Don't be a Stamp Licker: Use Common Sense

Hello all,

I was once admonished early in my career for doing something that a work colleague thought was a waste of time, and defended it by reminding them that we were told it was a requirement. Their response was something like- "oh you are such a good little bureaucrat, I'm not doing that." And it stung- because following the rules is part of my nature and part of my work practice.

However, over time I've seen enough rule stretching, bending, and breaking to know that not every rule should be followed, and not every person bothers to even try, and that sometimes following every rule means that you never have time to get to the really important things.

I'm not advocating for chaos- just for common sense. Using our own sense of what is important to protect us against following every rule even when it wastes our time or sets us back or obligates us to something that actually harms our wellbeing. Because especially for any underrepresented and under-respected group, following the rules is often still not enough to help us reach our goals. The rules get changed, the hidden rules get applied, or the game itself gets shifted out of reach.

So a recent NYT Opinion piece How to be Old by Roger Rosenblatt caught my eye, and this paragraph below really struck me as important.

He writes:

"6. Don’t compromise, especially a little.
Unless you’re a professional negotiator, don’t compromise. Give in a little, you might as well give up the ship. During the McCarthy era, students were required to submit loyalty oaths to maintain their scholarships. At a meeting of the Harvard faculty, a professor who had escaped Mussolini’s Italy challenged the dean on this matter. The dean responded that signing and sending in the oaths was merely pro forma and had no more meaning than licking the stamps on the letters. The Italian professor stood and said something like, “Mr. Dean, I’m from fascist Italy, and in fascist Italy you learn one thing. First you lick the stamps. Then you lick something else.”

Because I'm not advocating for chaos, I'm suggesting that we surface the problematic aspects of rules that don't serve us well, enlist like minded supporters, and advocate for changes.

As we move into the summer months and maybe get some down time to reflect back on this last academic year, think about the rules you follow and ask yourself these questions: "What, if anything, did I have to compromise in order to follow that rule?" and "What would be better if I didn't have to do that?"

All the best,
Holly