The End of an Academic

10 January 2008 at 9:48 am Nicolai Foss 6 comments

| Nicolai Foss |

Three clear signs:

Edward Elgar has asked me to edit a collection of my papers. It will be published later this year under the title Organization, Property Rights, and Knowledge: Selected Papers of Nicolai J Foss.
I got back a review report that condemned my submission with the following words: “It lacks the freshness of the early Foss papers.”
And, now, the decisive sign, I received a mail with the following content (here anonymized):

“Dear Professor Foss,

I am contacting you from a London based executive search firm called the NN Partnership. We are currently working with UU University to find them a Dean of their Business School. I would be delighted to speak to you about this and wondered if there is a convenient time to call and indeed the best number on which to reach you.

I look forward to hearing from you. With kind regards and many thanks,

JJ, the NN partnership”

I suppose all that is left for me now is to gracefully retire to my front porch where I can spend the time reading Human Action, smoking my old pipe, and yelling at the neighborhood kids. :-(

Entry filed under: - Foss -, Ephemera.

Prediction markets Why Business Ignores the Business Schools

6 Comments Add your own

1. Peter Klein | 10 January 2008 at 9:59 am

On the Elgar book, I hope you’ll choose something like this for the cover photo.
2. Warren Miller | 10 January 2008 at 12:08 pm

ROFL, Peter. Hilarious. And dead-on.
3. Rafe Champion | 10 January 2008 at 3:07 pm

The warning sign for philosophers used to be when Schilpp decided it was time to get your colleagues to write a collection of papers for the Library of Almost Dead Philosophers series. Actually it was the Library of Living Philosophers series but you get the idea!
4. Rafe Champion | 10 January 2008 at 3:10 pm

More on the Library of LIving Philosophers
http://www.siu.edu/~philos/llp/index.html
5. zatavu | 10 January 2008 at 3:43 pm

At least your academic career is ending after having had one. Some of us can’t even seem to get off the ground.
6. Dick Langlois | 11 January 2008 at 12:30 pm

Thanks, Nicolai. A few years ago, Elgar turned down my proposal for an analogous collection of my papers. You have now shown me how to put a positive spin on that.