Teach Yourself How To Run: Part Six [Zombie Armies]

Running without a stopwatch.

This is not the only method I use to 'mix' up my running patterns. My interest in running does wane from time to time - especially when I begin to treat it too seriously.

So I switch off the timer, and I open my eyes to imagine more. Not worrying about the seconds and minutes ticking away as I gather up more tarmac and muddy lanes really does change the landscape.

Here's what I was thinking about on my last run....

As I finished passing over a disused rail bridge near Welwyn Garden City, on my 5 mile jogging route, the view of some beautiful autumnally orange trees opened up to allow me a glimpse one of the surrounding sun bleached fields to my right.

The freshly harvested field puckered up slightly and then dipped into a low valley, before rising again just as harshly and then on into the front of a large copse of trees on top of a hill. It was like a crown of bronzed foliage resting on a well manicured head of dirty blonde stubble. Quite stunning. I thought - if I was being attacked by a zombie army, then that would be a great place to hold out and sniper their heads off, one by one. Now don't ask why I suddenly come up with that, but my mind decided that I wasn't finished with this fantasy quite yet...

My eyes tracked left to what looked like a farm house nestled in a ring of trees, only slightly lower in elevation. Nicely set back to view the killing fields from the second floor bedroom window - the 'dead ground' in front of the copse. I thought - this would be a great place to raise and protect a family if indeed we had to fight off swathes of brain eating zombies night and day. I noticed a tall hedge which led up the side of the valley to the ring of protective trees around the farm house. It formed a secluded path right up to the front door!! A perfectly protected route to attack the house from. If I were a zombie, who had an ounce of sense (zombies from 'I am Legend' probably), then my line of attack would definitely be THAT hedge line. Damn. I quickly counter imagined another spot to lay in wait, this time parallel to the valley...  from there, I can see the zombie hordes protected line of advance. WHAT HAVE I DONE?! I suddenly realised that I had forgotten the golden rule of zombie hunting. Use close quarters weapons which spread destruction over a wide area! More kills, less ammo. For example a shot gun or a flame-thrower could do very well. Why was I happy laying in wait, in a copse and valley, cutting myself off from my family? They would get over run within minutes, and all because I was too busy trying to be clever. I realised that I had over thought the problem.

You may be thinking that I either just had a minor stroke whilst I was running, or at the very least, something strange happened to me. Neither are true.

This little cameo adventure happened in my head in almost exactly 12 seconds. The time it took me to run past the opening. In that time I had imagined a world where zombies crawled over rural Hertfordshire, looking for fresh meat. I had imagined that a tree copse was a great look out post and a perfect place lay in wait. From there I could protect my non-existent family who were held up in a farm house I didn't own... I managed to squeeze off a few shot gun rounds in my head too. A mans got to to what a mans got to do. I even had imagined the music I wanted playing as I discovered my family who had been brutally murdered by zombie jerks. Junky Fight by Lias Gerrard, as found on the Layer Cake sound track. Awesome.

Once I passed the opening in the trees and the view changed, I tried to urge myself to bookmark my little adventure for later... I did, and because of it I probably forgot some other incredible adventure that I had day dreamed. It's true, I probably forgot something very important - but I got to fight zombies. Good trade-off.

Now... isn't that a great way to spend 35 minutes of your day? During exercise and in particular running, we are all able to think more creatively and with incredible clarity*,  this is only ONE of the many advantages to taking up running . My business is constantly benefiting from my running and my little day dreams. In fact, I decided to quit my job and start my own business off the back of a running adventure, on that same run I imagined what my future may hold. I am still chasing those dreams today. I imagine getting what I want, I imagine what I might do when I have it, I imagine winning, and winning and winning. From time to time, I imagine losing too (as above), but I always imagine a way to use this to my advantage. I do not need to make as many mistakes as others in reality, because I am constantly failing and winning in my imagination. Running is what gives me that priceless advantage. You cannot afford to miss out on it - trust me. I have probably lived and died many different lives and existences during my exercise, learning a different lesson from each encounter.

