05.11.2008
Rotman: Leaving the MBA pack in the dust
While studying current business trends, I came across a brilliant resource out of U Toronto that shows me someone out there in academia not only “gets it” or glosses over it, but teaches it. They offer a free taste of their triannual publication (subscription price $105.)—Rotman: The Magazine of Rotman School of Management—that will give you a good flavor for the prescient relevance of the “Integrative Thinking” at the heart of their program: http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca
The Rotman publications are nothing short of indispensable for those trying to grow, learn, or expand.
The amazing thing to me is that they let you download their publication for free in PDF format… because IDEAS are free and should be distributed as such.
About your comment that IDEAS are free: I suppose it depends on the way you think about them.
The question of intellectual property is a tricky one.
If an idea is all you have to sell, then giving ideas away could be the shortest distance between your time spent thinking and poverty.
On the other hand, one could argue there’s no such thing as an original idea (nothing new under the sun) and that thinkers are like explorer’s merely stumbling across something that already exists, planting their personal “flag” of identity to stake a claim to it.
Or is it the application of ideas that are what’s “own-able” and “saleable”?
Anyone?
Well, I suppose that the idea in and of itself is worthless unless someone acts upon it. In the case of Rotman, the ideas spread are those that have been “Battle Tested” and proven, which means that they have most likely been the determining factor for some sort of change.
I am 100% in favor of vetting ideas out, and even profiting on them before they are “shared”, but the idea itself is only worth as much as the activation of the idea can produce results.
So, share ideas freely… once you’ve made enough money on them, and move on to your next big idea.