Category: Permanent Temporaries

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S2 E78 — What Do Paradoxy-Morons Want and Need?

Welcome to the pressure-packed nearly no-win world of 103 PMCI Commercial Innovators.  What’s more important — driving revenue or scheduling yet another series of non-productive meetings?

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “When you say what you need to say but no one seems to be listening, take it as a signal to repeat. Many people will not even begin to understand until you’ve said it seven times.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 78 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 12th 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 E77 — 10 Years of Field Research for Better or Worse: S2 E76 — Do You Have What It Takes to Become a Paradoxy-Moron?; S2 E75 —  Guinea Pig Projections

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E78 — Drag Me to Obsolescence, Clear the Way to the Future: S1 E77 — Why This Caper Is Breaking My Mind; S1 E76 — “The Tau of Steves: What You Don’t Know Could Fill a Book”; S1 E75 — Dreams and Schemes and Workarounds

Context

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

In our last episode we began breaking out talent profiles for each of the 4 Organization Types starting with Paradoxy-Morons. 

At first I couldn’t figure out how I could contribute most to each Paradoxy-Moron-like company for which I worked or later advised. 

But, of course over time patterns emerged. 

Take for instance …

23.  Organizational Development – Technology —

Working for a 101 PMBI Breakpoint Inventor was right up my alley.  Ed, the General Manager of a technology division in Southern California had a vision for advanced manufacturing in the future.  He subscribed to the “lets-use-our-own-technology” to see what it makes us become.  

He wanted to chunk out unneeded steps in the process, break down manufacturing lines into small groups and cross train everyone.  And he wanted to “pull expertise” from engineers who supported the operations to “upskill” the teams.

This wasn’t a startup.  It wasn’t met with open arms by the engineers or the factory supervisors or even the manufacturing teams.

Really at the core the biggest obstacle was how the “rank and file” used to being told what, when, and how to “do it” couldn’t grasp his unproven vision of doing things in a new way.  So our role was to help Ed communicate in more tangible ways what his vision was so people could begin to participate. 

We set up Minimum Viable Product demonstrations on the factory floor and challenged the old timers to compete.  When they couldn’t they knew it was time to trust where he wanted to take us to the future.

Climate for Innovation — that’s the theme my team got three local leaders of manufacturing, software engineering and firmware engineering to sponsor in the California division of an east-coast headquartered company.

They were on the hook to finish products on their roadmaps, but to figure out ways to shrink development time before their competitors did. 

We scheduled a communications program that interviewed each leader and gave them an opportunity to describe what was important to their group and how each of the other groups fit together.  

It wasn’t technology or talent as much as it was product team formation, storming, norming and performing that sped progress on the relentless time to market. 

By sailing to Catalina, holing up in a local hotel and hashing product roadmaps teams were literally able to think out of the box away from the mainland and return to their work with a fresh perspective.

If anyone is going to render our technology obsolete, so Paradoxy-Morons believe it better be us.  It’s only a matter of time — faster than they or you may think — before someone else develops the next generation

Easier said than done, but how do you stay one or two steps ahead of the technology and competition?

You enlist an intrepreneurial network of 104 PMRDE R&D Experimenters (people closest to the products) for matching ideas and developing new concepts, for  finding like-minded co-conspirators and influencing decision-makers with budget to invest.

It’s not always about exploring what’s “out there” as it relentlessly pursuing was to re-engineer and leapfrog their own products.  If anyone is going to render our technology obsolete, it better be us.

It’s only a matter of time — faster than they or you may think — before someone else develops the next generation.

Sometimes you literally need to remove yourselves from the internal politics and status quo, like across the street with fewer resources as in a startup to meet your goal of bringing in a much smaller footprint to huge computer, that was faster and easier to program

What makes Paradoxy-Morons tick? Faster, better,  brighter,  smaller, cheaper. 

What are their unique challenges? Willingly and frequently jumping out your habitual ways, accelerating teams to keep pace with the time-to-market demands, and then soaking up “proprietary” processes converting them into best practices and circulating them to whomever needs them as they need them.

25 — Director Continuous Improvement — 

When engineering companies place a premium on time-to-market for handing out bonuses to their product managers, those manager want to pick their own exceptional players they can trust, and shield them from unnecessary activities like attending an endless seeming stream of meeting.

Welcome to the pressure-packed nearly no-win world of 103 PMCI Commercial Innovators.  What’s more important — driving revenue or scheduling yet another series of non-productive meetings? And what’s wrong with flying by the seat of our pants and doing whatever it took to meet new time-to-market product introductions?

26 — Emerging Desktop Projector Company —

With 200 roughly employees generating revenues of roughly 200 million dollars. Not enough time.  Spread too thin.  Unforeseen obstacles.

Not only isn’t there enough time, but as a 103 PMCI Commercial Innovator when you begin your new product, you only have a smaller set of engineering and technical people at your disposal,  No-one remains idle.  The “good ones” aren’t available until they complete  their current assignments.  If something delays their product launch, your  own kickoff with a full team is in jeopardy.  

103 PMCI Commercial Innovators worked with me to facilitate their teams using their product (multimedia projectors) but in a reverse engineered way.  Instead of lecturing or teaching from a laptop, we connected one to Tegritys’ whiteboard system on the company’s intranet.  Instead of projecting we were co-creating PowerPoint-like output.  We were able to share drawings, schematics, intentions and changes in near realtime and as a “place” for each person who missed a key part — traveling, still on a product-delayed team — and catch up quickly.

104 PMRDE R&D Experimenter and 102 PMTL Thought Leaders collaborated with a small group researching how lasers could project images over great distances hoping for a breakthrough.  A San Diego University’s foundational research partner shared the cost and provided needed resources to launch a minimum viable product as a proof of concept for commercialization.

Summary

What makes Paradoxy-Morons tick?

They notice how limited the traditional, status quo solves the really complex problems and challenges

Disrupting. 

A fast-paced, innovative culture that attracts and retains the best of the best. 

Motto?

“It’s better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.”

What are their unique challenges? 

      • They champion paradigms based on new science discoveries.
      • Once is not enough. From one world beater to several again an again
      • Finding commercial applications of disruptive innovation in the form of new product categories — which haven’t been proven until flawed prototypes and buggy technology work themselves out

What are the takeaways?  

Innovations have to come faster.  Concurrent overlapping talent demands.

In the start up stage they are capable of anticipating something new and act decisively to establish a new market, industry, technology or a new scientific discipline.

Next up Emerging-Entrepreneurs.

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “When you say what you need to say but no one seems to be listening, take it as a signal to repeat. Many people will not even begin to understand until you’ve said it seven times.” Scorpio

If you find yourself attracted to 105 EEMA Marketing Athletes, you’ll already know about how nothing happens in a marketing and sales effort until roughly the 7th contact.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “You know who you are and you tell the world today, mostly by how you move around in it, what you say and the feeling you bring to interactions.”  Aries

OK, so I do know who I am, but in today’s world I gotta tell you there isn’t a whole lot of maskless interactions going on in my daily life.  My message?  Wear your mask or get out of my space. Haha

“4”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’re not trying to do a job. You’re trying to turn a job into art. This is why you’ll put more thought into your task than the others do, and this is why you’ll get better results.” Leo

Well, let me stipulate I’m fortunate enough to be in a position where I don’t need a job, but I do have a lot of left over “art” from earlier careers to keep me busy.