And you thought that all I did was run, when I run....


Engine[er]

A snap shot of the copse described above. You can just see the farm house top left.

The future of Structural Engineering

"It's the old frontier that actually presents the most interesting opportunities, because the shine has worn off. This is your platform for real innovation, innovation in a place or a market or a situation that truly is ready for it..." Seth Godin

I quote Seth an awful amount. Why? Because the future of our industry lies in connections and connecting the dots. Seth's words plants seeds, I will attempt to grow one of those here, and you - I hope, will reap a very special reward.

For many many years our industry has provided a HUGE service to the built environment and society. To coin a phrase which cropped up during one of my discussions on LinkedIn, "we are the understated risk takers of society". To be honest, I do not know where this was quoted from, or indeed if it was the first time to be mentioned... but this is who we are. Structural Engineers... risk taker extraordinares!!

If you are not a structural engineer then you probably would not have heard of the following engineering quote too. It is scary, and I urge you read it: this describes our profession quite eloquently.

"Structural engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess in such a way that the public at large has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance."

I'm probably not going to be hunted down by a gaggle of engineering ninjas hell bent on my destruction for writing that, as this quote is available on google anyway. BUT I'm sure that sharing this revelation to the general public was not on the mind of the very first engineer to make that statement. Truth is many engineers after that event have also been drawn to similar parallels.

OK, I wanted to share with you a revelation I have had. It has to do with our future, our employers future, the future of our industry. We have been surviving for the last 150 years or so, dining out on the efforts of engineers during the industrial age, such as the Brunels and Telford [to mention only a few]. These incredible engineers were unbound and able to guide a wave of industrious innovation, fed by huge sums of private and public funding. They sold engineering to the masses. The world ate it up.

For this post I will deftly gloss over the historical roots of Engineers - coming to you in a post very soon.

It was not all high 5's and slaps on backs though. During this time many lives were lost due to pushing the envelope and gambling with risk over certainty. Trust me, safety was a high priority, but writing the instruction manual WHILST engineering a new future led to costly delays and fatal mistakes.

So where are we now? Engineering is a technical specialism. The risks associated with our profession have forced even our most talented practitioners to focus like a laser beam on what it is, beneath our noses. Good? Absolutely. Our attention to detail has saved lives, money... and consequently, provided respite to shareholders, the public, and government officials from overburdening themselves with the stress of potential costly mistakes. AND, in a rather melodramatic way, I believe that our greatest gift to construction and society has been strangling the life out of our industry.

It's like this, if you found a thick, rich vein of mathematically minded problem solving gravity defying magicians who - GET THIS - not only loved being shut away to deal with the technical needs of your clients/employers BUT revelled in the risk taking... then you had better hold onto them! You take them at an early age and you teach them to survive in a world of uncertainty. Not only that, you create a system where the best and the most experienced write rule books and teach the new waves to do the very same thing! Sound familiar? Society benefits. Farm after farm of eager engineering students begin their life long journey of learning and enlightenment. Once they are ready, they pass on their knowledge. There you have it, a system perfect at delivering the slightly autistically natured, mathematically minded volunteers to the coal face for another generation of built environmental servitude.

You may be reading this and thinking, WOW, this guy seems pretty cynical about engineering as a whole. Wrong. I love my profession, the opportunities are massive! You may be thinking WOW, this guy has a point... but how would we go about changing any of that? What is the point in discussing it. If you didn't feel that way and were an engineer - then I would be closely scrutinising your qualifications... we are trained very very well.

My answer: nothing needs to be done. It's already happening. Connections, connecting the dots.

Today, I am able to speak more freely with more of my engineering brethren than ever before. But not in that 'false' way were we are mildly interested in what it is that the engineers across the road are doing. I am connecting in a very real way. We are sharing thoughts, we are sharing experiences. It is early days, but the result of this kind of communication and connection is leading us all down a very singular path. We are beginning to share a common goal. For the first time since I have been an engineer, I can see the green sprouts of collaboration on a huge scale! I can visualise that one day I will freely pass work to my specialist engineering neighbours for the sake of education and giving the client the very best possible skills available.

