Their mission was to anticipate how future talent development would unfold. By doing so they would have time to prepare their organizations and clients transition to new demands from changing markets and industries.
“5” Steve Nash, 45: “This is an intensely psychological game. Whether you win or lose will depend on your ability to accurately sum up a situation. Watch and predict before you make your move.” Aquarius
Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 74 in Season 2 of “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 3rd day of July in the summer of 2020.
“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”
Season One and Two are a two-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic and then in this unfolding pandemic year.
Previously in Season Two, the Pandemic Year
S2 E73 — WorkFit: Chopping Off 12 Losers at the Intersection of Speed and Independence; S2 E72 — 20 Niche-Specific Opportunities Found After Making Soul Crushing Mistakes; S2 E71 — My Top 13 Worst Jobs of All Time
Related from Season One, the Normal Year
S1 E74 — You Know What To Do, Yeah Right!; S1 E73 — Do You Need a Little Leo da V Time Too?; S1 E72 — It’s Taken so Long, I Could be Wrong; S1 E71 — Isn’t There a Placebo for This?
Context
This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.
In the previous episode I listed 7 out of my 33 positions, as an example, that fit what the human resource executives identified as the first of four scenarios.
Their mission was to anticipate how future talent development would unfold. By doing so they would have time to prepare their organizations and clients transition to new demands from changing markets and industries.
Now we turn to the second at the intersection of high degrees of independence and mastery and add 18 positions to last episode’s list.
| High Independence & Speed | High Independence & Mastery |
| 6. Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Worse Fit | 7. Professional Training Company: Worse Fit |
| 23. Organization Development — Technology: Better Fit | 8, Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms: Worse Fit |
| 24. Startup — Quantum Learning Systems: Better Fit | 9. Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company: Worse Fit |
| 25. Director Continuous Improvement: Better Fit | 10. University Extension Instructor: Worse Fit |
| 26. Organization Development — Tech Company: Better Fit | 11. Consultant Leadership Academy: Worse Fit |
| 30. Venture Guidance: Better Fit | 13. Consultant Professional Services: Worse Fit |
| 32. Consultant — Product Development Merger: Better Fit | 14. Bank CD Conversion Tracker: Better Fit |
| 16. Graduate Student Assistant: Better Fit | |
| 17. Graduate Assistant Internship: Better Fit | |
| 18. Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Better Fit | |
| 19. Artist — Cards, Poetry, Photos: Better Fit | |
| 20. Information Preneur — InFox: Better Fit | |
| 21. Research & Development — Career Change: Better Fit | |
| 22. Trainer, Management Development: Better Fit | |
| 27. Knowledge Management — Brand Company: Better Fit | |
| 28. Knowledge Media Business: Better Fit | |
| 29. Key Executive Advisor: Better Fit | |
| 33. Advisor — Executive MBA Program: Better Fit |
High Independence and Mastery
Better or Worse Fit?
7. Professional Training Company — Focus on customizing suite of supervisory training programs. Seemed old school, been that done that, couldn’t engage my attention and I didn’t sell new business, but it made sense to my growing knowledge management “Robin Hood” sense or repurposing what you’ve done to grow revenue. But, I also learned I wasn’t cut out to turn out and deliver supervisory courses for clients like a university hospital, a transportation agency, or even to three technology companies. I lost interest in management training in slow moving mature organization types while craving the adrenalin rush of working in Paradoxy-Moron companies. It just didn’t satisfy the idea packaging talent I developed when the ideas were old and trending towards commodity knowledge — Worse Fit
8. Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms — I activated Plan B as an independent contractor delivering outplacement group training sessions and coaching at two firms. For the second I held down the fort while the founder underwent heart surgery. He recognized my heart wasn’t in his business and his pressure to sell. I was much more interested in conceptualizing which trends — demographic, social, technical, economic, political — through their interconnectedness would produce major opportunities for new products, services and careers — Worse Fit
9. Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company — Can you interject innovation into a century’s old mature company? It was a complex, complicated maneuver with tons of new knowledge and new ideas packaging. But, I yearned for a return a more Paradoxy-Moron organization that thrives on high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed — Worse Fit
10. University Extension Instructor —teaching reengineering and continuous improvement as an idea packager thrilled and challenged me, but it represented a hell of a lot of work for low pay — Worse Fit
11. Consultant Leadership Academy— Medical laboratory that didn’t present the challenge of high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed — Worse Fit
13. Consultant Professional Services — Advised software startup who seemed to be the Swiss Army Knife of surveys with additional functions and features that could fit almost any requirement in the human resources development profession. Their niche was their ability to conduct a survey and generate findings almost immediately instead of weeks which increased the probability that leadership development could be initiated right away — Worse Fit
14. Bank CD Conversion Tracker — Challenge of manual to technology operations. Problem solving. detective following a pattern of clues. No paper work. Solved, move on, keep my mind engaged — Better Fit
16. Graduate Student Assistant— never received great grades in under graduate classes; more serious after the Army — more autonomy, flexibility, enjoyed research and knowledge work — Better Fit
17. Graduate Assistant Internship — working for the State of California half time and professional services startup 50%. First job in psychology field — Better Fit
18. Vocational Rehabilitation Services — the more interesting patients were cops, firefighters and sheriffs who filed stress claims. Set up the first behavior modification steps to more objectively evaluate patients and group job club reinforcement for self-placement while marketing not selling. Exposed to Outplacement. Something new — Better Fit
