Mike Lynch Cartoon in September 2007 Harvard Business Review

"Oh, it's a great place to work -- but the ergonomics are crap."

I have a second cartoon in HBR this month, as my pal, cartoonist Rod McKie, pointed out in the "comments" section in my previous Mike Lynch Cartoon in September 2007 Harvard Business Review.

But I could not figure out what Rod was raving about. He is, of Scottish descent, and there is a streak of madness in most Scots. I could only see the one cartoon of mine on the HBR site, so I pooh-poohed Mr. McKie's comment as completely dotty. I was wrong.

It was a surprise when I got a hard copy of the issue and saw that the crazy Scotsman was right. I did have another cartoon in there. But it was a little different. The picture was the same, but the line was changed to:

"Oh, it's a great place to work -- but the ergonomics are lousy."

OK, so they don't want the word "crap" at Harvard. Whaddya gonna do? The editor's rewrite conveys the spirit of the cartoon, but I felt that it lost some of its impact. But jokes or words having to do with a bodily function tend to make people nervous. Ah well.