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> When was the last time your senior manager said: "I don't know the answer, but I'll research and get back to you" This is not an interesting question. An interesting question is whether they ever got back to you.
Some of these really speak to me, but others, like the conflation of “diversity” with modern American political conservatism, are frustrating.
> Would it be okay to sit and read a book at your job? Never had a job where the answer was yes, which is a shame, because that's still by far the fastest way to really "get" anything. They'd much rather I spend weeks googling one-off questions and wasting other people's time than being "unproductive" for a few days just going through actual documentation. Very frustrating.
> When was the last time your senior manager said: "I don't know the answer, but I'll research and get back to you" This is not an interesting question. An interesting question is whether they ever got back to you.
The Microsoft library had tons of books, subscriptions to scholarly journals, and made it easy to order new books.
> Would it be okay to sit and read a book at your job? Never had a job where the answer was yes, which is a shame, because that's still by far the fastest way to really "get" anything. They'd much rather I spend weeks googling one-off questions and wasting other people's time than being "unproductive" for a few days just going through actual documentation. Very frustrating.
I've never had a job explicitly tell me that I could just go read, but I've done just that at multiple jobs and no one has ever said anything about it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which corporation, if you don't mind me asking? And did you have a background in IR/library science specifically, or just a generalist?
It was actually in a power plant, which was not as interesting as it sounds. At least most days. My masters degree is Library Science. I've had a weird and winding career. I'm a sysadmin now.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe if the books in your library aren't touched, that's a sign that the chosen books aren't the most valuable
On the other hand, my bookshelves are almost entirely full of books I haven't read. I get rid of most books after reading them to make room for more. In that sense asking whether I'd read every book on the shelf would be like seeing a refrigerator full of food and asking if I'd already eaten everything in it.
I've pretty much hit steady state though. No more bookcases/piles of books. I don't have a lot of incentive to go beyond that for now, though I'll probably donate at least a few more bags to my library's book sale at some point over the coming months.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
(OP) Correct. The first couple sentences stress this, the questions are just mini thought experiments. Not an assertion of anything. Have fun with them, don't belabor them. If all or none of the questions aren't your cup of tea, who cares.
Yeah right. Your concern that massively overrepresented groups might be overlooked while underrepresented groups are emphasized is just a bit of fun. It's a fun position to be in where whether you get a job or not is just a thought experiment.
The thought experiment regarding diversity challenges the (typically) inconsistent implementation of it where it's more like a candy story where you pick what you like (or deem socially acceptable) and dismiss or even discourage anything else. That's not true diversity. It's equity.
Similarly, as you suggest that representation matters, and if you'd consistently believe that, then we should immediately reallocate a huge amount of women to do the shittiest, riskiest, lowest paid jobs that men currently do. Likewise, we should immediately deploy a huge amount of men in female-dominated professions, like HR, psychology, the like.
I bet quite a few would now lose their appetite for "representation". We might as well just stop pretending and admit that we have no principles or beliefs, we just want whatever is best for us or our "group", whatever that means.