things are done, but they are completely unable to do so. And they will always be this way.
And that’s actually a problem in many areas. They are people who know, who can even perfectly explain why or how some thing done. They are experts in theory. But they just can’t do it themselves. It’s a problem of being cognitively able to understand the situation, but being practically unable to deal with it.
And yeah, in a way, I have the same problem. I can cognitively understand these people, but damn, that is nothing I can practically understand. Just not my world. If you cannot make a difference in your own organization — why do you work there? Any yeah, I did leave a really bad institute for a better one. And — in the area that I can influence — I do try to make a difference. Because I think life is short. Because I think some background knowledge about psychology, and its intersection with technology, is really helpful.
So I do not understand people who are either impotent or eunuchs. I’d expect someone with professional impotence to learn, to improve, to do anything in his or her power to be able to perform in that organization. And if that person really is an eunuch, well, to use the necessary tools to compensate for that particular … gap.
Because time is short, and we should not waste our limited time on earth.
