poet as Dr. Seuss nor as succinct. But what bags, go sliding, and let the
distinguishes his talk is not just its brevity. exam grades fall where they
He provides some very good advice. We would. Instead, I let bad, if
should all be careful what we swallow, well-intentioned, advice
especially in our information-saturated carry the day.
L
UCEY
world. But today, I’m not interested in Like most bad advice,
giving you any good advice. Rather, I this counsel was hampered
HITNEY
W
would like to focus on something far more by the misjudgment and the
YN
THR
common and far more interesting. I’d like limited perspective of the
K
A
to talk about bad advice. advisor. I should have known
B
Y
O
As all of you have already experienced, that a 65-year-old lawyer
PHOT
there is no shortage of people willing to who still talked about his Interim Chaplain Chris Epperson is presented with a
offer you advice. Parents, friends, siblings, first-year contracts grade was
Richard Grosvenor print for his service to SG.
aunts, uncles, talk-show hosts, everyone not a reliable source under
has an opinion, and with 24-hour news the circumstances. At the same time, good a victim of his own experience. Up until
channels, the Internet, the blogosphere, advice does exist—as in the Dr. Seuss that time, computers had always existed in
cell phones, text messaging, and good old- example above. So, how can you tell good one form—large centralized units that
fashioned gossip and rumor, there have from bad? It’s not easy, but since it’s still took a great deal of expertise and power to
never been more ways to proffer that better to avoid bad advice than to recover operate. No one had really imagined
advice. However, with that much opinion from it, it’s worth practicing. In time, you widely distributed, low-cost, networkable,
floating around, there is no form of qual- can learn to spot some kinds of bad advice consumer-oriented computers. Thus,
ity control. Anyone can say anything, and in advance, and thus avoid some of the Olsen’s advice represents something of a
everyone claims to be an expert. As a heartache that otherwise follows. So, like a failure of imagination. Like many experts,
result, a great deal of the advice you are biologist trying to identify one species Olsen could see only the template that had
likely to get is simply bad. from another, I offer the following field existed up to that point, and given that the
Personally, the worst advice I ever guide to the taxonomy of bad advice and model had been a success for him, there
received came when I was in law school. (I with each species illustrated by the dra- was no impetus, no impulse for him to
am of course not counting the many well- matic misjudgment that underpins it. look outside that template. As you each
intentioned but benighted souls who The first sort of bad advice comes from are offered the advice of your own experts,
advised me to go to law school in the first what we could call the misguided expert. In you would do well to consider to what
place…) Anyway, in 1988, I was offered a 1977, the same year Dr. Seuss was address- degree that expert is depending upon an
chance to compete for the United States in ing Lake Forest, the world of technology outdated point of view or analytical
a World Cup bobsled race in Calgary, was dominated by Digital Equipment model. Like generals still fighting the last
Canada. The problem was, the race con- Corporation. Founded and headquartered war, experts tend to see the landscape in
flicted with my first set of exams. North- near Boston, DEC was one of the original the model that’s most familiar to them.
western was willing to allow me to high-tech giants, building a full range of This is where your experience at St.
reschedule the tests themselves, but every computer systems and hardware. Unfortu- George’s can help you. I hope that one of
person I asked, from friends, to profes- nately for DEC, their product line focused the things you’ve learned is to think criti-
sors, to the dean, told me that missing out on mainframe, central computers. That cally, to weigh and apply not just familiar
on the preparation for the exams would same year, Ken Olsen, one of the founders information, but to examine multiple
irreparably harm my grades, and that as a of the company and a nationally respected points of view, and to draw a considered
result, I would be unlikely to ever recover expert, opined as follows: “There is no and principled conclusion of your own.
professionally. So, I declined the spot in reason for any individual to have a com- Combine this practice with a creative,
the race—a decision I have regretted ever puter in their home.” Um, right. flexible mind, and you can easily counter
since. My gut was telling me to pack my As wrong as Olsen was, he was simply the bad advice of the misguided expert.
ST. GEORGE’S 2008 SUMMER BULLETIN 39
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