19. Artist — Cards, Poetry, Photos — Creative expression combining my new found love of photography with prose and poetry. Considered creating a line of greeting cards and posters — Better Fit
20. Online Membership Start Up — Information ‘Preneur ways of making money while you slept. Based on “Money in your Mailbox.” Experimenting with personal computer. Named InFox for Information Exchange — Better Fit
21. Research & Development — Career Change — field testing my approach — tried to sell to Orange Coast and Coastline Community Colleges. Orange County the Association Training and Development — Better Fit
22. Trainer, Management Development— Research, trends and past information interviews. Internal Outplacement – sold it and got permission. Learned on the job — improve quality, introduce new technology, teach and facilitate sales teams (I know, right) and at corporate headquarters send high potential managers in the developmental pipeline to university executive programs for rounding out. I learned large-scale organizations resist change like an immune system does. Developed and refined my skill and talent to package new ideas — newer ways of doing things better — than the tried and true, especially during a decline when hundreds of employees receive their pink slips on Fridays. Oh you need a plan A for thriving in the good times and a plan B for surviving in the dark times — Better Fit
27. Knowledge Management — Brand Company. Strategy and Brand Consultancy. We crashed our models together — learning and development, knowledge creation, media production, internet communities, advertising and marketing. We pioneered a way of capturing the essence of a brand on digital video, searched through audio tracks for the touch points and reused portions of the interviews for orienting new coders hired at accelerated rates — Better Fit
28. Knowledge Media Business — Three of us tried to make a go of our pioneering efforts to capture the new knowledge being spun off so it wouldn’t fall through the cracks for Paradoxy-Moron organizations. But the market didn’t support it and we had to go our separate ways — Better Fit
29. Key Executive Advisor — heading up the regions outplacement for C-suite services paid for by their former company. I covered delivered individual and group facilitated services for offices throughout the Southern California Region from San Diego to Woodland Hills, Pasadena and West LA. It dawned on me that who you knew made the most difference for people at this level I created an online community for information and insight sharing and of course for trusted referrals — Better Fit
33. Advisor — Executive and Healthcare MBA Program — a decade which I view as a field test or a laboratory for the content in these second volume books. I proposed a curriculum to the Director for him to review and meet with me. “Why would anyone choose to come back to school for an executive MBA (and spend over $100,000 over two years) when you’ve got all they’d ever need in this curriculum? — Better Fit
Summary of the Two Higher Independence Scenarios
First of all more employment opportunities lined up in the High Independence and Mastery list. Of the 18, 6 made the worse fit list, leaving a dozen better fits. Looking back, most of them but not all of the opportunities emphasized a professionalism that comes from accumulating more knowledge and experience. It also emphasizes a more methodical, reasoned approach towards developing others.
In the next episode we turn to higher degrees of affiliation combining with high speed and mastery.
Evidence
Random ones that make me want change my sign.
“3” Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The gap between a certain dream and the reality of the situation has been quite wide for a good while. Now, you’re in for the thrill of closing that space and bringing something truly fantastic at hand.” Aries
Am I really in for the thrill of closing the gap between my self-publishing efforts and the first drips of support? Not seeing it.
“3” Steve Kerr, 54: “What would you most like? You can have what you set out to get, as long as you stick to one thing. If you chase after two or more things, you’ll end up empty-handed.” Libra
Probably true, but I subscribe to the Brian Enos school of creative passion projects. When one Minimum Viable Product test fails, you move on to the next one while conducting a post mortem on the first to see what can be salvaged and repurposed.
“4” Steve Harvey, 62: “A good mentor may come from a different background and work in a different field and still have exactly what you need including a treasure trove of mistakes and the learning that goes with that.” Capricorn
Now try telling , no selling that to a potential protege. When I matched Executive MBA students to my mentor members I warned all those EMBAs and HCEMBAs (Health Care Executive MBA) to sign up as quickly as possible when I announce the deadline, because as they filled out their applications each one included a timestamp. I began my matching process with the first person and continued sometimes to student 35 or 40 in year one or year two. While the TauBit turns out to be true, it’s a hard one to swallow when you’re #35.
“5” Steve Nash, 45: “This is an intensely psychological game. Whether you win or lose will depend on your ability to accurately sum up a situation. Watch and predict before you make your move.” Aquarius
Isn’t it though? Accurately summing up the situation seems increasingly polarizing, doesn’t it? I had high hopes for the some of the elements from “Passing Storm” or “Good Company” would evolve to mobilize the country around shortening the length of our confinement and placing us on a more positive path to recovery.
What’s Going On …
Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll
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- @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4073 to 4231.
Foresight
Quality-of-Life
Long-Form
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- Saw the movie, didn’t realize that one of my favorite authors, Michael Connelly — his detective Hieronymus (Harry) Bosch book series and Amazon Prime series — also wrote, “The Lincoln Lawyer” which I just finished. Gotta tell you I can’t not see his lead character (Mickey Haller, Bosch’s half brother) as anyone else but Matthew McConaughey.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate
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