“3”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “You root for the underdog before you even realize how the odds are stacked. It’s because you see merit where others do not, and you’ll be correct in this too. Your cheerleading will make a difference.” Virgo

While this is true, I’m always amazed that my team can measure up to that team which seems to be flawless compared to mine.  And, at work during my careers, I did side with the underdog, the employees called associates, when it came to maneuvering through their organizations.

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “The effort you make doesn’t always directly correlate with the results you get, which is what makes today mighty fine. You’ll be able to see how you’re making a difference in real-time.” Sagittarius

So either I’m lazy or I’m barking up the wrong tree.  Squirrel, woof, woof …

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “You’ll engage your life honestly, at least in your head. This is the start of all clarity. The day will bring you many gifts as you move toward your own excuses and faults with love.” Pisces

Wow.  The first two sentences made me grab this TauBit early in the day.  It promised so much, until it lost me in the last two words.

Holiday Forecast for the Week Ahead:  

The battle to change is challenging enough when it’s you you’re trying change, but when it’s someone else, it’s not only hard, it’s also probably futile, possibly selfish and likely impossible. 

Of course, all around us transformations are occurring without mental effort, intention or any willpower at all. 

Tides go out and in and out again. Planets travel; naiads become dragonflies; babies learn to stand and sing and leap. 

When you quiet your mind, breathe easy and do very little of anything at all, you align yourself with the ever-changing nature of nature.

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 4341 to 4397.

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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S3 E37 — Tell Me More Lies I Can Believe In

People like us discover to our horror that old routines, rather than solving problems, intensify them in a stressed out situation.  Super simplifiers are the temporary true believers.  They seek an idea or single neat equation which explains all the complex novelties surrounding them.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “There’s something of value you don’t want to lose. This is what’s standing between you and a change. The shift will only be possible after you’ve reckoned with your feelings and deemed the loss to be necessary.”  Aries

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 37 in Season 3 of  “My Paradoxically Normal Year” on this 30th 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 E36 — Placebo, Meaningful Coincidence or Just Feeling Lucky; S3 E35 — This Ain’t No Zemblanity; S3 E34 — Why You’re Susceptible to Subliminal Suggestions Like …

Related from Season Two, The Pandemic Year

S2 E37 — How Deep is the Chasm? What Do We Do?; S2 E36 — Turning Lemons into Margaritas; 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?

Related from Season One, The Normal Year

S1 E37 — Day 37 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E36 — Day 36 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E35 — Day 35 of My 1-Year Experiment ; S1 E34 — Day 34 of My 1-Year Experiment

Context

I’m your host, a Steve, who feels lucky for having you join us.  Right about now you’re probably asking yourself, how did I get here and where is this going?  

While, if you know me at all, I’m a “Whys Guy” building a trail from Tau to now — you know I’m writing up the Report’s Conclusion Section of The One-Year Natural Experiment which now explores Super Simplification as a potential reason for why so many people fall for “Lies they can believe in.”

Here’s my work-in-progress drawing upon notes I took while reading “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler, a classic I feel which still holds up.

Deepening Sense of Confusion

As the pace of change quickens we experience self-doubt, anxiety and fear.  We become tense and tire easily, until we are overwhelmed, face-to-face with a crisis situation.

Without a clear grasp of relevant reality or beginning with clearly defined values and priorities, we feel a deepening sense of confusion and uncertainty.  

Our intellectual bewilderment leads to disorientation at the level of personal values.  

Decision stress results from acceleration, novelty and diversity conflicts.

Acceleration Pressures Us to Make Quick Decisions. 

Novelty increases the difficulty and length of time while diversity intensifies the anxiety with an increase in the number of options and the amount of information needed to process.  

The result is a slower reaction time.

Feeling Decision Stress 

Non-productive responses to decision stress usually prove only to deepen the unprepared and adaptive difficulties.

A person in a stressed out situation discovers to his horror that old routines, “rather than solving problems, intensify them.”  

      • The Denier blocks out his senses avoiding change until he can no longer keep it out.  Instead of a sequence of manageable problems his encounter becomes a single massive life crisis. 
      • The Specialist ignores the big picture blocking out all novel ideas except in his specialty.  Superficially he copes well until he wakes up one day to find his specialty obsolete or transformed beyond recognition.
      • The Reversionist obsessively sticks to the past coping patterns which are obsolete while voicing a preference to return to a time when life operated at a slower pace.  
      • The Super Simplifier can be called the temporary true believer.  An idea or single neat equation is sought to explain all the complex novelties surrounding him.

Productive adaptive skills include the ability to affiliate and disaffiliate in a more transient society.  

A permanent employee goes into shock when forced out into the street. But the more mobile, flexibly-focused professional, academic, upper management class has ties across wide physical space and has more functional relationships which make it easy to duplicate in the case of a lost job.

The trick Toffler reveals is to turn crisis into opportunity, not merely to survive but to crest the ensuing waves of change. 

      • The challenge is to grow and to gain a new sense of mastery over our own destinies.  
      • Over the next thirty to forty years as we are faced with a “blinding succession of new temporary cultures,” the strategy becomes to design new personal and social change regulators.  
      • Toffler says we need to meet invention with invention, to develop an array of creative strategies to shape, deflect, accelerate and decelerate change selectively

Evidence

Check it out.  Zahnny would you say your Holiday Tau more comfortably describes a denier or a reversion loving OK Boomer rocking on your porch?

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “It’s said that complaining is like a rocking chair; a comfort though it never goes anywhere. Arguably, those who find comfort in complaining provide far less of it to everyone within earshot. Luckily, you know when to use your feet.” Scorpio

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Today’s Holiday Birthday: 

The endeavor becomes possible because you believe it is possible. You’ll build skills and adopt new modes of thought. It is fortifying beyond measure to know you are growing in mind and spirit. In June, you’ll dedicate yourself to growing in financial ways, too, as your dream needs real-world assets to back it up.

What about you, our Patron Saint?  Is your Holiday Tau a path forward for a specialist like me or a reversion-loving Emma the Baroness?

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “There’s something of value you don’t want to lose. This is what’s standing between you and a change. The shift will only be possible after you’ve reckoned with your feelings and deemed the loss to be necessary.”  Aries

Hi Howey, I’m guessing your TauBit of Wisdom is a shot across my specialist bow.  Am I right? Or is it what you do when you and Zahnny team up and you’ve heard enough?  Are you two conspiring?

“4”  Steve Howey, 42: “To talk about what you know and listen when you don’t seems so simple, but many will violate the rule. They speak to fill the void or get attention — tiresome. All you have to do is politely excuse yourself.” Cancer

Okay, Aoki I’m feeling a prescription for all four “dysfunctional” reactions might lie in your Holiday Tau.  Am I right?

