Category: Knowledge Product

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S2 E73 — WorkFit: Chopping Off 12 Losers at the Intersection of Speed and Independence

So, what does mean when only one out of the list of 13 original worse fit organizations remained on the list of when independent identity intersected with a rapid pace as a dozen vanished?

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “The day is marked by a resilient spirit of independence that has you preferring your own company, keeping your own council, deciding for yourself without worry or need of any outside reassurance.” Pisces

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 73 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 2nd day of July in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E72 — 20 Niche-Specific Opportunities Found After Making Soul Crushing Mistakes; S2 E71 — My Top 13 Worst Jobs of All Time; S2 E70 — Persistent Failure

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

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?; S1 E70 — Lingering Fear My Cover Was Blown

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

It all began with the future of talent development.  I facilitated a human resources task force that listed 19 trends out of 100 that they felt would impact the composition of employees in companies of the future.

They evaluated generation X, Y, and Z demographics together with baby boomer statistics. 

They considered the increase in free agent preferences and globalization with new technologies including alternative energy. 

They sorted each of the 19 written on post-its into four clusters on the conference room wall and then free associated about the unique story each cluster told. 

Finally, they drew a box for each scenario so they could better see boundaries differentiating one from another.

And it became easier to flesh out a vertical line in the middle and a horizontal line. 

Those lines intersected in the middle like a “+” where the internal smaller boxes touched each other.    

Pretty soon the team saw the two outer vertical borders of the four boxes representing higher degrees of one dimension and the same for outer horizontal borders.  

So stories emerged along the vertical axis “+” which corresponded to an identity ranging from independent on the top and affiliated at the bottom.

And, along the horizontal “-“ axis the pace or speed on the left hand-side and time-for-mastery on the right hand-side.

Are you thinking what I was thinking?  

Now back to me.  What if we combine the two sets together and sort the 20 better and 13 worse positions I already identified to figure out why? 

So we’d have a High Degree of Independence at the top and a Higher Degree of Affiliation at the bottom. 

And a Higher Degree of Speed at the left margin and a Higher Degree of Mastery at the right hand margin.   

Here’s the display of my 25 of my 33 positions resorted first by the combination of three dimensions: high degrees of independence, speed and mastery.

I keep the original number for each opportunity and identify whether they came from the original worse or better fit lists.

First I consider 7 of 25 combining high independence and speed.

High Independence & Speed High Independence & Mastery
6.   Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Worse Fit
23.  Organization Development — Technology: Better Fit
24.  Startup — Quantum Learning Systems: Better Fit
25.  Director Continuous Improvement: Better Fit
26.  Organization Development — Tech Company: Better Fit
30.  Venture Guidance: Better Fit
32. Consultant — Product Development Merger: Better Fit

To refresh your memory from the previous episodes, I include snapshots of situations I encountered for each.

High Independence and Speed 

Better or Worse Fit?

6.  Vocational Rehabilitation Services— Three private companies offering B2B services for insurance companies.  Didn’t like opposing sides.  Close micro-management. Clients had back injuries and required work modifications or a transition into a different job classification — Worse Fit

23. Organizational Development – Technology — Climate for Innovation, (A fast-paced, innovative culture that attracted the best of the best. Our motto was simply, “It’s better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.”) World Class Manufacturing, Skunk Works, Trends and What ifs to find value during high change, Mergers and Acquisitions — Complex, Disruptive, Accelerated Changes, Just-In-Time, Safari. two different immune systems develop equal and opposite anti-bodies over five years, but especially in the first 18 months of selling something that even we didn’t understand — Better Fit

24. Startup — Quantum Learning Systems — Safari, Organizational Learning to accommodate speed of disruptive innovation, anticipating new opportunities and rapid learning as a basic skill set for reinvention — Better Fit

25. Director Continuous Improvement — Spearheading the introduction of continuous improvement and needed a director to manage facilitators from all functions. Its corporate immune system and talent culture reflected their preferred seat of the pants high pace flavor of time-to-market product introduction. Product managers wanted to know with was more important, driving revenue or scheduling yet another series of non-productive meetings — Better Fit

26. Emerging Desktop Projector Company— 200 employees generating revenues of roughly 200 million dollars required a full-time director of organizational development and training. It provided the challenge of high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed. Introduced me to tools for capturing new knowledge creation for product development teams short staffed with critical talent — Better Fit

30. Venture Guidance —Prepped potential startup entrepreneurs to seek investments from a a group of entrepreneurs and former executives who agree to pledge $50,000 each as seed or A-series funding.  In a deck of 10 slides after being coached by us individually, they’d have to stand and deliver to a group of us roll playing the sharks and throwing them curve balls and challenging their assumptions — Better Fit

32. Consultant — Product Development Merger — Advised two former competitors to define gated product development process with input from all stakeholders from innovative idea to manufacturing — Better Fit

Next time we’ll focus on my worse or better experiences in organizations whee I operated with higher degrees of independence and mastery.

Summary for High Independence and Speed  

So, what does mean when only one out of the list of 13 original worse fit organizations remained on the list of when independent identity intersected with a rapid pace as a dozen vanished? 

I rated Vocational Rehabilitation Services as a worse fit, because I had transitioned from more traditional professional psychology positions into a newly privatized services offering, largely spun out of insurance companies that had written workers compensation policies for employers in the State of California. 

My professional training downplayed the business development and sales emphasis that new companies require quickly to grow. 

It just wasn’t for me.

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“5”  Steve Howey, 42: “With your attention pulled by recent developments, it may be hard for you to concentrate on work. Devote yourself to the repetitive, tedious and necessary parts. You’ll be most productive while mentally processing life.” Cancer

Boy, that’s true for me.  How about you?  But, we introverts don’t mind the isolation so much as do the extroverts who tend to socialize for their energy replacement.  Just give me some time to concentrate on this manuscript and I’ll be happy.

“4”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “Don’t worry about starting things off on the right foot. Just lean forward and see which foot sticks out to prevent your fall. That’s what progress is — a precarious tilt; catch yourself; right yourself; repeat.” Virgo

Given that I’ve become more vertically challenged until I can get this damned left-knee replaced, I’m not too thrilled with this TauBit of Wisdom.  It hits too close to home.

“4”  Steve Kerr, 54: “Why do you like the hard challenges? They practically demand you grow stronger. You want to be a force of nature, not a victim, acted upon by other forces of nature.” Libra

Really?  I do?  The challenge needs to capture and sustain my attention or else I lose interest rapidly.  I do look for patterns so I can anticipate the direction of forces important to decisions in my life.  It’s just my nature.

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “You have your choice of routes today. As a rule, the bendy roads are more exciting and more dangerous. It’s all about sightlines. None can see around the curve. How comfortable are you with uncertainty?” Sagittarius

This reminds me of a story Joel Barker told illustrating anticipation with open filtering.  Maybe on the bendy road snaking outside of Jerome, Arizona on the route to Sedona, a convertible screams around the curve obviously enjoying the freedom of the road. Driving a bit more cautiously, but heading in the opposite direction a local with his elbow hanging out the drivers window sees them approach.  As they barely squeeze past the convertible driver yells “Pig!”. To which the local yells back, “Go to Hell!” and watches the convertible in his rear view mirror, muttering to himself.  And just then he crashes into the pig crossing the road.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “There’s someone who gives you undivided attention and places the focus exactly where it matters most to you. A solid case could be made for the premise that this is the very definition of love.”Aquarius

How should I rate this TauBit of Wisdom?  Let’s see, how about a “5”?  She’s looking over my shoulder isn’t she?  Doesn’t matter, Emma the Baroness is the very definition of love.  Right dear?

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “The day is marked by a resilient spirit of independence that has you preferring your own company, keeping your own council, deciding for yourself without worry or need of any outside reassurance.” Pisces

So, which day isn’t marked by this kind of spirit?  

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4073 to 4231.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S2 E72 — 20 Niche-Specific Opportunities Found After Making Soul Crushing Mistakes

Why did these employment opportunities land on the this list?  A feeling of independence or affiliation?  Or allowing for creative expression? Or trying and succeeding at something new?  See for yourself.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “The pro is just an amateur who has made and recovered from many mistakes. Your personal life will benefit from the application of a few marketing principles, particularly, knowing your niche and differentiating yourself.” Virgo

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 72 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 28th day of June in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E71 — My Top 13 Worst Jobs of All Time; S2 E70 — Persistent Failure; S2 E69 — How Can You Tell Who’s an Engineer at a Party?

