A modest proposal

I discovered yesterday that MPOW is firmly committed to precisely the scenario described in this article. I'm not actually suggesting that we start firing colleagues in their golden years, but this situation is really starting to chap my hide. Why?

1. At this stage of my life, I'm more concerned with buying a house than with buying all the beer I want.
2. I and my technology-forward colleagues – mostly new and/or junior members of the profession – are being asked to create a vision for the future and be invested in its outcome to a level that, in my opinion, far outmeasures our status, authority, or pay grade. This problem is not exclusive to MPOW; in many different arenas my professional cohort is being asked to provide policy recommendations and other critical directions to those in more official leadership positions.
3. In addition to doing much of the innovating, we are spending an inordinate amount of time trying to wrangle resources and policy decisions from administrators. This makes #2 a lot more strenuous than it needs to be.

I wish my professional education had prepared me better for #3, because there's a lot more to overcoming internal resistance than merely writing a good proposal. It takes organizational intelligence, fortuitous timing, and compromise. A litigious tendency doesn't hurt, either…

ETA: Just this morning a colleague gave me an interesting perspective on #2. Despite our relative youth and inexperience, WE are the ones who feel most compelled to take the long view because we will be spending several more decades in the profession. I thought that was interesting.