Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62198
From Editors the F.Y.I. So far, the 21st century is all about information. Past centuries were run on agriculture, industry, or transportation, but in our day and time, knowledge is the coin of the realm. We have come to expect total access all the time—to stock prices, to world news, to entertainment sources, to friends who live halfway around the globe. There's almost nothing we want to know that we can't learn within minutes. But what do we do with all this information? When so much news is available, all the time, how can we tell what's important and what isn't? Maria Bartiromo addresses just that question in her book Use the News. She leads readers through exercises that will help them separate true news from what she calls "noise"—events and announcements that have no real importance, even though they might be introduced with great flourish. Her advice is threefold: Focus on what the news means; ask questions about how it affects the business you're following; then put those answers in context. She's specifically talking about infor- mation that affects the stock market, but such an approach can help you make sense out of any news announcement that might have an the classroom. And, in a growing number of business schools, students are learning how to use cutting-edge equipment in high-tech settings and real-market data feeds in simulated trading rooms as they analyze corporate offerings, stock prices, and trade deals. While that's a great deal to absorb, students seem to be thriving on the challenge. impact on your business or your career. Perhaps no one on the planet is bombarded with more informa- tion than business students. Not only are they learning basic concepts of finance, marketing, organizational behavior, and accounting, they're often pitchforked into situations where they're required to use their new knowledge instantly. Some students are managing millions of dollars in real money; some are starting and operating small businesses within the context of "Student interest is not the barrier," says Bruce Weber of the trading floor at the Baruch College of the City University of New York. It's the older, established faculty who sometimes experience information overload as they work to stay one step ahead of students when learning how to manipulate complicated new hardware and soft- ware. Those who master the technology are opening hundreds of new doors for themselves and their students. It seems like a grand time to be young and plugged into the information net- work, learning something new not just every day, but every millisecond. And it's not such a bad time even for those of us who are a little older or a bit bewildered by the banquet of information spread out before us. We just need to take a deep breath and filter everything down. Focus; ask questions; put the answers in context. There's so much we can learn. ■ z 4 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003 BILL BASCOM