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E72 — It’s Taken so Long, I Could be Wrong; S1 E71 — Isn’t There a Placebo for This?; S1 E70 — Lingering Fear My Cover Was Blown; S1 E69 — Anniversary Trip of a Lifetime Deep in the Heart of Tuscany

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

Up next I list 20 of my better fit jobs and clients I’ve engaged with in contrast with the 13 worse fit in my previous episode.  The key question is what was it about each project or employer that discouraged or inspired me.  

Let’s turn to the better fits now.

Worse Fits Better Fits
1.   Manufacturing 14.   Bank CD Conversion Tracker
2.   Gas Station Attendant 15.   Good Humor Ice Cream
3.   US Army 16.   Graduate Student Assistant
4.   Auto Insurance Agent 17.   Graduate Assistant Internship
5.   Retail Sales Big Ticket 18.   Vocational Rehabilitation Services
6.   Vocational Rehabilitation Services 19.   Artist — Cards, Poetry, Photos
7.   Professional Training Company 20.   Information Preneur — InFox
8,   Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms 21.  Research & Development — Career Change
9.   Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company 22.  Trainer, Management Development
10. University Extension Instructor 23.  Organization Development — Technology
11. Consultant Leadership Academy  24.  Startup — Quantum Learning Systems
12, Director Electronics Distribution Company 25.  Director Continuous Improvement
13. Consultant Professional Services 26.  Organization Development — Tech Company
27.  Knowledge Management — Brand Company
28.  Knowledge Media Business
29.  Key Executive Advisor
30.  Venture Guidance
31. Consultant — Defense Company Spin Off 
32. Consultant — Product Development Merger
33. Advisor — Executive MBA Program 

Better Fits

Why did these employment opportunities land on the this list?  A feeling of independence or affiliation?  Or allowing for creative expression? Or trying and succeeding at something new?  See for yourself.

14. Bank — Challenge of manual to technology operations. Problem solving. detective following a pattern of clues. No paper work. Solved, move on, keep my mind engaged.

15. Good Humor Ice Cream — Variety, independence. nothing in common 

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.

17. Graduate Assistant Internship — Working for the State of California half time and professional services startup 50%.  First job in psychology field.

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.

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.  

20. Online Membership Start Up — Information ‘Preneur based on ways of “making money while you slept”. Money in your mailbox. Experimenting with personal computer. Named it InFox for Information Exchange 

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

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.

23. Organizational Development – Technology — Climate for Innovation, (A fast-paced, innovative culture that attracted the best of the best. Our motto was simply, “It’s better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.”) World Class Manufacturing, Skunk Works, Trends and What ifs to find value during high change, Mergers and Acquisitions — Complex, Disruptive, Accelerated Changes, Just-In-Time, Safari. two different immune systems develop equal and opposite anti-bodies over five years, but especially in the first 18 months of selling something that even we didn’t understand.

24. Startup — Quantum Learning Systems — Safari, Organizational Learning to accommodate speed of disruptive innovation, anticipating new opportunities and rapid learning as a basic skill set for reinvention.

25. Director Continuous Improvement — Spearheading the introduction of continuous improvement and needed a director to manage facilitators from all functions. Its corporate immune system and talent culture reflected their preferred seat of the pants high pace flavor of time-to-market product introduction. Product managers wanted to know with was more important, driving revenue or scheduling yet another series of non-productive meetings

26. Emerging Desktop Projector Company — 200 employees generating revenues of roughly 200 million dollars required a full-time director of organizational development and training. It provided the challenge of high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed. Introduced me to tools for capturing new knowledge creation for product development teams short staffed with critical talent.

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.  

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.

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.

30. Venture Guidance —Prepped potential startup entrepreneurs to seek investments from a a group of entrepreneurs and former executives who agree to pledge $50,000 each as seed or A-series funding.  In a deck of 10 slides after being coached by us individually, they’d have to stand and deliver to a group of us roll playing the sharks and throwing them curve balls and challenging their assumptions.

31. Defense Industry Commercial Spin Off — To commercialize electron-beam sterilization of fruits and vegetables and hamburger meet to extend their shelf life.  Doctors had invested after a round of salmonella outbreak.  He had another client which was reinventing itself trying to both innovate and control their product development process. I learned that the talent cultures that inhabit defense contractors are no way the talent cultures that you need to commercialize a startup.  

32. Consultant — Product Development Merger — Advised two former competitors to define gated product development process with input from all stakeholders from innovative idea to manufacturing.

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?

So, yes I admit at this point I wanted to know for myself and for others I would advise, just how do you match your talents to opportunities that bring out the very best in you so you can succeed over the course of your career(s).

But, there’s the flip side.  The perspective from the employer and client side as well.  We’ll turn to what Human Resource Executives discovered next.

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Should you impart your exact vision, or should you be more collaborative? The art is in what you leave out. When in doubt, choose space and let people fill it with their imaginations.” Scorpio

Boy, as you scan down the list, doesn’t this describe what drew me to each of them?  Collaboration. Imagination.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “Don’t worry about being original today. You already are and cannot help but be. Copying work you admire will prime you for eventually creating your own masterpiece.”  Taurus

I selected this TauBit, not for today, but for how I operated in those better situations that required something newer, but maybe not bleeding edge new.  As an idea packager, I needed access to better ideas which meant original research.  It meant throwing out a wide net.  It meant copying and note taking.  It meant rearranging and recombining.  It meant all of those processes coming together for creating new knowledge and innovation. 

“3”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “There’s a world of difference between what people say and what they do. Your comprehensive understanding comes from observing others in action, all the while knowing that each move speaks volumes.” Leo

Sure, in the same way a detective interviews witnesses with low stress questions at first and then builds to more difficult queries while all the time observing their reactions.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “The pro is just an amateur who has made and recovered from many mistakes. Your personal life will benefit from the application of a few marketing principles, particularly, knowing your niche and differentiating yourself.” Virgo

Ok, so I’m definitely an amateur.  “Mistakes” is my middle name, so paying attention to marketing principles within the pipeline I need to activate couldn’t hurt, eh?

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “You are wise to the fact that urgency is usually a disguise people use to get more quickly to the result they want. Take back the power. Do things on your timetable, not theirs.” Sagittarius

In one way this TauBit of Wisdom comes naturally to me and all you other introverts out there, right? In another way too many people who I won’t name want the answer, but not the understanding.  You know they’re hungry for the meal, but not the preparation by following a recipe.  If you aren’t careful, you’ll create a co-dependency if you cave in.  They’ll be back later wanting the same result from you.

“4”  Steve Harvey, 62: “Different languages exist within the same language. You listen to what people speak and speak their language back to them, thus creating an atmosphere of trust.”  Capricorn

Isn’t this at the core of active listening, which all of us consultants, coaches, psychologists and advisors practice?

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “You’ll find yourself aware of your own presence and wondering who the ‘you’ is who seems to be witnessing you. In this way, you are similar to most of the great gurus and spiritual-seekers who have walked this earth.” Aquarius 

Wait!  Gurus and spiritual-seekers wandering the earth?  I’ve noticed this phenomenon as I fill in these sentences today and over time as I obsessively kept a journal.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 4073 to 4231.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

Posted on

S2 E71 — My Top 13 Worst Jobs of All Time

Not everyone loves the work they do.  Not everyone can make a living doing what they love to do.

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Aligning to the belief systems of those around you is a survival mechanism. Sometimes, the right answer is hard to see because everyone around is agreeing to the wrong answer. But don’t worry; things are shifting.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 71 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 27th day of June in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E70 — Persistent Failure; S2 E69 — How Can You Tell Who’s an Engineer at a Party?; S2 E68 — Take More Breakthrough Showers

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E71 — Isn’t There a Placebo for This?; S1 E70 — Lingering Fear My Cover Was Blown; S1 E69 — Anniversary Trip of a Lifetime Deep in the Heart of Tuscany; S1 E68 — Overcompensating for Disappointing Results?

Context

This is a continuation of “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit” a work-in-progress.

Not everyone loves the work they do.  Not everyone can make a living doing what they love to do.  The trick is to find how to navigate through your career(s) using your most enjoyable skills and talents do something, working for yourself or someone else, which is in high demand and pays well. 

