An anthropologist in Intel

Fascinating article about Genevieve Bell who leads a team of anthropologists and social scientists at Intel. A quote that is particularly interesting for academics is the comparison between universities and the private sector.  She is probably exagerating, but it is true that sometimes we academics are less supportive of debate than we think (and we should), no?

She [Bell] also discovered that Intel engineers were more welcoming of naysayers than many professors she had encountered.

“At Stanford, they didn’t like it when you told the faculty they were dead wrong, whereas here, that was a cultural value,” Dr. Bell explains. “Here I would say, ‘You are dead wrong and here are 17 reasons why and six data sources,’ and they would say, ‘That’s very interesting; tell me more.’ ”