In my other life, I was under daily (hourly?) attack by people who disliked attorneys. Until, of course, they needed one, and then they wanted to be my best friend.

From time to time I reflect back on the survey of the American public that the American Bar Association (ABA) did a few years ago on people’s perceptions of lawyers.

The ABA found that many people held lawyers in low esteem because, among other things, they perceived them as too hard nosed, too aggressive in their representation of clients, etc.  But when the survey asked these respondents what qualities they/the respondents would most want in their own lawer, at the top of the list were items like, “I want him/her to be aggressive” and “I want him/her to be hard nosed for me”.

Go figure. Ahhh Americans …. they never cease to amaze me and prove time and time again that those darn economists may be right – maybe we are a people, no different or special than others, who are motivated by self interest and we respond to incentives that favor what we value in life  (rational choice theory!).

Now that I am in a business school, I have found that my pain in this regard has not subsided.

My friends across the world have recently emailed me, over and over and over (will you people get back to work?!), the recent Wall Street Journal article, Business Schools Forgetting Their Missions?

Good article. It raises some excellent points. And it also raises a few points that don’t hold much water.

And yes, business brow beaters out there, I read the darn thing long before you emailed it to me. No need to send me another! Get back to work! I already have plenty of copies!

But like most things in life, at least in my view, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

Your thoughts?

Brow beat away. But don’t look for me to argue back or try to counter. I have (finally) learned that there are some arguments in life one just can’t/won’t win with somone on the other side who has made up their mind.  E.g.,  the abortion debate, creationism vs. evolution debate, “are there too many lawsuits in America” debate, “does the rest of the world need American style democracy” debate, the “school vouchers are a good/bad thing” debate, the “we need universal health care” debate, the “the UN does/does not do a good job” debate, ”China is corrupt and the devil versus it’s trying to move forward in good faith” debate, etc., 

I see this as another such issue.

But hey, let me try to close by accentuating the positive. I am doing what I can do make a difference. There is no question in my mind that taking a group of  Orfalea College of Business graduate students each year to China, and now possibly India, is consistent with the core mission of our businesss school, higher education and a hands on eduction.   Can we do more and do better?  Of course.  Of course.  Of course.

And to further accentuate the positive that comes out of business schools and the professors who work in them, this weekend, if you stop by my house, you might just find me re-reading the book by fellow law professors Tim Fort of the George Washington University business school and Cindy Shipani of the University of Michigan business school’s, The Role of Business in Fostering Peaceful Societies.

Now, enough from me about this debate.  I need to get back to work. 

But I do welcome rational and reasonable thoughts on this subject.   And I REALLY, REALLY welcome proposals for improvement that are practical, can actually be exeucted in a reasonable amount of time, and can be afforded and paid for in a resource constrained  enviroment.  If you can offer such a proposal, you are da’ man or da’ woman.