Once engineering again becomes an infectious passion amongst us and not a life sentence of proud servitude, then we will control our destiny, our businesses and our freedom to innovate.

I make no predictions here, it is happening. Get on board, add me on Twitter, follow each other AND KEEP INSPIRING ONE ANOTHER.


Engine[er]

As promised, an additional post came to my attention. Please feel free to check out this link  written a few years ago by Jeff Asher, S.E., M.ACSE for the STRUCTUEmag. It is because of editorials and posts like these, that we must try and find a way to join in and push each other on...

I got Ideas, lots and lots and lots...

As an Engineer this is a subject which has always both tickled me and confused me over the years. Many times have I heard this very same statement repeated by entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs in waiting. "I'm the ideas man/woman", "I think about what it is that we need to do, and someone else should worry about how we do it!".

Well it goes without saying that without the 'completer finishers' or 'specialists, then not much would get done. Of course this is not the whole story as a good ideas person and manager will get the very best out of a 'specialist'. If we use the single business owner or entrepreneur as an example, then to begin with, you are the manager, you are the specialist, you are the co-ordinator, and the implementer etc. There is no-one else to hide behind. Exciting hey? Perhaps. This does mean that implementing your strategies and delivering on promises is the only currency that you should concern yourself with.. in the beginning.

As a structural engineer, you are very fortunate if you can begin designing structural elements on your first graduate assignment - day one. It does happen, and happens quite often - I am just saying that you would be very lucky to. My experience is that for the first 24 months as a trainee design engineer, I was generally filing, visiting sites with my mentor, tracing details and learning how to use CAD. It wasn't until I pushed my boss hard that I managed to wiggle my way into my first designer role.

All these experiences have been incredibly formative for me. Humble beginnings and thankful for all the knowledge which was freely passed over to me. All I had to do was turn up, look eager and make awful coffee. I got better at making coffee though.

 My route to Engineering has been a long one and I appreciate that this is not for everyone. My opinion though, is that if you don't pick a route long enough for you to learn a thing or two about your chosen career then you are doing yourself out of an education! Check this post out by Seth Godin - see if it rings any bells or speaks to you some how.

Giving your career enough time to mature,and taking every opportunity to learn from the expert practitioners of construction materials and gravity defying structures gives you an incredible advantage.

Then one day, you get to practise 'conceptual design'. This is as close as you can get to being creative from a strictly technical engineering point of view. All those years of experience, poured out during project conception to enhance the buildability of the projects that you lead. You become the ideas man/woman.

In this role, there are no nooks and crannies to hide, you are surrounded by experienced, battle hardened contractor/managers and of course - other Engineers. You have to be at the top of your game. Whether you are an Engineer or a fledgling entrepreneur - it is important to do your learning first!

My question is to those who wish to jump straight in and practice business management, lead an industry, come up with the next billion dollar, highly scalable, all-singing-all-dancing, glow-in-the-dark, mutha of a corporation is quite simply this; What are you doing about it? What have you done about? Who have you impressed and why should I believe your words... as actions, like the span variable in a bending moment equation IS the only thing that really matters. Isn't it?

Follow me on your news feed! Beam me direct to your mobile direct with an app!


Engine[er]

Creativity Go-Go juice. It runs out.

Have you ever sat staring, dumbstruck at a problem for what seemed to be hours? Tempting you to believe that there is no way out of it, and this time you would have to admit defeat. Your energy reservoir is looking pretty low... or is it that your 'energy' has signified to you that a change of direction is about to happen, whether you like it or not.

I have come to the conclusion that there seems to be a finite amount of time that you can utilise creative energy and enthusiasm until it becomes yet another form of energy. You have a limited time to tap into it before all your positive thoughts start mutating into something less productive, like frustration, fear or BOREDOM.

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.”
― Albert Einstein

Before I started my own business venture, if I challenged myself during the week to run fast, and to achieve a 25 minute pace over my 4 mile route, then I did it in a month of trying.

