The fuzzy and the techie

No cover — Hartley, Scott (Business consultant): The fuzzy and the techie (2017)

290 pages

English language

Published May 21, 2017

ISBN:: 978-0-544-94477-0
OCLC Number:: 953710122

(1 review)

"One of the nation's leading venture capitalists offers surprising revelations on who is going to be leading innovation in the years to come Scott Hartley first heard the terms fuzzy and techie while studying political science at Stanford University. If you majored in the humanities or social sciences, you were a fuzzy. If you majored in the computer sciences, you were a techie. This informal division has quietly found its way into a default assumption that has mistakenly led the business world for decades: that techies are the real drivers of innovation. But in this brilliantly contrarian book, Hartley reveals the counterintuitive reality of business today: it's actually the fuzzies-not the techies-who are playing the key roles in developing the most creative and successful new business ideas. They are often the ones who understand the life issues that need solving and offer the best approaches for doing so. They also …

"One of the nation's leading venture capitalists offers surprising revelations on who is going to be leading innovation in the years to come Scott Hartley first heard the terms fuzzy and techie while studying political science at Stanford University. If you majored in the humanities or social sciences, you were a fuzzy. If you majored in the computer sciences, you were a techie. This informal division has quietly found its way into a default assumption that has mistakenly led the business world for decades: that techies are the real drivers of innovation. But in this brilliantly contrarian book, Hartley reveals the counterintuitive reality of business today: it's actually the fuzzies-not the techies-who are playing the key roles in developing the most creative and successful new business ideas. They are often the ones who understand the life issues that need solving and offer the best approaches for doing so. They also bring the management and communication skills that are so vital to spurring growth. Hartley looks inside some of today's most dynamic new companies, reveals breakthrough fuzzy-techie collaborations, and explores how such collaborations work to create real innovation"--

1 edition

DaveNash3 reviewed The fuzzy and the techie by Hartley, Scott (Business consultant)

Review of 'The fuzzy and the techie' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

As a liberal arts major I have confirmation bias to love this book. I don't buy the argument completely, but the author does a great job arguing for the role of liberal arts grads in the high-tech world. The book was very readable - I read it in one day. The chapters on jobs and design etihcs were the best, the chapter on building a greater good wasn't so interesting.

Hartley's basic argument is that liberal arts majors have to serious hard skills mainly logic and communication. A need for user center desinged highlights the role of inituite, feeling, empathic people who tend to be liberal arts majors and can't be easily replaced with AI.

Hartley's really aruging that the two sides should work together, not that LA major will take over Silicon Valley.

My beef with this is that while I conceed there are plenty of successful LA major's …

As a liberal arts major I have confirmation bias to love this book. I don't buy the argument completely, but the author does a great job arguing for the role of liberal arts grads in the high-tech world. The book was very readable - I read it in one day. The chapters on jobs and design etihcs were the best, the chapter on building a greater good wasn't so interesting.

Hartley's basic argument is that liberal arts majors have to serious hard skills mainly logic and communication. A need for user center desinged highlights the role of inituite, feeling, empathic people who tend to be liberal arts majors and can't be easily replaced with AI.

Hartley's really aruging that the two sides should work together, not that LA major will take over Silicon Valley.

My beef with this is that while I conceed there are plenty of successful LA major's in tech, they still represent a small percentage of all LA majors. The average LA major ins't getting a tech job. He gives a great example of theater major becoming a health-tech CEO, but I have alot more examples of theater majors waiting tables in manhattan for life. The average STEM major has a better shot, but the better advice is don't be average.

Subjects

Creative ability in business
Social aspects
Telecommunication
Humanistic Education