The research world continues to reel from upheaval. Although my day-to-day is supporting clients with proposal preparation, outreach and related, it doesn’t feel like it’s time yet to go back into those topics in this newsletter. People are still processing what it would mean to not have a job, to have to lay off students or staff, or to make other major adjustments.

Although I’ve worked in research, as a practitioner or manager, on topics related to Earth, space, and the natural and built environment, I trained as a geologist. It’s geology and the rocks themselves that have always had my heart. There’s nothing like holding a rock and feeling the time and transformations it represents.

Possibly for that reason it’s not hard for me to expand my awareness to longer timescales. Taking that perspective can help contextualize the current disruption as a blip. That’s not to diminish the real losses and damage to careers and institutions. However, wisdom traditions tell us that both perspectives can be valid: This period can be both a blip on the screen, and a catastrophe.

So how do we think about what we’re going through within that bigger context? This newsletter will return to career-related topics, but for now it requires a bit more setup, so please bear with me.

You’ve probably heard the term information economy. It’s been used to describe an economy driven by information and knowledge. Think of knowledge workers in cubicles instead of line workers in a factory. We’ve been moving through the evolution of the knowledge, or information, economy for decades.

You may also have heard the term attention economy, a derivative of the information economy. There is too much competing information. What matters is what people choose to put their attention on. Too many papers to read, conferences to attend, people to talk to, etc. In our professional and personal lives, we are constantly making decisions and tradeoffs in terms of where to place our valuable attention. Shortened attention spans, overwhelm and analysis-paralysis are their resulting states.  

So, what comes next? I argue we’ve already moved into the wisdom economy. I named this business Wise Investigator for that reason. What’s happened recently convinces me that we are now fully there.

Let’s consider what it means:

First, wisdom economy doesn’t have a consensus definition the way information and attention economies do. Therefore, I’ll explain what it means to me -- but it should not be taken to mean only that. I encourage you to think about what a wisdom economy could mean to you. My short list: tuning in to intuition, standing on our own, and discerning and developing our most valuable contributions.

Tuning in to intuition: When we are faced with too many options, it’s overwhelming. We can’t say yes to every invitation or engagement. When considering options, it can be helpful if we’ve kept track of past outcomes associated with certain activities as a means to inform decisions. Similarly, we can’t pursue every research or business idea we have. Running ideas by others can provide helpful perspective.

Fortunately, metrics and others’ opinions are not all we have to go on. Where does your heart tell you to invest your time? What line of inquiry does it pull you towards? You might need preliminary data to get a proposal funded, but you don’t need it to make a decision about your life. In a wisdom economy, the intelligence of the heart is paramount.

Standing on our own: If you’re in research, you’ve been associated with important institutions. Walking the quadrangles and hallowed halls of our great universities has inspired countless students who absorb a gravitas that’s not found in a home office. No doubt, these institutions have changed lives, mine included. Earning an affiliation with an institution provides a level of security and status. That said, institutions can also struggle, fail, and they can let us down.

In a wisdom economy, we work to improve our institutions while taking greater responsibility for our own careers and lives. We need not rely solely on an employer to advocate for us and promote our accomplishments. If you have an idea or news to share, there are many ways to get it in front of others. Less dependence on institutions allows us to develop a stable center of our own, one that is less affected by external forces while we ourselves become more self-reliant.

Discerning and developing our most valuable contributions: While the proliferation of AI has many speculating on the displacement of humans in the workplace, AI should make the value of our unique contributions more obvious. Instead of having to do everything, AI can selectively take work off our plates, making space for things that are fully ours and fully human. I’m using and continuing to explore AI to better serve our clients. It would be irresponsible if I were not, given that we aim to use all means possible to deliver the best and most efficient service we can.

All that said, we each have ways we will need and want to express ourselves. For me, one form that takes is this newsletter. Writing weekly is a joy and a privilege -- a very human endeavor from the big ideas all the way down to catching typos after it’s published. In a wisdom economy, we discern where we can provide the most value and we develop ourselves and our skills in those areas. In a wisdom economy we recognize and celebrate the human contribution in everything from technology development to communication and care for self and others.

No doubt, we are in a transition and my wish for you is to call on your own wisdom to guide you through these turbulent times. And, remember that even after an event as massive as the Permian extinction, there was recovery.

Collaborating with government scientists and engineers

The importance of collaborations to your research and career cannot be overstated. Based on a series of newsletters from last fall, I’m elaborating on this topic in videos. Check out Part 3 here where I break down how you can make the connection.

When you are ready, here’s how we can help

Need to get your research funded, this year? Check out our 10-week program to get you there.

Ready to book a call to discuss our program or to have Dr. Barzyk provide training at your institution? Let’s chat!