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I am a little more charitable and just think that literacy is just literally not very useful the way most companies work. These people would not have been usefu
by ElevenLathe 4y ago
I am a little more charitable and just think that literacy is just literally not very useful the way most companies work. These people would not have been useful white collar workers in 1950 but it isn't 1950 anymore. Yes, they would probably be better served if they (and I -- though just the drafting of long emails is often useful for me, even if the recipients never read them) had the option of asynchronous communication, but they can get business goals done anyway. It's apparently not that big of a deal
- JimBright 4y agoHow you present yourself to others will always matter. Others may not say something to you directly about it if you dress poorly, or have bad grammar, or cannot do basic math, but the skilled WILL laugh at you quietly. It's human nature to mock incompetence. You cannot legislate or morality police it away. And in corporate America, you will be passed over for promotions and plum assignments. The only "professional" career where obvious ineptitude is publicly rewarded is politics.
- ElevenLathe 4y agoYou and the GP keep bringing this back to "incompetence" but I want to make clear that I disagree that people who don't want to read my longform emails (or are incapable of doing so) are incompetent. Socrates was probably illiterate. I am just saying that literacy is, anecdotally, not that relevant a skill in 21st century corporate jobs.