I am thinking to create a special issue of S P A C E around the topic of turfism. Kind of feels like a good time to get around to it, after nine years of watching, observing, and keeping mostly to myself in Phnom Penh (well, seven. Minus two years that were spent in Vietnam, due to the pandemic).

Several things that I can’t bring myself to talk about in public space, but will elaborate on in the e-mag, have pointed me to this topic as something in need of shining a light on more clearly here while I am in Cambodia.

Is insecurity common in the international development sector?

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Sigh.

I’ll save the big critique for the private spaces of forums and S P A C E. Just this, for today, for here.

From: https://business.inquirer.net/25139/overcoming-turfism-in-the-workplace#ixzz7g3W0bzBq, this.

“When a person feels truly powerful—that is, when he has self-esteem—it is natural to share knowledge. When a person feels powerless, it is a constant temptation to hoard whatever scraps of information one possesses.”

But for me, it’s not about the egos that people have to stroke through these kinds of silly practices. It’s the result of it. Bad design.

Same resources could be better spent, in my opinion, to make the design good and optimize for that, not someone’s need to feel important. Can’t that happen in some other way? Life, personal relationships, other things that bring meaning into a person’s life? Why do they have to use work to take care of emotional needs?

Know what I mean?

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