Here’s what I’ve only recently come to understand about “why” out of a total of 33 jobs I fell into or choices I made led to my best and worst fits. First the 13 worst fits … 

Worse Fits

Better Fits
1.   Manufacturing
2.   Gas Station Attendant
3.   US Army
4.   Auto Insurance Agent
5.   Retail Sales Big Ticket
6.   Vocational Rehabilitation Services
7.   Professional Training Company
8,   Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms
9.   Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company
10. University Extension Instructor
11. Consultant Leadership Academy
12, Director Electronics Distribution Company
13. Consultant Professional Services

For a more detailed description of why I felt each of these jobs landed on my “Worse Fits” list, check out my previous episodes.

Worse Fits

      1. Manufacturing — I felt brain dead. no intellectual stimulation. No affiliation with co-workers. No variety.
      2. Gas Station Attendant at a 24 hour Mobile — nothing in common with fellow workers, mind drifted, same routine
      3. US Army — not loyal, not much in common with lifers, got to know minorities better, but more challenging work in preventive medicine; hated standard operating procedures, “There’s the right way, the wrong way and the Army way.”
      4. Auto Insurance Agent — Learned about reoccurring income as a business model for professional services, just not into the amount of sales effort and prospecting for leads.
      5. Retail Sales Big Ticket — Hard on my feet, low amount of shoppers, didn’t feel like it was in their best interest to buy from this department store; more a consumer advocate.  Learned about tricks of the trade, bi-polar character.
      6. Vocational Rehabilitation Services — three private companies offering B2B services for insurance companies.  Didn’t like opposing sides.  Close micro-management. Clients had back injuries and required work modifications or a transition into a different job classification. 
      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.
      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.
      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.
      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.
      11. Consultant Leadership Academy — Medical laboratory that didn’t present the challenge of high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed.
      12. Director Electronics Distribution Company — regional distribution company tried first grow nationally and then internationally.  They ran into complications with the technology required to translate currencies for product ordering.  Instead the acquirer from Europe already had systems in place. Less about innovating and more about sales. The joke told internally was “How do you tell who’s an engineer at a party?  They’re the ones looking at their shoes.  How do you tell who’s the sales engineer? They’re looking at your shoes.”
      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. 

Does this list make me a winer, instead of a winner?  Or does it show something else?  And just what is that something else?  Next we turn to the twenty jobs, organizations and projects I worked on that provided a better fit for me.

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Aligning to the belief systems of those around you is a survival mechanism. Sometimes, the right answer is hard to see because everyone around is agreeing to the wrong answer. But don’t worry; things are shifting.” Scorpio

Is there a better way to describe what seems to be at the heart of those companies and clients that made the Top 13 Worse Fit list? The belief systems I encountered along the way struck me as a form of tribal warfare.  What is it about these 13 compared to the remaining list of Better Fit?  For me, that is.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “What drops into your life doesn’t need to be labeled ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ just yet. For now call it, ‘what’s happening’ and know that you’ll make more sense of it on a later day.” Aries

Isn’t this what I’m doing by writing the introduction to “Volume Two Manuscript — WorkFit”?  At the time of each of these 33 projects and employment opportunities I hadn’t considered that there may be different Organization Types which attracted me or repelled me yet.  

“4”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “A million people could see the very same thing you see today and have a different view of it than you. Your unique point of view will allow you a discovery or invention.”  Taurus

This WorkFit project and manuscript originated with a small team of human resources experts — so not quite a million — but by harnessing the perspective of those professionals allowed me to develop my original research through further discovery.

“5”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Secrets tend to hide in plain view. They will be discovered readily by the people who most want to know. Many are too self-involved to understand the thrill of deciphering puzzles. Not you.” Leo

Give me a good fictional book of mystery or a complex and complicated challenge to work through and I’m a happy camper.  

“3”  Steve Kerr, 54: “The truth has power. It speaks to the gut and brings about emotional responses like laughter, tears and experiences of profundity. You’ll feel this today as you witness and tell the truth.” Libra

So, I’m a strong believer in the power of truth, but don’t you agree it has been drowned out by those who have alternative agendas and conspiracies to spread?

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “Your opener may seem humble and unimpressive, but that’s because you’re still setting things up. You’re a strategist at heart and, like a chess master, you’re already working several moves ahead.” Aquarius

Yes, I am a strategist at heart.  While I may be working several moves ahead, I can easily get lost without finding my way back to the board.  Too many pieces in too many combinations in too many timeframes become too confusing.

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “To take advantage of one opportunity, you have to leave all other experiences behind. You hardly ever think of what might have been, but today, a slight glimpse at an alternate path will intrigue you.” Pisces

Ok, you’ve got my attention.  Where is this intriguing alternate path about which you speak?

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

        • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 3911 to 4073.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

        • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

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S3 E35 — This Ain’t No Zemblanity

What about luck? An “architecture of serendipity” provides exposure to new ideas, people, and ways of life so crucial to you, because it expands your horizons.  And, when you boiled away all the jargon, this was at the heart of my new knowledge creation and innovation services.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The first idea that comes to you may indeed be the best one, but come up with more anyway, if only for the accompanying thrill of heading into unexplored directions.” Aries

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 35 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 25th day of April in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E34 — Why You’re Susceptible to Subliminal Suggestions Like …; S3 E33 — Do Meaningful Coincidences Really Exist?; S3 E32 — But, Why Should You Care?

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E35 — Was this Pandemic Year a 1-Off or New Way of Life?; S2 E34 — Why Is This Kicking Off the 4th Industrial Revolution?; S2 E33 — What Happens When Your Business Collapses?; S2 E32 — Trapped and Bored? Or Unleashing a Reinvention Wave?

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E35 — Day 35 of My 1-Year Experiment ; S1 E34 — Day 34 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E33 — Day 33 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E32 — Day 32 of My 1-Year Experiment

Context

In the Report’s Conclusion Section of The One-Year Natural Experiment we’ve covered meaningful coincidences and synchronicity, now it’s about their second cousin,  serendipity or happy accidents as in unplanned, but fortunate discoveries.

What about luck? Let’s skip “zemblanity” coined by William Boyd — you know, “If it weren’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all.”

In my career workshops I emphasized the path to higher paying and more enjoyable positions was paved with preparation — identifying what you did well, was valued by decision-makers facing challenges you could capitalize,  who commanded the budget needed to engage your services and in which types of or phase of growth would value your skills and abilities the most.  

That’s the preparation part of organizing you luck.  

Over the years I was able to predict with almost with 90% accuracy when a person would luck into the job of their dreams if they interviewed almost anyone informally, described which challenges a client or employer faced (that you met before), asked for three referrals to other people and broadcast to your audience in a similar matter. 

And, then out of the blue one of your connections hosts you and your future client or boss at a lunch, you loosely propose what you do and one thing leads to another and boom you’ve been hired.

In my other career, advising innovation teams and product development teams I introduced a variety of tools to increase serendipity into decision making, problem solving and creative endeavors.

Innovations made by chance have gained purchase throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. 

Most everyday products had serendipitous roots (Post-Its, Silly Putty, microwave, velcro, popsicle and even penicillin) with many early ones related to animals or imitations of nature.

Serendipity has potential application in the design of social media, information searches, and web browsing.

In some Paradoxy-Moron organizations serendipity factors into potential design principles for online activities capturing a wide array of information and viewpoints, rather than just re-enforcing a researcher’s opinion.

 An “architecture of serendipity” provides exposure to new ideas, people, and ways of life so crucial to you, because it expands your horizons.  And, when you boiled away all the jargon, this was at the heart of my new knowledge creation and innovation services.

Now in this passion project of living life like an art form in a natural experiment, each day’s Holiday Tau triggered lucky new insights and fresher perspectives.

Evidence

While Zahnny, the Fonz, Emma the Baroness and I inherited a sucky Holiday Tau today, the outlook for next week had our names all over it.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Wait, what a coincidence, throw in a smidge of serendipity and we’ll be on to something, Steve

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The first idea that comes to you may indeed be the best one, but come up with more anyway, if only for the accompanying thrill of heading into unexplored directions.” Aries 

Hi Howey, I’m already a believer in your Holiday Tau.  It’s already 2:46 p.m. and I’m still banging away on this document.  Did somebody say squirrel?  Time break this composition off and step outside!

“4”  Steve Howey, 42: “The most productive day involves stints of concentrated effort followed by breaks in the fresh air. To skip the breaks makes the journey much less enjoyable, and longer, too.” Cancer

As an introvert, I’m already tuned into my supply of emotional energy almost like a battery knowing when I need some time to myself to plug back in to the source.