Since then I have been cruising, and finding it really difficult to motivate myself to achieve that time again. Infact I have been languising between 26 and 27minutes... the horror!

I am no unhappier, and my energy levels seem pretty stable, but it's just that I don't appear to have enough 'force' to help push down my running times like I was just 3 months ago. I came to the realisation that my powers of focus and effort had a very real limit, and changed form: bad-times. Conversely, good-times also.

I could very well have gone through years of stretching my energy levels right up until a complete burnout before I knew that this valuable resource had a finite quantity or needed recharging from time to time. As I have now experienced this 'loss' first hand, it allows me to make plans, predict energy limits and become even more focused. Spreading myself so thinly across many different tasks has been holding me back!! Time to concentrate my efforts more closely.

"The No. 1 cause of burnout is doing the same thing over and over again and not seeing results. You need to do something different...." -Steve Kaczmarski

You will possibly know of someone that endlessly procrastinates. That person maybe you. All that wasted energy is such a shame! Dumping horrendous amounts of time into tasks and never quite managing to complete all of them. It is as frustrating for those watching as it is for those in the middle it. BUT do they really get anything less done? I can only talk from personal experience, but the energy just doesn't simply dissolve into nothing. This 'energy', it gets absorbed into another task, or becomes the thought behind another task. Continuously being recycled into your life.

Fear not, you can see and predict when it is about to happen because free thinking has to be effortless. Once you feel resistance then your task becomes more work than play. Best to keep ideas fresh and uncluttered by making records of what it is that you are doing, so that you can come back to it once the energy has come around in a full circle once again.

This is at the heart of how I can keep using my time in some kind of productive fashion. I offer this advice up as a potential way to all those who find themselves crippled under heaps of work, or never seem to find the time to do what it is that they are supposed to be doing. Buy a little black book. Fill it with ideas and positional logs on where you are with life's little challenges. (Note: Use the A7 version, it fits in all your pockets and has an understated quality. I love my A7 pad). Refer back to it and use it when you feel your creative energies are beginning to transmogrify... turn them into something useful, and don't be scared. Unpredictable are your energies (yoda), and their nature is to flow continuously like a river through your mind. Cautionary note. If you were bathing in a river, you would naturally want to know who or what it was that could contaminate the water upstream from you. The same goes for allowing others into you mind. Be open, but also allow for a certain amount of exclusivity of your precious attention.

Let me know if you have any success at doing this.


Engine[er]

Tony, you genius.

Just recently I read a blog-post which was trending on LinkedIn. I do find management and emotional intelligence subjects quite fascinating. Others may not, BUT whether you like it or not, it affects most of us so therefore you have an invested interest. Read on.

The writer of the blog, Tony Schwartz, CEO of [insert company] wrote that in order to resolve difficulties at work with colleagues of many different descriptions, you first must first blame yourself for any misunderstanding. Sounds harsh, I know. Even though I do not think that this is exactly what he meant... that's how it read. Tony observed that in essence, for there to be friction or a grievance between a boss/employee/colleague there had to be causation [ignorant idiot] and resistance [stubborn idiot]. Well, for Tonys well written post to make sense he automatically assumed that you [the reader] were the stubborn idiot. So his solution to the problem was to defuse the situation by asking you, the stubborn idiot to be the bigger man or woman.... and walk away. His logic is quite correct. There needs to be an II and a SI for there to be a problem. Who's to say that they are not one and the same person though? ;)

His blog erupted with comments from lots of outraged SI's and II's. Most of them pointing out the obvious flaws to Tonys observations, and that was whoever gets the last word doesn't by default gain moral high ground or indeed learn a thing. Therefore surely it was cowardly to let a colleague walk right over you if you are RIGHT... all this in the name of not creating a scene at work. Meh....

I liken Tonys point of view to a bystander who has just happened upon a fight in the street. He doesn't know who started the fight, he doesn't know who is to blame... but assumes a strategy which is the path of least resistance. Let the person who can empathise first and the most, shoulder the responsibility - because heck, they should know better right?

