Dilbert

Not every strip is a keeper, but the best ones are sublime—pure genius in three panels.

Advice versus Corroboration:

Here is a quote that we like, but with we don′t entirely agree; so it is not on the Quotes page:

 “No one wants advice, only corroboration.”

—John Steinbeck

We think that Steinbeck is a little too general here.  We prefer: insecure people don′t want advice, only corroboration, but it is not as catchy.

Personal insecurity creates enormous incentive problems (with large agency costs) within organizations. 

We like the justification of academic tenure as a way to mitigate this type of costly insecurity.  See our post Insidious Insecurity or Incentives in Academia by H. Lorne Carmichael in The Journal of Political Economy, June 1988, Volume 96, No. 3, pages 453 – 472.