“5”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “While emotional energy, like love, may be invisible, to your eye, it animates the physical world quite obviously. You will easily tell how people are feeling, especially when they are trying to hide those feelings.” Leo

So, let’s piggy-back on the Holiday Tau of the inventor and his two comedian partners in Tau.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “Daydreaming is anything but a waste of time, though don’t expect concrete ideas to come from it now. Today’s flights of fancy open up the borders for later breakthroughs.” Virgo

Will somebody throw a little serendipity my way?  I’m well overdue.

“4”  Steve Nash, 45: “You’ve a quirky style and a worldview that could be described as ‘singular.’ You’re unintentionally entertaining, and this works in your favor. Once disarmed, people are so amenable to your suggestions!”Aquarius

Normally, Steve I love your TauBits of Wisdom, but not so much today.

“3”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “You don’t fear the influence of others. You know who you are. It is because your rules for yourself are so firm that you can afford to have an open mind.” Pisces

Holiday Forecast for the Week Ahead: 

“This…will not disappoint by ramping up the tension. Besides the domain of life, death and transformation, seduction, with a penchant for using shadows and fog to enhance the allure of our fascinations. Some will be drawn to build temptations, and others will be called to fall prey to them. An early theme of this transit is: what a little power can do. It changes people. Some would say it corrupts them. … will recall to us the times we’ve used and abused power, and the times we were victimized by forces more powerful than us. The lessons of these happenings aren’t learned all at once. They soak in over time. Just when we think we’ve gotten all we can from a past lesson, … will show us a new level of meaning we hadn’t been aware of before.”

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of digital magazines jumps from 8003 to 8068 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge” by E.O. Wilson, an entomologist who studied colonies of ants for their insights.  But didn’t stop there, according to The Wall Street Journal, “A dazzling journey across the sciences and humanities in search of deep laws to unite them.”
    • “True Believers,” the novel by Kurt Andersen (which seems to precede Fantasyland)? I like how he goes back and forth from now to the ‘60s in which the main character is writing a memoir, but needs “Okays” from her friends who had been hiding a secret for 40+ years that could ruin their careers?  Like, what’s my equivalent
    • “Disappearing Through the Skylight” by O.B. Hardison, Jr. which proceeded “Consilience” by a decade.  Hardison’s been described as a polymathic renaissance man who wrote, “… Nature has slipped, perhaps finally beyond our field of vision.”  What does it mean for “… science, history, art and architecture, music, language, ultimately, for humanity”? This one provides missing chunks of understanding where we came from and where we’re going.
    • I enjoy any of the Harry Bosch detective books in the series authored by Michael Connelly.  “A Darkness More Than Night,” described “A strange constricting feeling filled his gut. He didn’t believe in coincidences… (It) was a coincidence that even a believer in coincidence would have a difficult time accepting.”So much for detectives, tying up loose ends, relying on their hunches and reordering data, information and witness first hand accounts.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trips

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S2 E68 — Take More Breakthrough Showers

When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The people around you may be too busy executing the action to pause and consider why they are doing it or whether there might be a better way. That’s where you come in — the witness with an objective overview.”  Aries

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 68 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 21st day of June in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E67 — Here’s What I Didn’t Know That Will Help You; S2 E66 — The Romance of a Good Humor Man in Detroit; S2 E65 — Pandemic Uncovered 11 Life-Changing Secrets You Shouldn’t Ignore

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E68 — Overcompensating for Disappointing Results?; S1 E67 — Don’t Misunderstand Me; S1 E66 — Do Your Proposals Lead to Contracts?; S1 E65 — Focus Your Mental Energy 

Context

This is the continuing story of how I learned important lessons by graduating at the top of my class from the school of hard knocks and is an introduction for the second volume of books I described in the previous episode.  

Company of the Year to Start Up

Four of us left to start-up a business to business (B2B) company that bottled the magic we performed believing that all other companies requiring reinvention through highly rejuvenated leaders would be beating down our doors.  

Wrong.  

Even though one of us had left an advertising agency kinda like “Mad Men” in favor of pursuing a physics degree we couldn’t get enough traction fast enough in the marketplace.

The dreamed lived on, but the opportunities failed to materialize.  

Paradoxy-Moron Wannabe

“In your area of expertise, you’re a forward-thinker.  Trend-chasing would put you behind.”

But, wait. Let’s take a moment ask an important question. How do you become a forward thinker if you don’t do what I’ve done over the years? 

Maybe not chase trends, but anticipate their impact on industries, client organizations, employers, investment portfolios, business decisions, career trajectories and major decisions I’ve faced at critical junctures.  

I learned I was the conceptualizer and co-intuitor addicted to trends and innovation and the new knowledge that emerged through application.  

Again, not the closer. 

 “What you’re standing in looks a lot like the river from yesterday and can be maneuvered as such.”

I’m pretty sure I’ve already stipulated that I’m a fan of Steve Jobs, mostly for his brand of disruptive innovation — creating new rules for an older industry.  

It’s his spirit that reminds me of a quote, I believe came from Joel Barker originally:

“Mastering new rules is like trying to cross a white-water river. If you can anticipate the whirlpools and the changes in the current, if you can anticipate the landing on the other shore, you have a much better chance of getting across that river successfully.”

And I felt a strong pull towards what I’ve come to name the “Paradoxy-Moron” organization type.  A talent culture that thrives on high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed.

“Project yourself to the far future.  What you see there will help you create your best strategy.”

I recently published “Knowing About New Possibilities Gives You More Choices. Check These Out” on my website, Know Laboratories: Thriving in an Age of Accelerating Uncertainty. 

The main point was:

When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace.

But, I digress.

Learning Enterprise Initiatives

At the turn of the decade I transitioned from president-elect to president of the training and development association.  They were heady times for taking on the “Learning Enterprise Initiatives” forging alliances among corporate education, technical training schools, colleges and universities and community colleges.  

My focus as written in monthly columns for the association’s newsletter  had always been on the amazing future opportunities the new decade could bring.  And speculation about impending threats and opportunities for us in the “Learning Enterprise” and for the talent in our organizations.

I figured by “putting it out there” my next “Strategic Safari” opportunity would materialize.

But, instead for the next two or so years I joined a past-president and a former colleague in their training and development professional services firm so my family could eat and we could pay our mortgage.  

Avoid Supervisory Training Gigs

I learned the basic business model in the training business was all about you finding clients that need supervisory training, developing a customized curriculum from scratch but retaining the rights to what you developed for a previous client and then repackaging the offerings for your new client.  

That made sense to my growing knowledge management “Robin Hood” sense of 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  for slow moving mature organization types.  I craved the adrenalin rush of working in Paradoxy-Moron companies. 

It just didn’t satisfy the idea packaging talent I had developed when ideas were old and trending towards commodity knowledge.

Going in I didn’t know that the talent culture should have gone on my list of worst fit, or at least worse fit.  Definitely not best fit.

Outplacement for Retreading Downsized Managers

When I left I activated Plan B as an independent contractor delivering outplacement group training sessions and coaching at two firms. 

For the second firm I held down the fort while the founder underwent heart surgery.  Even he recognized my heart wasn’t in his business and his pressure to sell more than to deliver his service helped me self-select out.  

Local Disk-drive Technology Company

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. 

And threats for those asleep at the wheel.

Luckily I caught wind of a permanent opening at a local disk-drive technology company working for my former client who led their corporate university function. He was spearheading the introduction of continuous improvement and needed a director to manage facilitators from all functions.  

 “Give yourself a break; you’re solving a problem even if you’re not aware that you are.  This takes time.”

It gave me the opportunity to repackage what I learned up to that point time from facilitating teams, mentoring “non” trainers and develop my “reinvention and new knowledge creation” war stories like:

“What’s the most important thing you’ve learned?” she asked.  

“Take showers,” he said.  “Huh?” was her reply not quite sure if he was making fun of her or not.  He then explained the major breakthrough he and his team of co-conspirators couldn’t quite find was driving him nuts and keeping him at his incubator on many late nights.  

But, his phone rang.  It was his wife reminding him in that scolding way that only the loves in our life can that he was late for their date. 

He dropped everything he was doing in a panic and peeled out of the incubator’s parking lot. While showering to freshen up, something clicked in his unconsciousness or something he said, and it was like the world changing solution popped out as soon as the water hit his face. 

He grabbed a pen and his notebook even before toweling off.  His team couldn’t believe it.  His wife enjoyed their date together.  And the rest was history.

So shower more ofter.