As Tony leaves the kerfuffle... war breaks out. You see this kind of imparting blame doesn't work in my eyes. If there is to be resolution, then BOTH parties have to accept responsibility! If one party is resisting taking any responsibility then pitying them and moving on will not make their life any more fulfilling. To be fair - that's not your job either.

Mediation is key. This is best sourced from a third party who actually wants to prevent a dispute from becoming a life long grudge....

Tony's reasoning is lovely. I love it. Unfortunately, it is way too optimistic. It assumes that we all want to get along, even of it means becoming a subjective doormat. I'm with you Tony!! But I won't employ those tactics because my life is way too short to give way to those few among us who preside over the kingdom of La-La land.

A good friend once told me "when debating a position with someone, the first person to empathise with the other loses" That stuck with me. I reject it, but it stuck with me because this is an entirely selfish way of resolving differences. This particular person was a lawyer and fledgling politician. No surprises there then.

I will leave you with one more thought. If Tonys goal was to provoke a response and generate page views... didn't he do well!!

Well... I rode the back of his great post for long enough.

Engine[er]

2 Months in - Starting up an Enginee[er]

UPDATE: Almost 100 views for this month for this post alone! Thanks so much for your interest and please remember to comment!

This is a quick stock take of what's been happening to me over the last 2 months, and what is currently on my mind. It finishes off with a bit of a rant. Many apologies.

1. On doing Stuff
I love doing stuff. Who doesn't love waking up and doing lots of stuff all day long? Since I started working for myself, in amongst the productive hours of a new working week, doing stuff has become my life [I call them productive - my accountant may call them fee earning hours]. Truth is that all my week is productive of a kind, and working for yourself causes a major shift to your perception of what work actually is. The basic principle though is that every moment you spend thinking, considering what to do next, acting upon it, listing, dreaming, prioritising or learning, then you are working. So there.

2. 30/70 split seems fair
You need to earn a wage, and doing this in the shortest possible time gives you more time to brain storm a better delivery system, network, improve your service or re-adjust your attitude towards your chosen market.. I currently run at about 30% practical fee earning work to 70% dreaming and learning. I've been told by an accountant that this is a poor level of output, and I intend on doing something about it once I have crossed a few goals off my 'magic' to do list first.

3. There are 2 halves to every story
Before I started out on my own, I was told that if I can earn a wage on 40% of my time during the week then I would be doing very well! [TOP TIP: price your hourly rate to deal with this eventuality]...but that's not what my ex-bosses have told me over the years. Sweating it for a large company saw me 100% utilised on fee earning projects - which perhaps goes a long way towards why it is that large consultancies have trouble, especially in holding onto key technical personnel, and possibly this is why they are my ex-bosses? The lesson here is that you cannot sustain a 100% productivity without a cost. This could be to your general health and well-being, or it could be your creativity. Both add up to major burn out issues though. It is lucky then, that the majority of us were born with two halves to our brain - and our left-hand side would be screaming "GET US OUTTA HERE YOU MORON!" especially since this portion of the brain is very good at predicting our future. If my future = depressing [then] I re-adjust my environment to suit. In other words, make some changes. All my decisions are not as life changing as this though.

4. Be Proud of who you are
If you are an Engineer like me, but not me, then you are a very very lucky person! You keep good company [Steve Jobs, Sir James Dyson, Bill Gates, Henry Ford etc.] . Some of the last centuries most prolific inventors, designers, and entrepreneurs were Engineers of some sort. We get introduced into jobs where our insane ability to focus completely on a single process gives us a steady role in most organisations. We also make others lives better, because we are such useful people and are deeply influenced to serve the communities around us. Naturally we are creative creatures, but the majority of the time we take it upon ourselves to capitalise upon our technical skills. Why? Because to put it simply - we can. We can do both.