“5”  Steve Aoki, 41: “Explore, decide, change your mind — all part of the process. Anyone who gives you a hard time about this doesn’t fully understand your creativity. Believe in your vision enough for anyone who can’t see it.” Sagittarius

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @KnowLabs suite of digital magazines jumps from 8003 to 8088 organically grown followers

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • 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. 
    • Or, in “Black Box,” Connelly’s latest Harry Bosch adventure he writes, “But Bosch stayed positive.  He’d gotten lucky with Pistol Pete and the serial number.  There was no reason to think it wouldn’t hold.”  Of course, Harry had a run in with his newer Lieutenant a page or two later … “So much for his luck holding… he felt that more than his luck suddenly ebbing away.  His momentum and positive attitude were eroding. It suddenly felt like it was getting dark out.” 
    • “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler, a classic I feel which still holds up. As the pace of change quickens we experience self-doubt, anxiety and fear.  We become tense and tire easily, until we are overwhelmed, face-to-face with a crisis situation. Without a clear grasp of relevant reality or beginning with clearly defined values and priorities, we feel a deepening sense of confusion and uncertainty. Our intellectual bewilderment leads to disorientation at the level of personal values. Decision stress results from acceleration, novelty and diversity conflicts. Acceleration pressures us to make quick decisions. Novelty increases the difficulty and length of time while diversity intensifies the anxiety with an increase in the number of options and the amount of information needed to process.  The result is a slower reaction time.

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 E74 — Summing Up Your Situation in an Intensely Psychological Game

Their mission was to anticipate how future talent development would unfold. By doing so they would have time to prepare their organizations and clients transition to new demands from changing markets and industries.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “This is an intensely psychological game. Whether you win or lose will depend on your ability to accurately sum up a situation. Watch and predict before you make your move.” Aquarius

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 74 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Natural Experiment” on this 3rd day of July in the summer of 2020.  

 

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

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 E73 — WorkFit: Chopping Off 12 Losers at the Intersection of Speed and Independence; S2 E72 — 20 Niche-Specific Opportunities Found After Making Soul Crushing Mistakes; S2 E71 — My Top 13 Worst Jobs of All Time

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E74 — You Know What To Do, Yeah Right!; S1 E73 — Do You Need a Little Leo da V Time Too?; S1 E72 — It’s Taken so Long, I Could be Wrong; S1 E71 — Isn’t There a Placebo for This?

Context

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

In the previous episode I listed 7 out of my 33 positions, as an example,  that fit what the human resource executives identified as the first of four scenarios. 

Their mission was to anticipate how future talent development would unfold. By doing so they would have time to prepare their organizations and clients transition to new demands from changing markets and industries.  

Now we turn to the second at the intersection of high degrees of independence and mastery and add 18 positions to last episode’s list.

High Independence & Speed High Independence & Mastery
6.   Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Worse Fit 7.   Professional Training Company: Worse Fit
23.  Organization Development — Technology: Better Fit 8,   Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms: Worse Fit
24.  Startup — Quantum Learning Systems: Better Fit 9.   Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company: Worse Fit
25.  Director Continuous Improvement: Better Fit 10. University Extension Instructor: Worse Fit
26.  Organization Development — Tech Company: Better Fit 11. Consultant Leadership Academy: Worse Fit 
30.  Venture Guidance: Better Fit 13. Consultant Professional Services: Worse Fit
32. Consultant — Product Development Merger: Better Fit 14.  Bank CD Conversion Tracker: Better Fit
16.  Graduate Student Assistant: Better Fit
17.   Graduate Assistant Internship: Better Fit
18.   Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Better Fit
19.   Artist — Cards, Poetry, Photos:  Better Fit
20.   Information Preneur — InFox:  Better Fit
21.  Research & Development — Career Change:  Better Fit
22.  Trainer, Management Development: Better Fit
27.  Knowledge Management — Brand Company:  Better Fit
28.  Knowledge Media Business: Better Fit
29.  Key Executive Advisor:  Better Fit
33. Advisor — Executive MBA Program: Better Fit

High Independence and Mastery

Better or Worse Fit?

7.  Professional Training Company — Focus on customizing suite of supervisory training programs.  Seemed old school, been that done that, couldn’t engage my attention and I didn’t sell new business, but it made sense to my growing knowledge management “Robin Hood” sense or repurposing what you’ve done to grow revenue.  But, I also learned I wasn’t cut out to turn out and deliver supervisory courses for clients like a university hospital, a transportation agency, or even to three technology companies. I lost interest in management training in slow moving mature organization types while craving the adrenalin rush of working in Paradoxy-Moron companies. It just didn’t satisfy the idea packaging  talent I developed when the ideas were old and trending towards commodity knowledge — Worse Fit

8.  Independent Contractor Outplacement Firms — I activated Plan B as an independent contractor delivering outplacement group training sessions and coaching at two firms. For the second I held down the fort while the founder underwent heart surgery.  He recognized my heart wasn’t in his business and his pressure to sell.  I was much more interested in conceptualizing which trends — demographic, social, technical, economic, political — through their interconnectedness would produce major opportunities for new products, services and careers — Worse Fit

9.  Consultant Life and Mutual Fund Company — Can you interject innovation into a century’s old mature company?  It was a complex, complicated maneuver with tons of new knowledge and new ideas packaging.  But, I yearned for a return a more Paradoxy-Moron organization that thrives on high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed — Worse Fit

10.  University Extension Instructor —teaching reengineering and continuous improvement as an idea packager thrilled and challenged me, but it represented a hell of a lot of work for low pay — Worse Fit

11.  Consultant Leadership Academy— Medical laboratory that didn’t present the challenge of high degrees of disruptive innovation, independence and speed — Worse Fit

13.  Consultant Professional Services — Advised software startup who seemed to be the Swiss Army Knife of surveys with additional functions and features that could fit almost any requirement in the human resources development profession. Their niche was their ability to conduct a survey and generate findings almost immediately instead of weeks which increased the probability that leadership development could be initiated right away — Worse Fit

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

16. Graduate Student Assistant— never received great grades in under graduate classes; more serious after the Army — more autonomy, flexibility, enjoyed research and knowledge work — Better Fit

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

18. Vocational Rehabilitation Services — the more interesting patients were cops, firefighters and sheriffs who filed stress claims. Set up the first behavior modification steps to more objectively evaluate patients and group job club reinforcement for self-placement while marketing not selling. Exposed to Outplacement.  Something new — Better Fit

19. Artist — Cards, Poetry, Photos — Creative expression combining my new found love of photography with prose and poetry.  Considered creating a line of greeting cards and posters — Better Fit

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

21. Research & Development — Career Change — field testing my approach — tried to sell to Orange Coast and Coastline Community Colleges. Orange County the Association Training and Development — Better Fit

22. Trainer, Management Development— Research, trends and past information interviews. Internal Outplacement – sold it and got permission. Learned on the job — improve quality, introduce new technology, teach and facilitate sales teams (I know, right) and at corporate headquarters send high potential managers in the developmental pipeline to university executive programs for rounding out.  I learned large-scale organizations resist change like an immune system does. Developed and refined my skill and talent to package new ideas — newer ways of doing things better — than the tried and true, especially during a decline when hundreds of employees receive their pink slips on Fridays.  Oh you need a plan A for thriving in the good times and a plan B for surviving in the dark times — Better Fit

27. Knowledge Management — Brand Company. Strategy and Brand Consultancy. We crashed our models together — learning and development, knowledge creation, media production, internet communities, advertising and marketing. We pioneered a way of capturing the essence of a brand on digital video, searched through audio tracks for the touch points and reused portions of the interviews for orienting new coders hired at accelerated rates — Better Fit  

