Giving it Away for Free
A fair amount of my headspace has been occupied lately with how or whether business/entrepreneurial language makes the transition to conversations I have with and about academics and academia. One of these concepts is "giving it away for free." There are marketing gurus out there who talk a lot about the strategy of going ahead and sharing the awesomeness you have (as an entrepreneur or business owner), in the hopes and expectation that your people will find you easier that way and that once they have found you and are paying attention to you, you can sell them more exclusive access to your awesomeness. Because this is a marketing model based on generosity, I find it pretty appealing. It assumes that not all of our interactions--in business or otherwise--are grounded…