On mixing current event with business education (or the peril of teaching to the hype cycle).
Over the past ten years, we have been slammed with an array of topics and companies of questionable value and worth.
When I hear what people teach, I sometimes wonder if we are teaching the news or timeless principles.
For example, I taught the Peloton case.
At the time, it made sense; Peloton was booming; they'd taken an attractive platform model and partnered with Affirm to make purchasing their product simple.
Today, Peloton is laying people off and struggling to survive. So much for the "exercise platform" model & partnering with what some are calling a predatory lender.
Today's news about Peloton made me think of the many times that business teaching cases amp up the benefits of and undersell the risks of a company, business strategy or a technolgy.
Some topics, companies and people, in no particular order, that,, I've seen overhyped & pushed - with questionable effects.
Cryptocurrency
Blockchain
General Electric
Jack Welch
Tesla
Elon Musk
Jack Dorsey
All of Silicon Valley
I can give you dozens more examples from Europe, Latin America, & Asia.
I've also seen people repackaging old trends as hot topics (thanks Harvard and the WSJ!).
Quiet Quitting
The Great Resignation
Work from Anywhere
When we repackage old ideas as hot topics, we create the mispereception of novelty -> which misleads students about the opportunities to be found from pursuing them.
I don't question that hot-button topics demand attention or using them to justify teaching skills such as programming, digitization, critical thinking, soft skills, marketing and more.
I do question using the latest entrants on the hype cycle as core parts of the business curriculum - because they often fail to realize their value.
Rather focusing on "hot" illustrations, perhaps, we should invest more in teaching students to differentiate between "hyped" and "substantive" technologies, companies, leaders, and business practices.
If we focus on enduring successes, we will do a better job of teaching the fundamentals of how to manage technology, people and organizations.
So how to avoid teaching to hype?
First, focus your course on teaching skills & principles.
Programming. People management. Opportunity recognition. And so on.
Second, be realistic.
When discussing companies on the hype cycle, we can give a fair accounting of the risk and benefits of the technology or company at hand.
Third, avoid lionizing CEOs and billionaires.
Virtually every significant industry leader - from Jobs to Gates to Bezos - has proven to be just a human being.
Worse some have proven anathema to civil society- see Trump or Musk - for example.
Greed is not good.
Finally, use the hype cycle as a teaching device.
Teach #students to think critically. Teach them to differentiate between hype and opportunity.
After all, every so often, the #hype works out.
Best of luck!
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