28. Knowledge Media Business — Three of us tried to make a go of our pioneering efforts to capture the new knowledge being spun off so it wouldn’t fall through the cracks for Paradoxy-Moron organizations.  But the market didn’t support it and we had to go our separate ways — Better Fit

29. Key Executive Advisor — heading up the regions outplacement for C-suite services paid for by their former company. I covered delivered individual and group facilitated services for offices throughout the Southern California Region from San Diego to Woodland Hills, Pasadena and West LA.  It dawned on me that who you knew made the most difference for people at this level I created an online community for information and insight sharing and of course for trusted referrals — Better Fit

33. Advisor — Executive and Healthcare MBA Program — a decade which I view as a field test or a laboratory for the content in these second volume books. I proposed a curriculum to the Director for him to review and meet with me.  “Why would anyone choose to come back to school for an executive MBA (and spend over $100,000 over two years) when you’ve got all they’d ever need in this curriculum? — Better Fit

Summary of the Two Higher Independence Scenarios

First of all more employment opportunities lined up in the High Independence and Mastery list.  Of the 18, 6 made the worse fit list, leaving a dozen better fits.  Looking back, most of them but not all of the opportunities emphasized a professionalism that comes from accumulating more knowledge and experience.  It also emphasizes a more methodical, reasoned approach towards developing others.

In the next episode we turn to higher degrees of affiliation combining with high speed and mastery.

Evidence

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“3”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The gap between a certain dream and the reality of the situation has been quite wide for a good while. Now, you’re in for the thrill of closing that space and bringing something truly fantastic at hand.”  Aries 

Am I really in for the thrill of closing the gap between my self-publishing efforts and the first drips of support?  Not seeing it.

“3”  Steve Kerr, 54: “What would you most like? You can have what you set out to get, as long as you stick to one thing. If you chase after two or more things, you’ll end up empty-handed.” Libra

Probably true, but I subscribe to the Brian Enos school of creative passion projects.  When one Minimum Viable Product test fails, you move on to the next one while conducting a post mortem on the first to see what can be salvaged and repurposed.

“4”  Steve Harvey, 62: “A good mentor may come from a different background and work in a different field and still have exactly what you need including a treasure trove of mistakes and the learning that goes with that.” Capricorn

Now try telling , no selling  that to a potential protege.  When I matched Executive MBA students to my mentor members I warned all those EMBAs and HCEMBAs (Health Care Executive MBA) to sign up as quickly as possible when I announce the deadline, because as they filled out their applications each one included a timestamp.  I began my matching process with the first person and continued sometimes to student 35 or 40 in year one or year two.  While the TauBit turns out to be true, it’s a hard one to swallow when you’re #35.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “This is an intensely psychological game. Whether you win or lose will depend on your ability to accurately sum up a situation. Watch and predict before you make your move.” Aquarius

Isn’t it though?  Accurately summing up the situation seems increasingly polarizing, doesn’t it?  I had high hopes for the some of the elements from “Passing Storm” or “Good Company” would evolve to mobilize the country around shortening the length of our confinement and placing us on a more positive path to recovery.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @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 E43 — See What You’ve Been Missing …

Patreon’s limited editing capabilities suck.  Their format choices totally changes how each of my publications originally appear in my WordPress blogs.  

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

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “There’s no easier way, no shortcut available, no hack or guide that will provide the answer. You just have to find it as you go along. Luckily, this hard way is also the fun way.” Pisces 

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 43 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Experiment” on this ninth day of May in the spring of 2020.  

Season 1 and 2 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 E42 — It Was Short and Sweet, but Heart-Felt; S2 E41 — A Pandemic End to Real Estate and Consulting?; S2 E40 — The Profound Impact of the Pandemic on Nouns

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E43 — Desperation on Such a Summer’s Day; S1 E42 — Love on the Run; S1 E41 — The Dream Was Over, Long Live the Dream; S1 E40 — Nothing to See Here, Keep Moving On

Context

My new end of the week publication habit works.  Here’s what my early experimental attempt for Patreon became:

The Coming Millennial Migration — Will Remote Work Set You Free? 

“More sunsets are caught than sunrises because a greater number of people are awake in the evening than are watching for the break of dawn. Get on an early tract. There’s something spectacular in it for you.”

Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc.

Los Angeles Times, Catharine Hamm, Photo: Yang Lu

The Tau: Week Ending 5/9/20

New horizons. Grab some bucket list ideas to go — for deferred itineraries and remote-enabled resort towns. Curated from stories about local communities stretching along Pacific Coast Highway, in mountain resorts and on lakes, islands and in the great outdoors. 

But, here on the Atoll,  we don’t expect or encourage you to go check them out immediately. Instead we hope our articles inspire your future adventures!

See what you’ve been missing. 

Check out this week’s headlines pulled from our daily “Top 30 Digest” delivered, “Fresh from the Labs. Literally bottled and set adrift from KnowWhere Atoll.”

Where … ?

PCH Regions

          • “San Diego mayor: Compliance with new beach rules bodes well for state business reopening”
          • ”Pismo Beach: Where To Eat, Stay, And Play”
          • ”Whale that washed ashore in Ventura County towed out to sea”
          • ”Wineries Sue Over Cannabis Operation”
          • ”The Malibu Beach Inn Is Offering a Unique Social Distance Dining Experience for Mother’s Day”
          • ”Video captures coyote going for a morning stroll by Levi’s Plaza in SF during shelter-in-place order”

Islands and Currents

          • “Hawaii’s Proposals To Safely Reopen Travel…”
          • “I Was Stranded in Hawaii by Coronavirus — and the Magical Islands Completely Stole My Heart”
          • ”Hawaii wants to ensure a sustainable relationship with tourism post-COVID19”
          • ”Hawaii arresting rogue tourists for violating mandatory quarantine”
          • ”30 Best Bucket List Trips For Your Lifetime: Sailing The Hidden Caribbean”
          • ”Here’s how Sandals plans to re-open its Caribbean resorts to guests”
          • ”I’m Quarantined on a Yacht in the Caribbean. It’s Not What You Think”
          • ”Squid are back in abundance along Central California coast”
          • ”On Catalina Island, Unemployment Is 90%. A Local Food Pantry is Making Sure No One Goes Hungry”

Mountains and Lakes

          • ”Why whitewater rafting could be the safest way to a family vacation this summer”
          • ”Prediction tool shows how forest thinning may increase Sierra Nevada snowpack” 
          • “9 Things To Know About The North Lake Tahoe Ale Trail”
          • ”Cute Video: Mama bear rescues cubs, swimming them to safety one-by-one in South Lake Tahoe “
          • ”Introducing The Mountaineers Statement on Climate Change”

Pristine Treks

          • ”Outerbike cancels Deer Valley mountain bike demo event”
          • ”How To Spend A Weekend In Historic Truckee, California”
          • ”This Colorado Doggo Has Hit More Than 5,000 Summits“
          • ”California Snowpack Already Nearly Bare As Drought Worsens”

Deserts, Slopes and Ranges

          • “Western Slope Farmers Forge On Despite Losing 90 Percent of Peach Crop”
          • ”An Ace Hotel Gift Card Is a Win-Win Purchase“
          • ”Live out your Santorini dreams in this Palm Springs house asking $3M”
          • ”Take a Peek Inside Walt Disney’s Former Technicolor Dream House”

The Tau 12 Months Ago 

“You’ve been happy with your choices, but now you’re starting to notice that there are new options on the horizon.”

Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc.

Tags : COVID-19, climate, deserts, horizons, islands, lakes, migration, Millennials, mountains, Pacific Coast Highway, rafting, ranges, regions, rivers, remote, road trips, slopes, sunrises

Evidence

“4”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Pain is a signal. It is possible to feel pain and not be hurt by it. For example, endurance sports enthusiasts may experience this as they push through a workout. Pain is part of the process. Hurt is a judgment.” Scorpio

I’m guessing that pain means frustration on my part.  If so then, yes, it definitely part of the process.  I get that.  There are no short cuts, there is only doing.

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“4”  Steve Aoki, 41: “You know your limits and your triggers, which makes you more powerful, not less. But take into account that things like that change. You get stronger and braver. Test and push yourself today.” Sagittarius

I detect a theme.  Quit bitching if you’re so powerful.  Push through today.  OK. Got it.

“4”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69: “Your confidence comes from a wellspring of integrity. You know what you’ve done, what you have and who you are. You don’t require constant reminders of your greatness or tons of reinforcement to feel good.”  Taurus

Don’t be so sure for this career reincarnation. Some reminders of greatness would be nice.  Or maybe just 500 pounds of reinforcement.

“5”  Steve Nash, 45: “You think about things in a certain way that you may not even be aware of until you express what you’re thinking to a friend. The act of articulating yourself brings about new insights.”  Aquarius

Not only for me, but I noticed this early on in my one-on-one advisory career with “C-Suite” executives.  I put on a brave face before each engagement fearing my lack of answers for someone operating at the top tier of an organization.  Until, that fateful day when I simply asked a VP what she had been doing already about the problem or challenge she faced.  Then, my natural instincts and intuition kicked in.  Get them to tell you and in the telling their answers reveal themselves.

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “There’s no easier way, no shortcut available, no hack or guide that will provide the answer. You just have to find it as you go along. Luckily, this hard way is also the fun way.” Pisces

Theory is one thing.  Explanations and instructions are just that.  Until you take all the teachings and advice and apply them is when the true knowledge is revealed.  No hacks or shortcuts to building your own experience into wisdom.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines grew from 2,170 to 2300.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • Just picked up “Bob Dylan In America” by Sean Wilentz.  Maybe because of the subliminal messaging like the times are a changing and the answer is blowing in the wind, but I kinda like Sean’s fanboy becomes music critic becomes historian surrounding Dylan’s life and times. 
    • 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 E42 — It Was Short and Sweet, but Heart-Felt

“My pastor was talking about the ‘old normal‘ and how maybe there were parts of our lives that weren’t working … that weren’t all that great.   And now is the time to create a new normal for ourselves.”

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

“5”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69: “Being able to take a long view of things will save you from future discomfort. There are a lot of things you could take on. Consider what it would mean for your next few days and far beyond.”  Taurus

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 42 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Experiment” on this eighth day of May in the spring of 2020.  

Season 1 and 2 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 E41 — A Pandemic End to Real Estate and Consulting?; S2 E40 — The Profound Impact of the Pandemic on Nouns; S2 E39 — The Best Tau for the Pandemic Year, Don’t You Agree?

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E42 — Love on the Run; S1 E41 — The Dream Was Over, Long Live the Dream; S1 E40 — Nothing to See Here, Keep Moving On; S1 E39 — What’s Up with Facebook?;

Context

Some of my close friends, past co-workers, recruited mentors, former executive MBA students and people just like you are weighing in with their experiences:

Hi Steve, Great to hear from you. Do you remember me from your Right Management days? I ran the McDermott + Bull Executive Network then.

I appreciate your email. It got me thinking of a church service I listened to from 3 weeks ago…

My pastor was talking about the “old normal” and how maybe there were parts of our lives that weren’t working..that weren’t all that great. 

And now is the time to create a new normal for ourselves. 

It really hit home for me..even though I miss A LOT of components of my old normal I have really taken stock of the things that I don’t want to creep back in once we resume “normal” life.

It was short and sweet, but heart-felt.  I’d forgotten that she had moved to Golden Colorado and was curious how her clients and neighbors were adapting to the new normal.

I felt what you were able to accomplish with the Executive Network was so awesome.  In fact over the last 10 years when I ran the UCI Executive MBA mentor program I borrowed  monthly breakfast meeting ideas from you and recruited mentors from the network itself.

I love the “new normal” habit analysis and choosing what to keep and what not to, or at least improve on.  Keeping the “creeping back inners” away will be the challenge for me.  Although, given that the Sierra snowpack all but disappeared I’m glad I’ve made and sustained water conservation habits.

What’s the market in Golden like for executives?  Are you seeing any differences over the last few weeks (which feel like months and years 😎)?

Are you running a similar + Bull Executive Network there?

Since I reached out to “Friends of Steves” I gotten back really great responses and I’m considering how to summarize and share.

Evidence

“3”  Steve Zahn, 51: “You often have to comply to the authority in a situation, which is what makes opportunities like yours today special. You’ll call the game and make the rules.” Scorpio

Wait, is this about wearing a mask or something?  Got no problem with that.  It’s so little to ask from me to do my part in this pandemic, right?

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

“5”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69: “Being able to take a long view of things will save you from future discomfort. There are a lot of things you could take on. Consider what it would mean for your next few days and far beyond.”  Taurus

I’m such a scenario and strategic exploration freak, there has to be reports or papers published that that the long view of things, right?

“3”  Steve Smith, 30: “Once you decide that you are going to devote yourself to making progress, you’ll stick to an endeavor until you get where you want to go. The game has started. To delay is to lose any advantage you might have.”  Gemini

Well, yes of course.  I’m fighting off a case of the blahs.  This TauBit should boost my persistence, but frankly it doesn’t.

“4”  Steve Howey, 42: “Consider that your most powerful asset is your reputation. So anything that lifts it will probably be worth the attention, effort and money that goes into the process.” Cancer

Sure, but this just reminds me of unfinished work describing what “Brand-as-Experts” do, in which organization type is the best fit for them.

“5”  Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “You’ll have a strong first impression to a situation. Note it — even formally with an actual note — but don’t act on it. There is more to learn here, and you’re playing a long game.” Leo

I’m finding it very difficult not to judge those anti-vaccine and anti-mask people.  My knee jerk reaction is the saying, “There is no cure for stupid.”

“4”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “Success will be simple when you recognize what is and is not under your control, and then apply yourself only to the first group of circumstances. Applying yourself to the second group brings nothing but frustration.” Virgo

So, I’m not so sure anymore.  What is in our control?  

“5”  Steve Aoki, 41: “In days of old, the black sheep was shunned by the herd. Now the black sheep goes on the internet and finds a virtual herd with numbers so strong, the black sheep are actually the majority.” Sagittarius

Scary, but true. Or at least it seems that way.  If you equate black sheep with anti-vax, anti-mask true believers.  