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The people around you may be too busy executing the action to pause and consider why they are doing it or whether there might be a better way. That’s where you come in — the witness with an objective overview.”  Aries 

Once you reach his stage in life, living in Sarasota, Florida, my dad told me it’s like every day is Saturday to which I added, “And, every night is Friday night.”  So Emma the Baroness as Father’s Day hostess always says she missed out on conversations around our outdoor bar and barbecue as she brings out snacks from the kitchen.  She’s busy in a hostess way, within the pandemic constraints we all follow.

“4” Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “There’s a pang of longing for something different. You don’t have to be somewhere new to experience another place. You can create the effect with an alternate point of view.” Taurus 

Within our pandemic restrictions, you might enjoy what started out as a roadtrip from San Diego to the northern boarder of California and turned into regional stories of places to visit, places to live, and places where you invest.  It’s all there in just two of my 35 digital magazines — “California Tip to Tip” and “Western Skies and Island Currents”.

“4”  Steve Smith, 30: “When traveling to a new place, it helps to know the customs there. Places and people are the same in this regard. Each person has a culture, and learning another person will keep you deeply involved today.” Gemini

And, if you work for an employer the customs and culture you encounter vary by Organization Type and the Stage of Growth (or decline) that organization grows into.  This manuscript explores the four basic types and stages which attract people like you.  Stay tuned.

“3”  Steve Howey, 42: “Your humanity and the kinship of humans will be a strong theme of the day. You’ll regard your fellow travelers as partners, whether they happen to be your family, friends, co-workers or strangers.” Cancer

COVID restrictions preclude face-to-face family at today’s Father’s Day celebration like last year.

“3”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Watch, listen, study, contemplate… these are the directives for an interesting life. Your mental powers will be even brighter than usual to help you see deeply into simple things.” Leo

Sure, it’s what I do and it’s what led me to writing this manuscript.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 3911 to 4073.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S2 E65 — Pandemic Uncovered 11 Life-Changing Secrets You Shouldn’t Ignore

Or, you would work for someone else in a specific location — at a headquarters, in a division, a region, an office … but the key was at their place of work.  Then came the pandemic just as the driving beat of AI platforms and tools swept through. Employers and executives tasted for themselves the flavor of working remotely.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Be on the lookout for ways to repurpose the past. Discarded scraps from one project/relationship/era can be reworked and turned into something new.” Aries

Hi and welcome to Thursday’s Episode 65 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 18th day of June in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E64 — Let the Beers and Weekend Partying Begin; S2 E63 — Easier Than Finding His MacBook Air Password?; S2 E62 — “Shh. Did You Hear That?”

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E65 — Focus Your Mental Energy; S1 E64 — Father and Son Rituals out of Storage; S1 E63 — Day 63 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E62 – Next Reality?

Context

So if I’m honest I’m drawing from last week’s focus on my legacy and my search for wisdom (Volume Three Manuscript) to fill in with some reworked experiences that better fit this passion project in progress, “Volume Two Manuscript”.

This is the second volume of books.  The first volume described how to discover where to live.  And a path to follow, the knowledge path.  I originally distinguished what you would learn by choosing either to work for yourself independently which could free yourself up to live anywhere your heart desired, instead of where the jobs were and the employers were located. 

Its theme was how to live, love, work, play, invest and leave a legacy.  

Or, you would work for someone else in a specific location — at a headquarters, in a division, a region, an office … but the key was at their place of work.  

Then came the pandemic just as the driving beat of AI platforms and tools swept through. Employers and executives tasted for themselves the flavor of working remotely. 

Superior advantages of mastering knowledge work

Whoa, they discovered this way of working, well worked for them — making them more productive and efficient.

The implications for all of us — the intended consequences and unintended consequences — as individuals it is better to have been mastering knowledge work rather than service work or manual work. 

Why?  For two reasons.  You have options that others don’t have.  

You can remain employed during disruptions like a pandemic which forces physical distancing at your home in your neighborhood with or without partners, spouses and children who require daily bandwidth and homework assistance.  

The newer normal translate into inconveniences, frustrations and the time to reflect and enjoy deeper bonding.  

So, that’s one.  

Free to move about the country

The second is, if you can work remotely aren’t you also untethered from having to live where you do right now?  Aren’t you free to move about the country and still remain employed?

While the second book in the first volume examined all the ways you can become a ‘Preneur they all rely on variable income.  

You needed to master a sales process which translates well to media channels and subscription business models.  

Not all of us are cut out to succeed. I know this much about me, I’m not.

But if you are already employed, already have the tools necessary to provide value to your employer while working remotely like all the other knowledge workers delivering distributed work, then head out on the highway and follow 11 steps to the quality-of-life you want and deserve.

My distinguished career began with jobs I hated, but I didn’t know why.  It ended with me advising executives and executive MBA students not to make the same mistakes I had made over the years when I knew why.  

But, that’s not entirely true.  

What I discovered wasn’t they should avoid the jobs and organizations and stages of growth that I did.

Or even find the positions in specific types of talent cultures that brought out the very best in me, because they were the best fit.

That’s what I did. 

But, to understand the “why” that made them tick and pursue their own best fits working with sixteen different talent tribes at the intersection of seven dimensions.

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Be on the lookout for ways to repurpose the past. Discarded scraps from one project/relationship/era can be reworked and turned into something new.” Aries  

How can you separate your work life from you life life? Your work life consumes at least eight hours out of every day Mondays through Fridays if you let it.  Your life life provides the context.  Who was it?  Maybe John Lennon who sang something to the effect that life happens when you’re busy making plans.  So if I’m honest I’m drawing from last week’s focus on my legacy and my search for wisdom (Volume Three Manuscript) to fill in with some reworked experiences that better fit this passion project in progress, “Volume Two Manuscript”.

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “Study and cultural exploration will bring you good fortune. You will feel determined to do your unbiased research, and you will refrain from forming an opinion until you have all of the facts.” Gemini

In this case the cultural exploration focuses on talent cultures you find within certain types of work and client organizations and which may be about to move through a new growth stage which requires a transformation from the past. All covered in my “Volume Two Manuscript” in progress.

“4”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’ll have ideas, and you need the right people to bounce them off of. People who absorb your energy and agree with you are not good bouncing prospects. Look for the hard and deflective types.” Leo

In the beginning, I collaborated with a small team as an offshoot from the Orange County Development Roundtable (OCDRT) who met weekly.  We bounced ideas off of each other to sharpen elements and discard others that just didn’t make sense.  From those humble beginnings a framework emerged and a theory I further developed and tested over a decade with hundreds of Executive MBA Students who had been in the workforce for at least seven or eight years.

“4”  Steve Harvey, 62: “The research suggests that improving your weaknesses, while noble in intent, is far less effective than leveraging your strengths.”  Capricorn

We can thank Peter Drucker for this truism.  But he went further and advised managers, leaders and executives to find talented people who excelled at what you didn’t and delegate assignments to them as a way of further developing their strengths through experience.

“3”  Steve Nash, 45: “Because of the complexity within the crevices of the human heart, people fit together unexpectedly and in ways so particular that they would be impossible to duplicate.” Aquarius 

Unexpectedly, maybe.  But in my work experience fitting together people from a diverse set of talent profiles leads to better team results after forming, storming, norming and performing processes.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 3808 to 3911.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

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S2 E63 — Easier Than Finding His MacBook Air Password?

AJ tugged on it because it was stuck.  They both heard a thud.  She noticed a box full of something fell off the flat bottom and was able to reach in and pull it back on to the tray.“What’s in that box?” Shaggy wanted to know. “Oh, a bunch of Steno Notebooks — handwritten journals it looks like.”

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “You’re more aligned than ever. Your intention for these minutes reflects your goals for the next five years, and you’ll measure your every action against these aims.” Gemini

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 63 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 13th day of June in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E62 — “Shh. Did You Hear That?”; S2 E61 — Pink Behind the Reflections; S2 E60 — She Began to Weep…

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E63 — Day 63 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E62 – Next Reality?; S1 E61 — Investment of Time and Effort; S1 E60 — Overlapping Cycles of Life

Context

This week’s forced concentration, really with nowhere else to go during this lock down, provided the opportunity to return to my neglected manuscript I’ve been calling “Volume Three — a Legacy.”  

Here’s a continuation of the excerpt from the Chapter One draft.

“Any luck finding the password?”

“No, the top drawer is filled with boxes to organize stuff like his University Associate Director badges, a bunch of business cards — his and others — and old credit cards. The next one doesn’t contain much — empty boxes from iPhones, iPods, accessories, you name it — who knows why?”

