Look Beyond the Algorithm

July 3, 2020

I collected a bunch of columns I’ve written, added some commentary, and wrote a handbook whose working title was CEO’ing for Dummies. (Obviously I can’t call it that for real, because the “for Dummies” is somebody else’s line; but it made a good working title.) Instead of CEO’s dispensing their wisdom to the masses, it was things that employees would like to tell CEO’s.

A friend was delighted with it, and suggested that I try to publish it. I looked up a publisher that seemed in line with the book’s focus, and answered a questionnaire.

In addition to questions about what the book was about, some of the questions were, “Have you ever appeared on TV?”(Yes, I have. Many times.) “What is your social media presence?”

Not, “Do you have a degree in writing?” (I don’t, so it’s probably just as well that they didn’t ask.) It seems like they’re trying to make sure you’re media-ready for the publicity tour before they’ve even read the book.

When Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women, she dropped it off at the publisher’s office and left. Ditto with Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird. Nobody asked if they’d been on TV or used Twitter. They just read the manuscript.

Ironically, one of the first columns I included in the handbook was a warning not to make decisions about winnowing prospective employees based on computer algorithms.

Maybe I should have put that in the questionnaire.