“3”  Steve Harvey, 62: “Your choices do not have to be dictated by things like age, race, gender or even by how much money you have in your pocket. Waste no time accounting for limits. Go straight to the workaround.”  Capricorn

Yeah, good to know, but hard to figure out, right?

“5”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “The issues that come up today are the sort you don’t have to reason your way through. Give your logical mind a break. Meditate, shower, drive, walk or sleep on it instead.” Pisces

Now, we’re talking.  The media onslaught is unyielding.  Maybe I can reset.

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines grew from 2,170 to 2,300.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life  

Long-Form

    • Just picked up “Bob Dylan In America” by Sean Wilentz.  Maybe because of the subliminal messaging like the times are a changing and the answer is blowing in the wind, but I kinda like Sean’s fanboy becomes music critic becomes historian surrounding Dylan’s life and times. 
    • 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 E39 — The Best Tau for the Pandemic Year, Don’t You Agree?

So, my survival guide for remote workers had already been written, which had been targeted to the knowledge working community (consultants, freelancers and entrepreneurs) who could sell their services to clients which didn’t require their presence 24/7.  Given they were more mobile and could live anywhere, then where do they want to put down roots?

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

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The future that has seemed so hazy now comes into sharp focus. You’ll be approaching work in new ways. While some deals are stalled, other arrangements can be solidified as you wait.” Aries 

Hi and welcome to Saturday’s Episode 39 in Season 2 of  “My Pandemic Year Experiment” on this 2nd day of May in the spring of 2020. 

Season 1 and 2 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 E38 — What Should You Do If You Stumble Across Loaded Information?; S2 E37 — How Deep is the Chasm? What Do We Do?; S2 E36 — Turning Lemons into Margaritas

Related from Season One, the Normal Year

S1 E39 — What’s Up with Facebook?; S1 E38 — Day 38 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E37 — Day 37 of My 1-Year Experiment; S1 E36 — Day 36 of My 1-Year Experiment

Context

Working on the Business — I’d gotten into a publishing groove on Patreon with: 

Today I published a summary of the week just ending on Patreon  and shared the piece on LinkedIn:

Surviving Day-to-Day or Thriving with Big-Picture Insights?

“The future that has seemed so hazy now comes into sharp focus. You’ll be approaching work in new ways. While some deals are stalled, other arrangements can be solidified as you wait.”

Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc.

Michael S. Malone, Scientific American, Image: Getty Images.

The Tau: Week Ending 5/2/20

Discover what you’ve been missing. 

Here are some of this week’s headlines pulled from our daily “Top 30 Digest” curated for you, “Fresh from the Labs. Literally bottled and set adrift from KnowWhere Atoll.”

Helping you face what’s going on and create some of your own if/then strategies.

What if … ?

Trends

COVID-19 Phase Two

              • ”The coronavirus pandemic is getting the ‘total attention’ of the Gates Foundation” 
              • “Google and the Cost of ‘Data Voids’ During a Pandemic”
              • ”Google and Apple Reveal How Covid-19 Alert Apps Might Look”
              • ”How COVID-19 Could Change AR/VR’s Future”

Artificial Intelligence 

              • ”Google medical researchers humbled when AI screening tool falls short in real-life testing”
              • ”Don’t Regulate Artificial Intelligence: Starve It”
              • Impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Human Resources (HR) Industry
              • ”US patent office rules that artificial intelligence cannot be a legal inventor”

Deeper Future Horizons

              • ”Hydrogen Industry: The Dawning Of The Hydrogen Economy”
              • “A new machine learning method streamlines particle accelerator operations”
              • ”Who needs a jet? 620 mph Hyperloop train will zoom passengers from Paris to Amsterdam in just 90 minutes”

The Final Frontier

              • ”Space travel breakthrough: Solar sail offers route to stars at one fifth of light speed” 
              • ”The Universe Is Expanding Faster Than It Should. Why?”
              • ”Space Photos of the Week: Polychromatic Views of the Earth”

A special welcome and thanks to 160 new followers in just the past 3 days. Like, share and join our growing community of 2,170 followers to see what you missed.

The Tau 12 Months Ago 

“You’re starting to think of things in their broader context.  New insights come from big-picture thinking.”

Holiday Mathis, Creators Syndicate Inc.

Tags : Apple, Artificial Intelligence, Bill Gates, COVID-19, Earth, Foundations, Google, Hydrogen Economy, Hyperloop, Machine Learning, Medical Research, Pandemic, Patents, Physics, Science, Space

Evidence

Random ones that make me want to change my sign.

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “The future that has seemed so hazy now comes into sharp focus. You’ll be approaching work in new ways. While some deals are stalled, other arrangements can be solidified as you wait.” Aries

And so McQueen’s Holiday Tau was just what I needed for this week’s Patreon publication.  How to take advantage of the COVID-19 Pandemic caught the technology community’s disruptive venturing spirit.

“3”  Steve Smith, 30: “Though there’s plenty you can learn about yourself outside the context of a relationship, there are many things you figure out quickly by working and playing with others, like you will today.” Gemini

Getting used to “lock down” as a pandemic prevention, surely tests the boundaries of relationships within your own pod, right Emma the Baroness?

“4”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “With all you’ve experienced, you could write a survival guide. You’ll be compelled to help, but you don’t really have to give any advice or instruction to do so. Your example is enough.”  Leo

So, my survival guide for remote workers had already been written, which had been targeted to the knowledge working community who I identified as consultants, freelancers and entrepreneurs who could sell their services to clients which didn’t require their presence 24/7.  Given they were more mobile and could live anywhere, then where do they want to put down roots?  

“4”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “Sometimes the bumpy roads lead to the most beautiful places. Other times it’s just more rock and dirt and jostling. Take an enjoyable path and the destination will just be a bonus.” Virgo

As in epic awesome road trips in the West, say to some of my favorite towns on this itinerary?

“3”  Steve Kerr, 54: “There is no one better than another, and yet many make easier fits. Of course, fit isn’t everything. Sometimes what you have to grow into or figure out keeps you more interested.” Libra

Just not on the right day.  As it applies to the “Work” — in Live, Love, Work, Play, Invest, and Leave a Legacy subtitle to “The Knowledge Path” series — the best fit means matching the right type of organizational talent culture for you.  And, if you can’t you may determine which stage of growth fits you better.  I’m working on it.

“5”  Steve Aoki, 41: “Your story isn’t one narrative. It’s an ever-evolving work of art that you might tell a totally different way one day to the next. This is one way you’ll exercise creative power over your destiny.” Sagittarius

I can’t tell you how often during normal times I’d have to prepare just what my story was and why I was meeting with someone for the first time.  Was I a career advisor?  Or the chief knowledge officer?  Or the organization development consultant? Or the memoirist? Or the blogger?

“4”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “Life is not about stuff, and yet a few choice items can make your world a bit more fun, safe or smooth today. Figure out what you need. You might be able to trade someone for it.” Pisces

Need?  Not much more.  Emma the Baroness and I have surprisingly built a comfortable nest egg.  More travel, maybe but those trips will have to be postponed, right?

What’s Going On …

Literally Bottled and Set Adrift from KnowWhere Atoll 

    • @knowlabs followers of one or more of my 35 digital magazines grew from 1760 to 2,170.