“Ha ha, yeah but Darin and I have those too I’m sure.”

“What’s in that cabinet?”

“There’s two shelves with storage boxes stuffed in them and I’m pretty sure those are CD-ROMs and older diskettes or something, but I don’t think he’d have stuffed something with passwords on it.”

“You’re probably right, maybe in a folder.”

“I’m guessing in that bottom drawer, right? You check there and I’ll try the bottom one under the TV first and then the two next to you.”

Shaggy pulled out the drawer and felt the password might be there.  After all the last three years of tax returns beginning with the current folder of receipts up front greeted him. 

But, as he pulled it out further the drawer revealed a bunch of folders, not in any alphabet order, so it took him a little time to rule its contents out.  He turned to AJ and wanted to know if she found it.

“What’s in those three drawers?” he asked.

“Well, the top two have linens and the big one at the bottom has a lot of folders of printouts, but nothing labeled ‘Passwords’” she said.

The last two drawers turned out to be one drawer full of files — the top one — but they both canceled their password search because of the contents. 

They found a gold mine of memories in the bottom drawer …. which was once a slide out printer drawer for desktop publishing — no longer needed having been replaced by the printer upstairs in Shaggy’s former room which can be reached by iPhone or laptop over the wireless network from any other room.

AJ tugged on it because it was stuck.  They both heard a thud.  She noticed a box full of something fell off the flat bottom and was able to reach in and pull it back on to the tray.

“What’s in that box?” Shaggy wanted to know.

“Oh, a bunch of Steno Notebooks — handwritten journals it looks like.”

“What about that stuff between the box and the fake wooden drawer facing?”

“Wow”

“What?”

She showed him a folder of love letters and letters from her Indiana mother to her and Shaggy’s father about the separation, divorce and therapy session.

“That’s weird and TMI — not sure I want to read erotic letters and you probably don’t want to read letters about the divorce.”

“Maybe later”

“What’s in that tan covered notebook?”

“It looks like it was written when he celebrated his 40th birthday.  When was that?  Let’s see he was born in 1946, so that must have been 1986 when I was about ten-years-old.”

“What’s it about?”

“He wrote a bunch of stuff on the cover.”

“Like what, show me. ”

They both sat down on the brown futon with a black diamond pattern.  They both read descriptions like, 

“New Jersey to Finisterra”; 

9/86 to 2/87 Creative, Intuitive, Solitude, Conceptual; 

’85 —’90 ETP Profit CTR; 

Corona del Mar, Ocean, Dana Point Sailboat Synchronicity.  

“Look at this in the middle of the left hand column, what do you think it means?”

They read, 

“Novel Story Arc; 

061 Birthday Past/Future Back and Forth; 

Endings — New Begins; Real Story = Piles of Papers from CDM, Steve’s Self-Portrait

“So there’s a pile of papers ….” Shaggy thought to himself. “With Dad’s self-portrait, should be easier than finding the MacBook Air password.”

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Today’s Holiday Birthday:  

Spiritual investigation and development will lead you to make some very practical improvements. In the next 10 weeks, your interests shift and friendship circle widens. The influence of new people will lead to lifestyle upgrades. The start of 2021 has a romantic feel. Big projects bring big money. 

Well, practical improvements are welcomed.  Maybe by the start of 2021 this pandemic will be beaten back.  So that’s good.  But, it’s better for you and not me.  This ain’t my birthday, hopefully it’s yours and you will enjoy more romance and financial improvements.

“3”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Though you have much to teach, you also possess an innate ability that came via your birthright and is nontransferable. You will now appreciate the value of this gift.”Aries 

Upon reflection and a rereading of this TauBit, I have to ask why did I select it?  And, then it seems so inscrutable that I have no clue as to understanding its meaning. 

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “You’re more aligned than ever. Your intention for these minutes reflects your goals for the next five years, and you’ll measure your every action against these aims.” Gemini

If there’s a theme for this week, it’s this TauBit of Wisdom.  

“4”  Steve Howey, 42: “People want what they want, not what others think they should want. You’re tuned in, looking for clues about what’s really going on. Don’t be afraid to ask direct questions.” Cancer

Too many should mask the clues about what is going on.  If you miss them, you won’t anticipate what’s at stake either.

“3” Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You try to consume nutritious foods, and it goes the same way with media. Seek that which feeds your mind and emotional self. Exposing yourself to the wrong things makes you feel icky.” Leo

Of course there’s a counter balance of sorts.  I you only avail yourself to emotionally satisfying media, you may feed filters that shouldn’t be fed.  The kind that screen out threats that require monitoring and action at the right time.

“4”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “Anticipate your diversions and schedule them. If you can check your voicemail, email and social channels but once or twice a day, then the rest of your day will be much more productive.” Virgo

Yup.  This is one of the many lessons I learned years ago.  At work I practiced the this no interruptions rule, but adhered to a 24 hour response rule.  Oh, and this pandemic helps too. 

“3”  Steve Kerr, 54: “You’ll honor the tradition, follow the recipe, conform to the expectation — and then flip it on its ear. It’s that flourish and twist that captivates your crowd and keeps them coming back.” Libra

Holiday’s style of writing attracted me more than the lesson it conveyed.

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “The culmination of your experience has brought you here, but this isn’t the pinnacle. You’ll keep learning and forming the attitudes that help you move forward.” Pisces

I liked the first sentence — almost a cliche really, but the punchline kind of disappointed me.  Certainly you can’t argue with the meaning, but it certainly didn’t deserve the “pinnacle rating”.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 3634 to 3808.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

Posted on

S2 E62 — “Shh. Did You Hear That?”

Sure, I guess this memoir manuscript qualifies as operating in my own universe with different events, characters and scenery.  So here’s to earning that August bonus, except I’m disqualified.  Damn.

“5”  Steve Kerr, 54: “You’re halfway up the mountain with the requisite vistas and views. It still feels like you’ve a long way to go to get to the top, but you’re worlds away from those who never embarked at all.” Libra

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 62 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 12th day of June in the summer of 2020.  

 

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E61 — Pink Behind the Reflections; S2 E60 — She Began to Weep…; S2 E59 — See What You’ve Been Missing

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E62 – Next Reality?; S1 E61 — Investment of Time and Effort; S1 E60 — Overlapping Cycles of Life; S1 E59 — Where Did All the Dillon Millennials Go? Eureka!

Context

So, if you’re an introvert like me, then you understand how the forced solitude brought on by this Pandemic gives me the wonderful opportunity to work on my neglected manuscript I’ve been calling “Volume Three — a Legacy.”

Here’s an excerpt from the first draft or Chapter One .

So they walk down the long hallway stopping and reminiscing along the hall of photos and enter his office, Topher’s once upon-a-time bedroom.  

If this were a crime scene roped off with yellow plastic tape across the doorway next to the downstairs bathroom across the narrow hallway from the laundry center where Jazzy would make it a habit of visiting during the week to wash his clothes, lay on the far side couch in the family room and watch sports on the big screen — the Lakers when in season, then there certainly was a lot to take in.

“Where should we start?” AJ asked following Shaggy into the office by turning left just before emerging into the bathroom.

“I guess the most recent stuff he was working on would be there on the desk.”

The office was a lot smaller than it looked.

The renovated room continued with the same tan carpet found in the living room and dining room combination and on the stairs leading to the second story and into each of the three bedrooms off of the common landing.

He had an L-shaped desktop with three rows of drawers left of middle where the black office chair on the plastic protection sat.  The middle of the desk was its deepest and offered the most space.  There sat two gray Apple laptops stacked on top of each other and a small backup drive laying dormant behind them.

“Hey, there’s the water color painting of the coastline along the Outer Banks in North Carolina where Darin and I were married.”

In shades of blue and skies and ocean waters and darker tans and lighter tan sands the artist, James Melvin, painted darker brown homes on stilts up off the sand dunes with the vanishing point pointing to the horizon where one sea gull stood on a wooden pylon and two others flew above him. 

AJ gave it as a “thank you gift”.

“Wait, what’s holding it up there?  It’s not framed and hung on the wall between the desktop and the row of shelves and cabinets above it?” AJ wanted to know hanging back nearer the doorway and the mirrored closet doors which gave the room it’s illusion of space.  You took three steps into the office towards the futon, but turned right if you wanted to see what was stored in the closet.

“Oh, it’s the screen of the laptop sitting on top of the older one and hides a display of binders hidden for the most part behind it.” Shaggy said while looking up at the books and photos on display on the shelves and wondered if he could remember what was behind the six white cabinet doors with round golden pull nobs.

