Univ. to EduPodcaster: "Don't Talk to Students"

Oy.

Steve Sloan at San Jose State University has been told by his boss that he can no longer include students in his podcasts. Not exactly clear what the circumstances were, but it appears to be a mix of doing it on the school’s time and dime and, unfortunately, wanting to stifle the conversation, it seems. Take the time to read through the last couple weeks of posts to get the whole story.

But I love his response:

Who gave me permission to speak to students? Who gives me permission to broadcast my ideas to the world? Who gave me permission to talk about what I do and to open up about what I see both in my job and in the rest of my life?

I did. I have officially given myself permission to talk about where I work and what I do because that is where I work and what I do. I want the people I work with and work for to see what I do and know what I am thinking.

I also want them to tell me I am full of crap if they think I am. Because, I may be full of crap and not see it. If they think I am full of crap I want to know why they think that. I listen to what they say. If I am full of crap I want to be able to admit it and change. But, if I look at what is going on and see they are the ones full of crap I reserve the right to say that as well.

I want to be accountable to the people I call clients and/or customers and I want to give them the best service I know how to. I also feel that since I get a paycheck from the state of California, the people of the state are all my clients as well as my investors and they deserve the best return on their investment possible from me and the university I work for.

So, I give myself permission to speak, learn, try things and even make mistakes as long as I learn from those mistakes and I can only do that if people know what I am doing and talk to me.

That’s the chaotic upside to transparency, and I’m not sure how it plays out in my own life. I make a concious effort, as I know others do, not to talk too much about my own school, not to blog on company time, not to mix personal and professional. It’s hard sometimes, but Steve’s experience is another reminder. The Age of Disruption is upon us…