University culture and “The Geek Way”

The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset that Drives Extraordinary Results by Andrew McAfee 

Published in November 2023

We would not want to run our universities like tech companies. The culture, values and norms of academia stand—if anything—in opposition to those of tech.

Rather than “move fast and break things,” our higher education motto might be “move slowly and build knowledge and opportunity.”

That said, reading Andrew McAfee’s latest book, The Geek Way, might persuade more than a few of us in academia that we might have something to learn from tech after all.

McAfee, an MIT professor and author/co-author of some of my favorite books, is interested in why some companies combine highly desirable working environments with delivering stellar financial results. The answers he comes up with all mostly have to do with company culture. Geek companies, founded and run by those who geek out on creating agile organizational structures, are defined by four core values: speed, ownership, science and openness.

Speed refers to a bias toward action and a willingness to make decisions quickly. Companies with this mindset follow a minimally viable product strategy, launching imperfect products (usually software) into the market and iterating based on user feedback.

Ownership is an organizational allergy toward distributed responsibility and CYA. Deep domain expertise is respected over hierarchy.

Science in this context is hypothesis testing and data-driven decision-making. Evidence matters more than opinions. The HIPPO syndrome of decision-making—based on the “highest-paid person’s opinion”—should be avoided at all costs.

Openness is a willingness to debate decisions across titles, hierarchy and organizational status. Dissent is tolerated to avoid groupthink.

The Geek Way was written after the pandemic, when most tech companies (including ed-tech companies) were still flying high. Today, tech is a pretty brutal place to work, as layoffs are common and morale is low. Yet the jobs can be desirable for those able to navigate the long hours and tech boom/bust cycles. Companies that prioritize impact over status and productivity over seniority can be great places to work.

Do universities share any of the core Geek Way values?

Of the four legs of the geek table that McAfee identifies (speed, ownership, science and openness), our biggest shortfall is speed. While some universities are the exception that proves the rule (ASU, SNHU), most universities are built for longevity rather than rapidity.

The fact that we don’t move fast in higher education is both a feature and a bug. Shared governance provides a mechanism for deliberate decision-making, a structure that hopefully allows us to avoid the latest fads and fashions.

Still, in the age of AI, demographic cliffs, public disinvestment, climate change and new competitors, we in higher education might want to consider moving a bit faster.

Reading The Geek Way might provide university leaders who want their institutions to take more risks (and, in my experience, most do) with some language, frameworks and stories to help evolve their campus cultures.

Sometimes discussing a book like The Geek Way that has nothing to do with higher education can help leaders bring some new ideas into the conversation.

What are you reading?