AJ looked at the mirrored reflection of the two white wooden shutters which shaded the work area from the harsh afternoon sun.  She slid the nearest one to her left to discover its contents.

“Oh shit!” Shaggy said looking at the MacBook Air, the third and newer laptop, after he fired it up.

“What?” AJ asked turning and joining her younger brother at the desk.

“It’s password protected. And I don’t remember what it is.  Maybe there’s something in his desk drawers, a piece of paper with it written on it.”

“Good idea, while you do that I’ll look through the cabinets above the TV and in the drawers below it.”  

She was afraid of opening the second glass door fear craft materials and gift wrapping stuff would fall out or even worse boxes of photos marked by the years.  She decided to explore the closet later.

“Shh.  Did you hear that?”

Shaggy looked back at her and said, “That?”

“Yeah, like some sort of swishing sound.  What is that?”

“Probably the tree leaves — the new one that replaced the original ficus — glancing along the stucco or window pane, I think we’re in for Santa Ana winds.”

Shaggy told her about how one year the Santa Ana winds blew off shingles from the roof on the back side and carried them into the neighbors yards.  He remembered how on trash day the curbside cans would be blown over at every house in the neighborhood. They’re what dries all the vegetation out turning grass into kindling. 

“When I lived in Santa Barbara before I moved back home their version were called Sundowners when the almost gale force winds blew wild fire flames in the mountains and canyons igniting everything in site.  Then the rains come.  And the mud slides.”

“Yeah, I remember seeing that on the news, even in Florida.”

“We see your news too.  The hurricanes and flooding.” 

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Today’s Holiday Birthday:  

In some ways, you operate as your own universe this year, powerful as the star of your life, commanding the lineup of events, characters and scenery. You’ll find support for a creative venture. You’ll band together with loved ones for mutual enrichment. There’s a professional bonus in August.

Sure, I guess this memoir manuscript qualifies as operating in my own universe with different events, characters and scenery.  So here’s to earning that August bonus, except I’m disqualified.  Damn.

“4”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Whether you climb your way up or start off in a higher position, sooner or later everything under you must be learned. That’s your favorite part! You’ll gladly take on the challenge.”  Aries 

Is that the so-called “standing under”? In the literal definition of understanding?  

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “Thinking is harder than it looks, which is why many get tired or lazy and want others to think for them. There are those who would take advantage of this. Give loved ones the benefit of your intellect and your protection.” Gemini

To risk getting too deep in the weeds, our beliefs, psychologists assumed, were by and large reality-based and arrived at by deliberation, weighing facts, opinions, and running calculations.

If you observed the “rationals” out in the wild you’d see  people who exuded less warmth than others, while they doggedly pursued internally consistent  choices, judgements, conclusions and strategies. 

So if all of that is true and we add to it the fact that the rational mind is lazy — most of the time just rubber-stamping what the “Remembering Self” serves up — then you’d see why we jump to conclusions with only the sketchiest of information. 

And, why you spot patterns when none exist in the reality-based world and accept conspiracy theories when those claims fill in the blanks.

“4” Steve Howey, 42: “Action is education today when the best way to learn, and perhaps the only way, is by doing. Until you apply yourself, you won’t know what you know.” Cancer

Coming from the Knowledge Management and Corporate Education fields, it dawned on me that education is all about just-in-case information, while training is just-in-time when it includes application.  That’s why I championed matching Executive MBA students with C-Suite executives in my Executive to Executive Mentoring Program. 

“4”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “You’re not out to impress anyone, but you do have something to say. You wouldn’t mind if people were to come away from a conversation with you having more understanding than they started with.” Virgo

When I’m in the composing moment nothing else matters.  Sure I have something to say, but it takes time to work it out, and that’s why you get to see this manuscript in progress.

“5”  Steve Kerr, 54: “You’re halfway up the mountain with the requisite vistas and views. It still feels like you’ve a long way to go to get to the top, but you’re worlds away from those who never embarked at all.” Libra

So this is the metaphor I feel closest to my passion project today.  Figuring out a was to combine all my original research into neighborhoods together with our specific neighborhood as a way into my work-in-progress fondly referred to “Volume Three Manuscript”

“4” Steve Harvey, 62: “You’re more influential than you know, and there’s reason to be mindful of how others are experiencing you. There is intrinsic power in what you say, how you behave and even in your casual statements.”  Capricorn

Who was it — maybe Marshall McLuhan — who said kids don’t remember your lectures about right and wrong — all the well intentioned parenting wisdom.  They’re raised in your unconscious moments when your values shine through.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “States of being are tricky. You know when you’re in the zone, but you’re not entirely sure how to get there. It’s worth figuring out, as your production triples when you’re in that frame of mind.”  Aquarius

Rituals help.  Ever watch the ritual tennis champion Raphael Nadal repeats from them moment he enters the US Open or Wimbledon? He lines up his tennis gear in two bags precisely.  He measures the distance among his hydration liquids all in a row.  Between shots he swipes at his face with his sweat bands and adjusts his cup while pulling his shorts out of his butt crack.  When serving he bounces the ball the same amount of time.  And it works.

“3”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “Most people don’t reach for a flashlight in the noonday sun, but that’s precisely the best time to find one and get it ready for the evening hour of necessity.”  Pisces

Honestly, I don’t know how this TauBit of Wisdom survived.  It seems to border on common sense, but at the same time is feel tortured or twisted to prove a point.  Like an ounce of prevention …

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 3634 to 3808.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

Posted on

S2 E58 — Check Back in 18 Months

What if the COVID-19 pandemic is severe and unfolds inconsistently across the world? And, the ability of China, Taiwan, and South Korea to contain the outbreak through strong, centralized government response becomes the “gold standard?”

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “Sometimes it seems that your idealistic imagination is at war with the reality of a situation. Not today, which brings a brilliant blend of the practical and the sublime.” Pisces

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 58 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 5th day of June in the summer of 2020.  

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

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 E57 — Science and Medicine or Politically-Motivated Misinformation?; S2 E56 — What Iffing; S2 E55 — Dreaming of 30 Tempting Getaways

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E58 — Judging a Stroll from the Hotel Santa Barbara to the Lobero Theater; S1 E57 — More or Less in the Know; S1 E56 — It’s Frickin’ Summer and So Are You; S1 E55 — All Roads Lead to the Future

Context

How will our pandemic lives play out?  Back to our continuing series drawing upon the report from Deloitte and Salesforce’s “The world remade by COVID-19 Scenarios for resilient leaders | 3-5 years.”

Scenario 1: “Passing Storm” for which the scenario story tellers assume governments communicate the severity of the pandemic and gets us citizens to take the crisis seriously and go along with the quarantine program.  

Scenario 2: “The Good Company” embraces their corporate responsibility by focusing on their long-term enlightened self-interest with investments in their employees and in the communities where they life and work.

“Scenario 3  Sunrise in the east”

The COVID-19 pandemic is severe and unfolds inconsistently across the world. 

China and other East Asian countries manage the disease more effectively, whereas Western nations struggle with deep and lasting impacts—human, social, and economic—driven by slower and inconsistent responses. 

The global center of power shifts decisively east as China and other East Asian nations take the reins as primary powers on the world stage and lead global coordination of the health system and other multilateral institutions. 

The ability of China, Taiwan, and South Korea to contain the outbreak through strong, centralized government response becomes the “gold standard.”

This scenario turns out to be a golden moment for East Asian countries, because they emerge from the recovery period with less economic impact. 

As an example of a good global citizen, but with self-interest firmly in mind, China significantly ramps up foreign direct investment efforts, bolstering its global reputation. 

Because so much is at stake people accept greater surveillance mechanisms as part of the public good. And as a result, economic recovery begins late 2021, with notably quicker and more robust recovery in the East.

Evidence

“4” Steve Zahn, 51: “In addition to fun, your prospect has love, resources and inspiration to offer you. Would you believe this is only the start of it? There’s much more to be explored here.” Scorpio

This only makes sense given we’re still in our extended Anniversary celebration.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve Smith, 30: “It’s a day of bright ideas. You will energize different areas of your life with vitalizing agents such as useful tools, surprisingly efficient methods, beauty, humor and creativity.” Gemini

I say not so much.  A better description might be I’m frustrated with tools and inefficient methods far outweighing my high energy, bright ideas.  Where can I find those useful tools and way more inefficient methods?