5. Do it to be on the A-Team
Being solely technical is not the kind of existence that we would wish upon ourselves for the entire length of our careers, it just happens that we are very good at solving problems. Importantly, the longer we stick at carrying out this unselfish, non-egotistical existence, the more successful our projects are as a result. It's a symbiotic partnership. We get to build stuff, design stuff and breath life into more stuff... the rest of team get to practise their creative, managerial and other useful organisational skills etc. Skills we have also.

6. Engineers serve society best by continuing to innovate
Most non-engineering types will not have the same dedication to continually plugging away at some new skill until they are the expert in a field, because they don't understand the pain and the eventual pleasure of being able to speak 'engineerish' on any given technical subject. Non-engineering types will be quite happy handing over this responsibility. We must not lose interest in the world around us, because this may incarcerate our freedom to innovate freely. The minute that we give up learning and stop applying all these cool talents to any given real world problem, is the exact same 60 seconds that commits us to a life long of slaving away nine to five, slowly losing the will to learn or worse... revoking our responsibility to pass on our great enthusiasm to a new wave of prospective engineering students.

I realise that the above points could  fill several blog posts of varying subjects, but I apologised for my  crassness already. There is no doubt that I will eventually pick one or two of these and expand upon them further... have you any preferences?

Have a great day.


Engine[er]

BNI The Givers Gain

Huge post today. "givers gain" this is the motto of the Business Network International group, the BNI.

I have flirted with joining a breakfast networking group before, and was fortunate enough to be invited as a guest to BNI Chariots (St Albans) on two occasions before I decided that my aversion to early morning meetings was to be finally trumped by my natural curiosity... trust me that's a BIG amount of curiosity-full-ness.

First things first, I accepted the 2nd invite and then decided to turn up without any preparation apart from a 60sec elevator speech tucked away in my notebook, and a quick delegate search to reveal who I'd like to be introduced to. Apart from that I wanted to experience this event raw. Grrrrr.

My hosting member was very welcoming, as quickly as I could store in my memory some new names i was pushed towards a member who was deemed to have an overlapping field of interest to my business. He did, he was a building repair specialist. Nice chat [cap doffing].

Once the majority of the delegates had arrived the rather pricey buffet brekkie was unveiled (£10). I have to say this as even though the fry up buffet was absolutely lovely... the price was more expensive than dining at my favourite Sunday morning haunt - which is THE BEST FRY UP EVER! Carluccios, St Albans.

With a plate full of delicious early morning nosh I was ushered into the meeting area and given a predetermined seat at a table. A chance to very quickly network with my neighbours whilst eating and before the main event got underway. Very civilised.

A large portion of almost ceremonially announced BNI stats and figures were then presented to the congregation, before each and every delegate was asked to in-turn, to stand up and pitch their businesses. Included were their hopes for the week ahead and a sprinkling of commentary describing their past weeks trials and tribulations - all in a rather stingy 60 second window. Having said that, the system works! You can get really creative in 60 secs, as some of the more entertaining members proved. Lots of laughter ensued and then it was the turn of the invited guests [me included] to introduce ourselves to the networkers. Unfortunately for me though, I decided at the very last moment to go with an unprepared pitch, and shook uncontrollably during it's entirety. Like a flappy bird i was. I got a laugh though, which was welcomed by my fragile ego. Cheers guys!

Next up was the opportunity for the members to personally announce and hand over their weeks worth of gathered referrals, to each of their network team members. It was great to see such a gratifying response from everyone as the referrals were gifted to their intended recipients. As a bonus, anyone who was able to muster up atleast 3 referrals during the week was subject to congratulations from the entire congregation by way of a round of applause... and 5 or more got a standing ovation! Very very American, was what I thought! Almost a kind of 'we are in it together' attitude. Made me smile. Not a criticism at all.

After this we were asked to listen to a special 10 min weekly pitch by one of the longer standing members about their business. Congratulations to them. A nerve wrecking chance to pitch yourself to the others, expertly taken.

After another round of BNI stats, figures and philosophies, the guests were asked to leave to endure the sales pitch which was aimed at filling the guests in with as much info about the process of joining as possible, in a very small amount of time. I had already written a few pages of questions during the meeting to entertain the members given the task of pitching to us. They must have loved me.

