Rothacker Reviews

Being Offended

A person very near and close to me, who I will call Cindy, described an encounter with a friend.  Her friend thought that she had offended her.  This was the universe created till now from being true.  Cindy then thought about the act of being offended.  She wasn't sure that she could be offended.  The question that most intrigued her was, "why can't I be offended?"

Cindy's first inclination of an answer was, "I can't be offended because I do not judge others.  If someone speaks their opinion, I don't take it personally.  It is just their thoughts."

I suspect that Cindy has deep insight and knowledge of her inner self.  I think she also has great empathy and compassion for others. An acquaintance might be unnecessarily mean to her and instead of lashing out, she would wonder what pressures are smothering this person today?

I also think that Cindy's strength comes from a spirit within.  Not a human having a spiritual experience, but a spirit having a human experience - as one hundred masters might say. 

To have that state of mind as to not be offended by others is a rarity and a fine state for the rest of us to strive for.

Will Knowledge Be Passed On?

Ernst & Young put out a white paper in January titled, The Aging of the U.S. Workforce: Employer Challenges and Responses.  This is a complex subject and not one that is easily discussed in a short post. 

By the paper's third paragraph you will discover that corporate America doesn't consider the eventual retirement of the Baby Boom Generation as an important issue today.  I very much disagree with corporate America!  I will not go there now, however.  Read the paper if you get a chance.  As you do, think in your mind - transference of knowledge and wisdom.  I will post again in the future on this subject.

The Paper

Vapor Trails

I took a drive yesterday into the Florida countryside.  About fifteen minutes from home and it was dirt roads and cow pastures.  What a pleasant relief it was from the drone of never-ending  Bruce B. Downs traffic.  I suspect in ten years there will be a new Bruce B. Downs cutting through the Pasco County countryside.  For the moment however, my concern of time lies above me in the skies.

  A blueness filled the sky.  Clouds were present but not noticeable.  This is because the sky was striped with jet vapor trails.  The vapor trails remained crisp and tight with the jets still in view.  As the jets disappeared, the trails expanded like a snake after a good meal.  The atmosphere encouraged the trails to linger and enjoy the day.  A casual glimpse above revealed just how many jets had been in the sky.  As vapor trails crossed one another, one wondered just how much time separated the flying time erasers.  This begs the question, how in the world is jet traffic coordinated?  And how is it coordinated around all of the other aircraft flying in the skies?

My thoughts today however, are on time.  Jets fly throughout the skies, seemingly in disorder and leave vapor trails as reminders of time spent there.  Are we as human beings not all that much unlike jets?  We blast through the day leaving vapor trails in the hearts and minds of those we intersect with.  As the vapor trails linger, our actions can be seen in the skies of those with whom we come in contact with.  Think about the time you are spending with people throughout the day.  Your impression, your vapor trail, remains on their faces and in their souls, for all to see.  Make your encounters meaningful.  Make your vapor trails linger.  Make them special for all to enjoy.

Talking Story Blogroll

A couple of weeks have drifted by since Rosa Say sent everyone who has been listed on her online Ho'ohana Community for the last year, an e-mail.  I wonder if Rosa's message registered with everyone. 

Rosa plans five forums this year in which she will ask her online community to participate.  If you contribute, your name remains on the blogroll.  If you do not, she will remove it until the next forum.  If you participate at that time your name will go back on.  Simple.  Contribute and remain on the blogroll.

I might be one of Rosa's most steadfast supporters.  I also missed a couple of forums last year.  I like this idea.  It gives me just the right amount of motivation to contribute.  It helps me to prioritize what is important to me. 

I cannot reveal the surprise at this time, but there promises to be the potential of positive and major impact on certain individuals as a result of our project, A Love Affair with Books, this month!!!!!!!!!  I am so excited about the residual effect that I can hardly stand it.  In case you missed it, Rosa tells us in the e-mail that she sent to us titled: You are invited to A Love Affair with Books, dated February 5th.  If you, my Ho'ohana brothers and sisters, do nothing for the rest of the year but participate in this month's forum, I assure you, your heart will be most rewarded.

Remember, the deadline to get your stuff to The Keeper of The Traveling MWA is February 22, 2006!

Davie, brother, just what is Talking Story?  Man, I never thought you'd ask.  Talking Story .

A Whole New Mind

What was the catalyst in American history that caused this nation to move from the Agriculture Age to the Industrial Age?  Perhaps it was the use of machinery and electricity.  What then caused the move to the Information Age?  Most likely it was the computer.  Author Dan Pink hypothesizes that we are on the verge of another leap in ages.  The Conceptual Age.  What is the cause and what is the Conceptual Age?

