What is Management, Anyway?

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In the grand scheme, the goal of academic research is to advance the state of human knowledge. While this necessarily entails diving into some fairly esoteric weeds, I won't pretend that management scholars have it too tough in that regard (at least compared to chemistry). At the same time, our field is somewhat unique in that few people know what it actually means to study management (at least beyond an MBA). For years, people have been asking "so, you're getting a PhD in how to make money?" That's a fair question, but pursuing a PhD isn't usually a ticket to fame and riches. Instead, academic research in management explores topics such as innovation, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, and strategy. And because you're now thinking, "those don't really sound like real scientific pursuits either," it's probably worth digging a bit deeper.

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Hey Crowd, Who's Feeling Clever?

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​Let's say you run a research lab, and you've got a really tough problem. I mean a real doozy - your best scientists have been working on it for years and they haven't been able to figure anything out. But you still need an answer, so how are you going to get one? Enter a new phenomenon: Open Innovation. You've probably heard of companies relying on the "wisdom of the crowds" for things like the latest Doritos ad campaigns, Threadless T-shirt designs, and the world's largest encyclopedia, but you may not know that firms are also turning to crowds with their really high-tech conundrums. A number of platforms have sprung up to connect problem seekers with problem solvers, of which Innocentive (founded 2001) is probably the most famous.

I'll go more into Open Innovation (and it's cousin, Crowdsourcing) in a later post, but the basic idea behind Innocentive is that companies can post problems and associated rewards on a website where individual scientists can sign up to view them. If someone thinks they might be able to answer a problem, they connect with the company and send in a solution. The company then determines the best solutions and gives (big) rewards to the solvers - up to the tune of $100,000. Keep in mind, though, these are complex research problems. Examples include designing an injectable suspension placebo with no pharmacological or biological activity, or synthesizing a food grade polymer delivery system. So then the big question: does it actually work? 

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Making Working From Home Work

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On any given day, you'll likely find me hunched over my laptop at the dining room table or on my laptop at Maxfield's House of Caffeine. Summers tend to be quiet times on college campuses, and the hour commute to an empty office makes going in a tough proposition. So I spend most of my days working at home, which often leads folks to ask, "how do you stay productive?" Short answer: it isn't easy. Staying productive is a lot simpler with an office full of like-minded colleagues buzzing away on similar tasks. At the same time, many of the 6 million Americans who work from home on a given day are writers and artists and coders who don't have that option; they need to stay on top of their creative game without that external help. Doing so turns out to be completely possible, but it takes a bit of strategy and a lot of discipline. Here are some of the things I've found helpful in trying to stay productive (and creative) at home: 

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Friday Finds: Food!

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We've talked a lot about creativity, generally with academic theory and the occasional Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. That's all well and good, but it's more fun to see creativity in the real world and to share clever tricks we can use in our daily lives. In that spirit, enjoy a bit of DIY inspiration with these fun (and creative) foodie finds. [gallery]

For some links to follow, we've got (1) hard-boiled egg hearts, (2) egg'n peppers, (3) removing corn silk with a toothbrush, (4) cupid's arrow, (5) perfect chocolate-covered strawberries, (6) quick 'n easy strawberry hulling, (7) fresh fruit ice cubes, (8) ice cream cone cupcakes, (9) mass-produced breakfast sammies, (10) cookie cups, (11) novice chopsticks, and (12) the easy way to remove an avocado pit. Thank you, interwebs!

Now let's nerd it up a bit. You may have seen half of these already, or don't think some of them are that creative. And that's totally fine. Many people will agree that Jackson Pollack's work is (or was) novel, but they may have a hard time finding meaning in a canvas that's been massacred with a paint can. The definition of creativity that we've been using is that which is "different than what's been done before" while also being "valuable, appropriate, or expressive of meaning." Every term in that phrase requires individual interpretation, which means that in some way creativity must be in the eye of the beholder.

So if we take these ideas back to our kitchen, are we being creative? Probably not, if we simply copy the ideas wholesale (although our friends may disagree). At the same time, no idea is truly novel, and the heart of the creative enterprise is sharing, adapting, and improving existing ideas. That is what makes forums like Pinterest and Lifehacker so valuable; they allow people to exchange ideas and inspire one another like never before. I recently came across a post where someone had shared the egg-n-pepper idea above, and by the next day another commenter had riffed on it by adding onions and bacon to the meal. That artery-clogging adaptation is what creativity's all about.

And it's delicious. Happy Friday!