Foresight

Quality-of-Life

Long-Form

    • Just picked up “Bob Dylan In America” by Sean Wilentz.  Maybe because of the subliminal messaging like the times are a changing and the answer is blowing in the wind, but I kinda like Sean’s fanboy becomes music critic becomes historian surrounding Dylan’s life and times.

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

S1 E166 — Falling Down the Time Sucking Rabbit Hole

I  continued with my website makeovers after hunkering down while 40 to 50 mph Santa Ana winds wrecked havoc. Oh, and after I assessed damage, then swept up leaves, twigs and branches. 

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

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Time won’t be a significant contributing factor to the quality of the day’s products, so you may as well go fast.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 166 in the first season of “My 1-Year Natural Experiment” on this 6th day of February in winter of 2020.

Context

It dawned on me I should figure out which published “Best of Essays” are for attracting potentials to Patreon and which are for the tier-paying Patrons behind the gate — like specific checklists and steps? 

Looked at each website’s blog archive for one or the other audience.

      1. The Knowledge Path: Live. Love. Work. Play. Invest. Leave a Legacy.
      2. Western Skies and Island Currents: From the Desert to the Mountains to the Sea and all the Pristine Rivers, Lakes and Islands in Between.
      3. Best West Road Trips: Natural Beauty. Awesome Adventures.
      4. Knowledge ATMs: A peak behind the scenes of self-publishing, crowdfunding, and working for yourself
      5. Knowledge Banking: Wealthy Choices. Healthy Lives.
      6. Know Laboratories: Thriving in an Age of Accelerating Uncertainty

Taking a deeper dive into Knowledge Banking I focused of 4 components of a system to guide future posts.

    1. To 4 ways of repurposing Knowledge Product offerings, illustrated by @knowlabs: Fresh from the Labs. Literally bottled and set adrift from KnowWhere Atoll.
      • Guided — This or That?
      • Experimental Trial & Error —Sort Through, Search Again
      • Repackaged Segment — Subscribe to Your Niche
      • Personalized — Tagged to Membership Profile
    1. One post should transition from your bucket list of best places to “With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:

3.  To Volume Two (Work) “With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variation in your new employer by:

      • MBTI Equivalent — Outer or Inner Directed
      • Talent Profile — Degrees of: Disruptive Innovation, Independence, New Knowledge, Affiliation, Speed, Imbedded Knowledge, Improvement, Mastery
      • Best Fit — Organization Type, Stage of Growth and Crisis
      • Worst Fit — Organization Type, Stage of Growth and Crisis

4. To value creation stages

      • Commodities or Noise
      • Goods or Data
      • Services or Information
      • Experiences or Knowledge
      • Transformations or Wisdom

You know I concerned myself about falling down the rabbit hole into major time sucking morass before I limited my comparison process.

Evidence

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Time won’t be a significant contributing factor to the quality of the day’s products, so you may as well go fast.” Scorpio

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

I get what wavelength your Holiday Tau resonates with, but for my tasks at hand, I’m not choosing yours for the Tau of the Day.

“3”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61: “The right tune will enhance what you’ve got going on today, though the wrong one will help you appreciate the value of silence.” Virgo

Hey Coach Kerr, how competitive do you feel your Holiday Tau is today?  Guess what?  You bricked it like a Shaquille O’Neil free throw.

“2”  Steve Kerr, 54: “If a compliment is like honey, criticism is like vinegar.  Taken the right way, both enhance what’s healthy.” Libra

End of the Week “Knews” for FOSs

Trends — 

Short-Form — 

Long-Form — 

    • Michael Connelly has become one of my favorites for his style of writing found in his Bosch series, including “Lost Light” for his turn of a phrase like, “At night when I try to sleep but can’t … It is when all the pathways seem to connect and I see the people I have loved.” Or, like, “Like trying to figure out Vietnam in 1967 by watching Walter Cronkite at night.” I view his writing as essential for my efforts at writing my Volume Three series about legacy.

Progress and Procrastination — 

    • Procrastinate while feeling empty after trying to figure out what this nation has become by watching the Senate acquit Trump without calling any witnesses.  What’s up with that? 

Speaking Volumes — 

    • Treating  “11 Simple Steps for Finding the Authentic Quality-of-Life You Deserve” as a missing chapter from Volume One, the first 5-book series and a bonus offer, for example. 
    • Volume Two (Work) — beginning to wrangle key concepts: MBTI Equivalent — Outer or Inner Directed; Talent Profile — Degrees of: Disruptive Innovation, Independence, New Knowledge, Affiliation, Speed, Imbedded Knowledge, Improvement, Mastery;  Best Fit — Organization Type, Stage of Growth and Crisis;  Worst Fit — Organization Type, Stage of Growth and Crisis

Banking and ATMs — 

    • So it helps if you are a founder or a comedian?  How does that work on a crowdfunding platform like Patreon?

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

Posted on

S1 E102 — Why Is It Always Hidden in the Fine Print?

Oh my god. I came this close to disaster.  I almost lost all of the work that’s taken me well over a decade to test and write for my “Volume Two Manuscript” about “Work”. 

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

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980): “Give yourself an advantage; take the time to organize and think it through.“ Aries

Evidence

Hi and welcome to Sunday’s Episode 102 in the first season of ” My 1-Year Natural Experiment” on this 13th day of October in the fall of 2019.

Apple is updating their operating system.   According to the fine print, which my eyes normally glass over,  my favorite creative software, Inspiration, no longer worked after the update.

At stake were 16 talent profiles cross-linked interactively to Myers-Briggs (MBTI ) temperaments, aligned to organization types and growth stages – applied original research for identifying employers and customers which would be the best fit or worst fit for you.

If I hadn’t aborted the download, I’d never be able to access all that hard work. 

It freaked me out so much I returned to the Famous Steves website I saved back in September in my Pinboard Knowledge Bank while I left it to my unconscious brain to come up with an Apple work around.  

To my surprise I discovered a feature that allowed me to list 120 Steves by their sign — or the top 10 by each horoscope’s range of birthdays.  

For instance here’s what I found for Aquarius (January 21 – February 19):

Top Ten: Steve Nash, 45; Steve Perry, 70; Steve Yeager, 38; Steve McNair (1973 – 2009); Steve Prefontaine (1951 – 1975); Steve Terada, 35; Steve Roberts, 37; Steve Reeves (1926 – 2000); Steve Wynn, 77 and Steve Hackett, 69

With a little extra research on Wikipedia I produced the following table choosing the most famous I recognize:

      • Capricorns (December 22 – January 20) Steve Harvey, 62
      • Aquarius (January 21 — February 19) Steve Nash, 45
      • Pisces (February 20 — March 20) Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011)
      • Aries (March 21 – April 20) Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980)
      • Taurus (April 21 – May 21) Steve Winwood, 71
      • Geminis (May 22 – June 21) Steve Smith, 30
      • Cancers (June 22 – July 22) Steve Howey, 42
      • Leos(July 23 – August 22) Steve Carrell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69
      • Virgos (August 23 – September 23) Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61
      • Libras (September 24 – October 23) Steve Kerr, 54
      • Scorpios (October 24 – November 22) Steve Zahn, 51
      • Sagittarius (November 23 – December 21) Steve Aoki, 41

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Sometimes it’s difficult to anticipate disruptions when you are so used to following recommended updates — it’s such a habit followed unconsciously.  