Pink cites three factors as the cause.  Asia, Abundance and Automation.  Work can be done cheaper in Asia.  From call centers to programmers to financial services, Asian workers are less expensive.  More people are enjoying greater economic freedom and an increased standard of living.  This has created an abundance and glut of stuff, from an abundance and glut of stores.  Automation has shrunk the knowledge worker's world.  One can get medical and law questions answered online where they used to have to pay a doctor or lawyer.  This trend is crossing most industries.

The Conceptual Age is an age based upon right brain thinking.  People will have to create and have the ability to emphasize in order to keep pace.  As Asia, Abundance and Automation bear down upon us like electricity did on the 19Th century, we'll need to maintain our left brain thinking and expand our right brain abilities - creating a whole new mind.

Pink provides readers with six right brain senses that will help to develop the whole new mind:  Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning.  He devotes a chapter to each aptitude and includes exercises and ideas for further development.

Can one man alone name the next age of commerce?  I don't think so.  But Dan Pink is definitely pulling back the curtains, revealing a glimpse at a Wizard that has not been so prevalent in our assumptions.  I see two sets of people who can truly benefit from the perspective of this future Wizard:  Baby Boomers between the ages of 42 and 55.  ( I will include those BB's who are over 55 and have jettisoned the 1960 and 70's business mindset and who possess an open mind).  The second set is those who are in and graduating college,  right up to the age of 42, maybe with a greater emphasis on the younger folks though.

The Boomers look into the Conceptual Age

The most important point for the Boomers to remember is that they are not going to change or make those younger reform to an outdated business mindset.  It will be almost as important for them to help the younger workforce implement Pink's right brain senses of Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning.  Next in importance is for this generation to provide air cover for their younger colleagues.  Agents of close-mindedness must be held at bay and parted off to the side.

The Generations to Follow

To those of you who are entering the workforce, do so with patience.  Yours is the way of the future.  Clicking your glass slippers however, will not land you in the home that you want to be in.  You must work closely with those who are open-minded and appreciate your views, ideas and opinions.  There are those who will guide you around the land mines of the obsolescent business mindset.  They want you to succeed.  Utilize their wisdom and inject your heart's desire.

As for those of you who are in the older portion of these generations, your role is the second and third runners of the relay.  As leaders in the making, you perhaps enjoy the best of both worlds.  You've absorbed the wisdom of your elders and you can feed off the enthusiasm of those entering the workforce.  Yours is to stay the course.

Although I am not sure Dan Pink is the next Eli Whitney, the next Henry Ford or the next Bill Gates, he offers a refreshing look into the future.  I highly recommend reading A Whole New Mind as long as you keep your mind open when doing so!

 

 

 

 

 

For The Love of Books

Write a post about books and campers come from near and far to sit around your campfire.  With the Woodstock  of bookfests soon approaching, I thought I'd tell you about what one gentleman actually did to obtain books. 

By the time Benny turns sixteen years old he reads like tomorrow will not arrive .  One book in particular captures his attention, The Way to Health, Wealth and Happiness by Thomas Tryon.  Tryon suggests a meatless diet to improve one's health.  Benny likes the idea and is excited to try it out.  The only problem is, Benny has no control over what is served at the dinner table.

Benny works as an apprentice at his brother's print shop.  Benny, his brother and other apprentices rent rooms and get meals from another family.  Benny's vegtable only diet quickly begins to cause emabarassment for his brother at the dinner table.  Since his brother is paying the family for Benny's portion of the food, Benny convinces his brother to redirect the money to him.  His brother agrees.  Benny soon discovers that without buying meat, he has money left over.  He takes this money to then feed another appetite - books.

Books seem to serve Benny well as he journies on in life.  Among many other accomplishments, Ben Franklin finds our nation's first public library, first book club and the University of Pennslyvania. 

I have been wanting to get Ben Franklin's Autobiography since reading Dale Carnegie's recommendation in his book, How to Win Friends & Influence People.  Everytime that I came close to buying the book I thought about the old world english it was written in.  I just didn't have the energy to plod through it.  Last week Carla and I stopped by Circle Books at St. Armands Circle in Sarasota and were doing a little browsing when I came across, Ben Franklin Autobiography for Modern Times , adapted by Blaine McCormick.  The look and feel of the book sold me before I even read the content.  The book sort of has a Wizard of Ads  feel to it. 

The Bookstore Thing - Had I not actually picked up, felt and read the book, I probably wouldn't have ordered it from Amazon.  Of course, I over paid for the experience.  I suppose I could have gone home and ordered it, but I was overtaken by the impulse to buy.  I wonder what Benny would have done?