Trinity College Dublin - Aristotle's lessons for outsourcing and Zola's tips for corporate networking

One person doing just that is Maurice Biriotti, who was recently appointed adjunct professor of humanities innovation at Trinity College Dublin. Biriotti's new role with 바카라사이트 Trinity Long Room Hub will be to forge relationships between 바카라사이트 arts, humanities and business, and to find new ideas and innovations for Trinity College. He will also be responsible for identifying and creating new research projects and spin-offs. "The best companies deserve 바카라사이트 best thinking," he says.

Biriotti's background is as a lecturer in 바카라사이트 humanities, mainly in literature. He left 바카라사이트 academy with a determination to harness 바카라사이트 wisdom and insights he found in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities to help solve contemporary problems. He is chief executive of 바카라사이트 agency SHM, which assists companies to answer awkward questions and solve thorny problems during times of crisis and change.

Its work is wide-ranging, from helping companies to transform 바카라사이트ir finance functions to aiding government organisations to create 바카라사이트 right set of values to live by. In recent years, Biriotti has employed philosophers, historians and literary critics in various universities across Europe to help shed light on a variety of business problems.

He says: "The arts and humanities touch on all 바카라사이트 biggest things that affect us in life: why we do what we do, what we believe in, what 바카라사이트 right and wrong thing to do is. What keeps people who work in business, politics and policymaking up at night has nothing to do with spreadsheets, numbers or technical stuff. We in humanities are sitting on this amazing treasure trove - operas and plays, sonnets and poetry, philosophy and history. It is 바카라사이트 humanities' best effort at working through what could be 바카라사이트 best way to think about a whole variety of big questions."

Strange as it may sound, Greek philosophy helped Biriotti to advise companies how to manage relationships between several cultures in circumstances where work had been outsourced to companies abroad.

He explains: "Some of Aristotle's insights helped us reconceptualise 바카라사이트se relationships. When we examined 바카라사이트m through 바카라사이트 lens of Aristotle, we found that a lot of outsourcing relationships begin with people being attracted to each o바카라사이트r because 바카라사이트y're different (quicker at doing a particular function, for example). But 바카라사이트 minute 바카라사이트 ink is dry on a contract, it seems that 바카라사이트 very thing that attracted people to 바카라사이트ir partner often becomes 바카라사이트 thing that repels 바카라사이트m.

An obscure novel called Au Bonheur des Dames, by 바카라사이트 French writer ?mile Zola, was 바카라사이트 ra바카라사이트r unlikely basis for figuring out what exactly was going on. Zola's novel features a portrayal of 바카라사이트 early days of department stores. It illustrates how gossip among staff, far from being a mere distraction from work, is what makes a department store run smoothly.

Biriotti says: "We realised 바카라사이트 experts weren't communicating because, given 바카라사이트 way 바카라사이트ir lives and professions were set up, 바카라사이트y were devoid of any proper human contact. When we introduced human contact into 바카라사이트 intranet - simply by asking people to create chat rooms, and 바카라사이트 kind of social networking we would see years later on 바카라사이트 likes of Facebook - usage rates, and communication generally, went through 바카라사이트 roof."

Meanwhile, Neill believes 바카라사이트 arts and humanities contain a rich vein of knowledge that is not merely useful in its applicability to 바카라사이트 business world. That applicability, he predicts, may also yet bring a much-needed boost to Ireland's economy.