“5”  Steve McQueen (1930 – 1980):“Give yourself an advantage; take the time to organize and think it through.“ Aries

Yeah, I hope this secret art of thinking isn’t pathological, haha.  It’s certainly original research — 64 lifestyle profiles defining neighborhoods you can find by age, stage, status and population density and then 16 talent profiles you can use to identify the best and worst fit for working for an employer.

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “You’ll get a stretch of beautiful mental clarity.  It’s like you’re developing your own secret art of thinking.” Gemini

Like so many things in life, you hate to learn a lesson out of episodes of extreme change and disruption, figure out how to accommodate the impacts in your life, and swear an oath that you’ve learned your lesson … only to fall back into your old ways. 

“5”  Steve Howey, 42: “In the process of reorganizing, everything will be taken out and examined.  You’ll see a vast improvement.” Cancer

I frequently say Steve Jobs killed me.  As a knowledge worker in the broadest sense, I’ve become sedentary which is not that healthy, right?

“5”  Steve Harvey, 62: “Intellectual study seems passive because it requires little movement.” Capricorn

I’m sure Mr. Jobs’ Holiday Tau is important, but not necessarily for me today.  Feel free to apply it to your life.

“3”  Steve Jobs, (1955 – 2011): “An endeavor will not only bring you money but will also bring you other kinds of riches that matter to you.” Pisces

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

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S1 E85 — What happens when the fear subsides?

Jazzy’s looking for some advice about a side hustle — he’d been approached by the top advertising guy at his former action sports business.

“5”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “When fear subsides, the brain is quiet.  It’s out of this quiet mind that deep insight and intelligence emerges.” Leo

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

This wasn’t for the advertising creative director, but for his popular side gig and he needs a proposal for social media consulting.  

Evidence

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 85 in the first season of ” My 1-Year Experiment” on this 30th day of August in the summer of 2019.

It took me about a half an hour to locate what I had used and emailed it to him after a little phone consultation.

It’s uncanny how what I advised Jazzy was freakishly similar to the Holiday Tau for Zahn, Emma the Baroness and me.

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “The safety net can have an effect whether or not it’s actually there.  The confidence one gets in thinking that it’s there will contribute to sure-footed action.” Scorpio

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

Have you been noticing it too?  Why have I been including so many Steves over the past few days? Has it been some sort of FOMO going on?  Shouldn’t I pay more attention to what’s relevant, you know emphasizing quality over quantity?

If not for me, for Jazzy.  This describes the responsibility he brings all the time.  I can learn from him and from Smith’s Holiday Tau.

“5”  Steve Smith, 30: “You know how to complete your work, show up on time and bring a willingness to work with others, even the difficult ones.” Gemini

And, I see I saved Howey’s as a companion piece.

“5”  Steve Howey, 42: “You have talent, but it doesn’t matter half as much as persistence and applying oneself to the most important task at hand.” Cancer

OK, now that my brain is quiet, I’ll relish deep insight and intelligence.  Count me in.

“5”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “When fear subsides, the brain is quiet.  It’s out of this quiet mind that deep insight and intelligence emerges.” Leo

You mean besides deep insight and intelligence?  How about intuition and lateral thinking together with a talent for picturing the essence of what is at play in a situation.  I mean like visualizing a scene that crystalizes the action and next steps.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “What’s the thing you like about yourself today?  You’re allowed to think it.  You’re even allowed to say it, to yourself or anyone who will listen.” Virgo

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

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S1 E81— Is This My Wake Up Call, Steve?

In a New York minute, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time your ticket gets punched, right?

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

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Solitary endeavors bring out one side of you; challenges that involve others bring out another.  Sometimes you’re amazed at what you learn about yourself — like today.” Scorpio

Hi and welcome to Friday’s Episode 81 in the first season of “My 1-Year Experiment” on this twenty-third day of August in the summer of 2019.

Evidence

Driving north on the 405 freeway I got that wake up call reminder.  It was the second time traffic had been held up with a car flipped up on its side and first responding firemen and EMTs and Highway Patrol vehicles surrounded it.

The first jammed traffic on the Ventura freeway just a few hours north, when Emma the Baroness and I planned a quickie vacation to the American Riviera a year and a half ago.  

Three of us, like Zahn and Henry Winkler shared the same Holiday Tau.

One of my mentors, Linda, reached out to me and scheduled a coffee meeting at University Town Center — where more than a decade ago I accidentally bumped into a former colleague lunching at an outside table.  

One thing led to another.  A multi-year consulting retainer lasted a decade.  

While in route Jaron Lanier — an early inventor of virtual reality, now a fellow at Microsoft and all round Renaissance musician and artist — regaled Sam Harris on his podcast.  

Just before I viewed the second flipped car, I noted how sad Jaron felt about the passing of his great friend. I wrote:

Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow always had to “sing for supper” every night at the end of life having few assets. Jaron felt awful about his Barlow’s situation and views those circumstances as probable scenarios for other artistic types, like those in the Writers Cooperative.

During an uncharacteristic cool and windy late August morning Linda got me caught up.  She invited me to participate in a Leadership Steering Committee which I felt would draw me back in to an advising, teaching and consulting role taking me away from what was on my plate.  

By saying “No” politely and receiving a reply “Well, think about it.  Doesn’t it fit your book?” she said. 

Hmm. My Volume Two “Work” manuscript hadn’t seriously been on my mind as much as my trying to figure out how to convert my LinkedIn followers into supporters.

“5”  Steve Zahn, 51: “Solitary endeavors bring out one side of you; challenges that involve others bring out another.  Sometimes you’re amazed at what you learn about yourself — like today.” Scorpio

Random ones that make me want change my sign.

WW&C’s Holiday Tau supports how having turned down my participation in the steering committee, which felt uncertain at the time, helped differentiate my newer identity.

“5”  Steve Winwood, 71; Stevie Wonder, 69; Stephen Colbert, 56: “You’re not trying to be different from the rest, but you are different.  It’s knowing how you’re different that will help you stand out.” Taurus

So, this is exactly what my intent was joining my former mentor for coffee. 

“5”  Steve Carell, 57; Steve Martin, 74; Steve Wozniak, 69: “Potential clients and customers abound but you feel funny talking yourself up.  Come up with a better approach — a soft sell that will have them asking questions.” Leo

And, of course the Holiday Tau of GG&K compliments that of the two comedians and the business founder.

“5”  Steve Greene, 34; Steve Guttenberg, 61; Stephen King, 72: “You have what another needs, but don’t offer it too freely.  Easy things get devalued.  Half the fun is in the process.” Virgo

I’m sure Aoki’s Holiday Tau is valuable, maybe for you, but not as valuable to me today.

“3”  Steve Aoki, 41: “Self-control is needed to amass any kind of good result.  But in the end, that self-control will be the best thing you’ve amassed.” Sagittarius

So, yes self-control always serves as a check on my passion and creativity and mirrors Aoki’s. Maybe the sum is more valuable than its parts?

“3”  Steve Harvey, 62: “Your fortunes will depend on how well you exercise self-control.  You will understand what you need to do to get ahold of your financial picture.” Capricorn

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Inspired by Holiday Mathis – Creators Syndicate

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