[M.K. Thompson]Help others and help yourself

"Information is power." We instinctively recognize the truth of this statement. Information today about tomorrow`s winning lottery ticket number certainly would be lucrative. Information about future stock prices, professional sports outcomes and even natural disasters could be equally powerful in the hands of investors, professional gamblers and public safety officials.

Many countries have enacted laws to protect the public from the harm that can come from individuals wielding private information for personal gain. (Prohibitions against insider trading are a good example.) But when it comes to sharing information on a personal basis, the balance of power is much less clear.

Students (and even faculty) in a competitive environment will sometimes refuse to share information or work with other people. They do this because they are afraid of losing status in the academic hierarchy by giving up a competitive advantage and/or by helping a competitor gain an advantage over them. This kind of information hoarding happens every day all over the world. But is this really effective?

To gain an additional advantage, the new information must be true, desirable or useful and difficult to obtain. In the age of information, there is increasingly more information available than any of us can process so there is less and less advantage in this strategy. In addition, "the internet knows all" but the internet also lies. Not all information is accurate and complete. Acting on incorrect information can be far worse than not having the information at all.

It is also not clear that withholding information or advice maintains any existing advantage. There is far more room at the top than most people realize. In classes, there are almost always enough A`s for students who have earned them. There may not always be enough prizes, jobs, raises or promotions for everyone who wants and deserves one. But refusing to help others won`t guarantee that other people won`t receive them anyway. It also won`t guarantee that you will receive those awards if the others you refuse to help don`t receive them.

What is certain is that you will annoy, anger and alienate your peers, co-workers, colleagues and supervisors by this type of behavior. This, in turn, substantially lowers your chances for getting help and rewards in the future.

On the contrary, helping others very often means helping yourself. It has been shown many times that students learn more by teaching each other than by studying alone. This is because you learn the material better as you teach it. Your peers will also ask you questions that you would never think to ask yourself and help you to think about the material in new and different ways.

But there can be other advantages. Sharing information and data can lead to co-authorship on papers and life-long collaborations. You may receive information, data and advice in exchange. Eventually these interactions can lead to promotions and other successes. Most importantly, a more open approach allows you to focus on your real work and the real problems that you are trying to solve. Power and information games are exactly that - games. They distract you from the task at hand. Time spent worrying about your competitors takes time away from teaching, learning, mentoring and research and service activities. Ultimately, this takes a toll on the quality and quantity of your work (and learning), your career and your future.

There are certainly times when guarding information is important and necessary. Intellectual property issues (patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc.) are becoming increasingly more problematic. Professional patent breakers spend their time looking for weaknesses in patent applications. They can void months or years of work in a matter of hours. As a result, it is becoming more common for companies to simply keep their intellectual property secret rather than relying on the patent system to protect them.

Soft drink companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have taken this approach for years. In 2006, three people were arrested for stealing the recipe for Coke and trying to sell it to Pepsi. (Pepsi promptly turned them into the FBI.) There are also concerns in academia about having your papers "scooped" by other researchers who will try to write and publish a paper based on your ideas faster than you can.

These practices are ethically questionable at best. There is no question that you need to look out for yourself and your work in this day and age. But an overly aggressive or introverted approach can be equally, if not more, dangerous. In the attempt to protect yourself and your career from others, you may ultimately end up shooting yourself in the foot. This is messy, painful, and unproductive. It can result in permanent damage to your foot - and your career.





Mary Kathryn Thompson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. She can be reached at mkthompson@an.kaist.ac.kr. - Ed.