“4”  Steve Kerr, 54: “People will want to know about you. Though you see the value in keeping mystery alive. If knowledge is power, then you’ll be more powerful as you hold back some of the information.” Libra

Okay, now that energizes me.  Let’s hope knowledge is power, because ignorance is definitely not bliss during this second season.

“3”  Steve Aoki, 41: “This is your day. You’ll hit the green lights, get in the right grocery store line, find the prime parking space. The little things that go right are signs that big things will go right, too.” Sagittarius

Sure, I get how this might brighten my day — given all of those little things have been upended.

“3”  Steve Nash, 45: “There’s no end to a circle. To be included in one can feel wonderfully secure or like entrapment. With circles, you have to break in and break out.” Aquarius

And, doesn’t it seem like we’re choosing off on the basis of “us” vs. “them” circles?

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “Sometimes it seems that your idealistic imagination is at war with the reality of a situation. Not today, which brings a brilliant blend of the practical and the sublime.” Pisces

Unless you shift the frame and follow those eight scenario steps which give you ample time to employ divergent and convergent thinking to prepare you to better anticipate uncertain futures.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines organically grew from 3188 to 3698.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • 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

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

The Knowledge Path | Know Laboratories | Knowledge Banking | Knowledge ATMs | Western Skies and Island Currents | Best West Road Trip

Posted on

S3 E30 — Steal These TauBits, Please. It’s Only Fair!

No jealousy allowed.  Yesterday I confessed to swiping all the Holiday Tau I wanted. Why? I was only receiving  17%  of the total available Tau on any given day. So I was envious of the other 83%. 

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “While many scan the conversation for arguing points to dig into, you have better luck listening up for possible common interests. Bonus: Trying to see another person’s point of view is just good practice.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 30 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 17th day of April in the spring of 2021 — which is a three-year examination of how bits of wisdom changed during the “normal” pre-pandemic year and then in the pandemic year, and now months after.

“The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”

Table of Contents

Previously from Season Three, the Paradoxically Normal Year

S3 E29 — Why 83.3% of the Time I Swiped Your Tau; S3 E28 — Why I Stole Your Daily Horoscope for a Year; S3 E27 — What the World Needs Now Before It’s Too Late; S3 E26 — Following Alice Down the Rabbit Hole

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E30 — It’s Crazy. Why does Amazon Prime Work, but Netflix Doesn’t?; S2 E29 — Three Months That Changed the World; S2 E28 — Hosting Norwegian Zooms While Trump Eliminated the Virus in April; S2 E27 — Why I Have to Keep Leo da V on a Leash and So Should You

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E30 — Day 30 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E29 — Day 29 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E28 — Day 28 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E27 — Day 27 of My 1-Year Experiment 

Context

But, today I’m adding more to the Findings Section of the 1-year Natural Experiment’s Report.  These TauBits of Wisdom describe me well.  I can legitimately claim them (as can Emma the Baroness).

Scorpios (Oct. 24 – Nov. 21) Steve Zahn, Henry Winkler

Best Fit For Me

Work Organizations and Cultures

“Your research will lead you to concepts, next steps and, most importantly, people who can help you take them.”

Why did I pick it? 

If I’m true to myself (INTP / Idea Packager) and work on all of the Volume Two, Three, and Tau manuscripts at the same time,  I feel what I write about is truthful and useful and original.  And, by publishing to Patreon I can write freely and link to something else I wrote on my website and in my blogs. For instance I can work in the story about constant commoditization, how artistic work drives audiences to social media in a siren server kind of way.  And if that, then it means artists receive pennies on the dollar in royalties while the platforms thrive and grow in value.

“Knowing about new possibilities gives you more choices.  You could attain the perfect coach or mentor or, at the very least, find the book you need.”

Why did I pick it?  

Here’s what I’ve learned.  Listening to almost everyone else’s advice works for extroverts based on how their brains are wired — as I learned from “The Introvert Advantage: How Quiet People Can Thrive in an Extrovert World.” To just pick one passion project at a time, focus on it and complete it works for them.  But,  as an introverted INTP life story writer and idea packager,  my strength is associative or lateral thinking.  I know it is also my weakness in the extreme, so the best I can do is treat my passion projects as category buckets and fill them each a little as I go.

Legacy and Wisdom

“For you, intuition isn’t a part-time thing. It’s always engaged. Today it will be a significant driver for you.”

Why did I pick it? 

It suggests how our brains work.  How we navigate through life weighing facts, yet making the actual decision based on the best intuition and logic.  Passing that TauBit of Wisdom on to others who are like me may find it valuable too.

“Vitality follows those on the edge of the known.  Anyone doing what they know they can do is playing it too safe to feel successful.”

Why did I pick it? 

I’ve lived by the mantra in my career, “Anticipate, Innovate, Iterate and Excel” which leads to my theory about companies and organizations that practice it as a core competency — Paradoxy-Morons.  And, why I’m attracted to an organizations at the Reinvention stage of growth driven by Chief Reinvention Officers (CROs). You’ll notice  I began adding topics to the bottom of each day in the 1-year experiment that add to the amount of time to compose the day, but offer glimpses into broader possibilities: Tau, Trends (What’s Next), Short-Form (Where), Long-Form (notes from books), Progress and Procrastination, Speaking Volumes (1,2,3) and Banking and ATMs (Analytics)

Practical Projects

“Your story is more interesting than you think and spaced with valuable information and inspiration.  How and when you share it will be important.”

Why did I pick it? 

At first, I felt embarrassed by describing the horoscope angle, to this project, but nearing  the last 30-days I feel I’ve got some sound underpinnings in psychology and  neuroscience identifying parts, pathways and functions of the brain responsible to a large degree for reason and creativity. And if this, then that propels me into what the Volume Three’s Manuscript can become, or to an entirely other manuscript can become.

“It seems like good ideas are being snatched up all around you. Actually, they were snatched up long ago and are just getting reworked. Seek anticipated inspiration.”

Why did I pick it? 

This time frame over a year is unique enough that it might attract a following, but it allows me to link to something already written in a pre-COVID world just as it is ending.  How will fortunes and forecasts change over the next year? Tying people, places, things, ideas, information and trends together in new and original ways can begin to answer the questions with new ideas. The real work of an idea packager is anticipating new and novel ideas partially hidden in patterns driven by trends or forecasts.

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “While many scan the conversation for arguing points to dig into, you have better luck listening up for possible common interests. Bonus: Trying to see another person’s point of view is just good practice.” Scorpio

Today, should I pick it? 

Emma the Baroness and I are hosting longtime friends who traveled with us to Italy, but have moved twice, returned to California, but have returned to sell their house while pulling up stakes for good to live in Arizona. We disagree on their choice of watching Fox News and the perceived unfairness of business closings located next door to each other, enjoyed the other 99% of the evening catching up. 

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Hi Steve. It’s easy for me to agree with your Holiday Tau today and I’ll include it in my bucket for Legacy (Volume Three Manuscript).

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “There is no how-to manual for what you are trying to accomplish today. The most important thing is that you know what you’d like your desired outcome to be. Send that star to the high heaven to guide the journey.” Pisces

Thanks, Harv.  I feel your TauBit of wisdom echos the first description of me listed under Practical Projects.

“5”  Steve Harvey, 62: “There’s so much you know that people will want to learn from you, but this is going to happen over a long period of time. You’re wise to be a little mysterious and give out one nugget of wisdom at a time.” Capricorn

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of digital magazines jumps from 7930 to 7981 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life 

Long-Form

    • “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge” by E.O. Wilson, an entomologist who studied colonies of ants for their insights.  But didn’t stop there, according to The Wall Street Journal, “A dazzling journey across the sciences and humanities in search of deep laws to unite them.” 
    • “True Believers,” the novel by Kurt Andersen (which seems to precede Fantasyland)? I like how he goes back and forth from now to the ‘60s in which the main character is writing a memoir, but needs “Okays” from her friends who had been hiding a secret for 40+ years that could ruin their careers?  Like, what’s my equivalent
    • “Disappearing Through the Skylight” by O.B. Hardison, Jr. which proceeded “Consilience” by a decade.  Hardison’s been described as a polymathic renaissance man who wrote, “… Nature has slipped, perhaps finally beyond our field of vision.”  What does it mean for “… science, history, art and architecture, music, language, ultimately, for humanity”? This one provides missing chunks of understanding where we came from and where we’re going.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by: Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

CENTER FOR KNOWLEDGE CREATION AND INNOVATION

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