OK, so far you have heard about the mechanics of the meetings from a guests point of view. I spent the next week researching the BNI and seeing if it integrated well with my business plan AND PHILOSOPHY. Matching up my needs with those of the networking group, I found a common interest.

I wanted more customers and a higher local profile. They wanted another member to add to their sales team who would work just as hard for their members as they would do for their very own business. That's me. Fairs fair.

During my experience, and for your interest, I managed to note the following points for anyone thinking about joining or visiting as a guest;

1. Do you 'guest it' for a week or two? YES! This is a no brainer. Do it. If you get invited, look into it further and treat it like a cool morning chatting to more local business people like youself. THIS IS NOT A WASTE OF YOURS OR ANYONE'S TIME.
2. There is an underlying religious connotation to the whole proceedings. Speak to the individual members and this feeling evaporates. Speak to the guys and girls doing the membership organisation and the feeling returns. GET OVER IT. We have been trained by our parents to resist this kind of recruitment drive from a very early age, and we will have the immediate feeling of repulsion to it. Please bear in mind that this is an American founded system. With the very best intentions, they are all over these kinds of groups... It's in their genes. Not us Brits though. Treat this like a business deal. You invest your time, you get the reward, and so do your sales buddies. If you like the thought of socialising too - then that's cool aswell. Don't fall into the trap of mistrust.
3. You reap what you sow. Or to put in in the words if BNI, "givers gain". Again this has a very religious flavour to it. The only reason this works is through the commitment of it's members to one another. End. If you are not prepared to work for others as hard as you would work for yourself , then don't get involved. It makes a mockery of the system. Jog on.
4. To learn is to grow. You will learn a huge amount.. Presentation skills, networking, marketing, relationships... the list goes on. This is worth the initial investment alone.

You may be getting the idea from my post here today that I am sold on the idea of the BNI, and you would be wrong for thinking that. I am sold on the IDEAL. Now let's see if it matches up to real life.

Engine[er]


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:The Peahen, St Albans

In space no one can hear you scream

"I think that people have way waaayyy more potential than society lets them believe. If I can help unlock that, that's a privilege. That's what motivates me." Seth Godin. 


This is a fantastic interview with Seth, check it out.  His open and honest responses to the questions made me feel slightly sorry for the interviewer at first, even though she did a great job! It was Georgina of ProBlogger's task to not only to create an atmosphere comfortable enough for Seth to share a few of his lessons in business and blogging; but to do it in such a way so that we may be able to glean some commercial significance or advantage from them. In other words - so that we could bathe in his reflected glory perhaps. I get the feeling that Seth himself would not agree that his glory is worth bathing in. A feeling that he might be the only subscriber to.


"We have to be careful, there are too many people out there who watch what other creatives are doing with some kind of belief that if they write using the same pencil as say Stephen King, that they can write 'like' Stephen King. It is not a useful philosophy." Seth Godin.

"We all want to be famous people, and the moment we want to be something we are no longer free." Jiddu Krishnamurti.


In my post to the ProBlogger website, and in direct response to the interview and subsequent comments, I drew a parallel between the so called Star of the East, Jiddu Krishnamurti and Seth Godin's philosophies. The reasoning behind this was because of Krishnamurti's ability to behave so humbly and consistently deterred any attempt by his followers to worship him like a demi-god. In a world of fast paced business deals, ever changing social innovations, Seth Godin has managed to pervasively 'ship' his product. Seth proclaims not to own any products, but I think that he is a product himself. He has clearly been able to speak (write) from his heart and tap into his life experiences, consistently selling a personal brand into both the amateur and professional business industries. With this amazing amount of critical mass behind the product 'Seth Godin', you have got to be a little be crazy to think that he is simply a man writing blog and book after book after book. He is more than the sum of his parts, and nothing short of a market emergence of some sort.

"In a digital world where ideas themselves are not that scarce, ubiquity is a better strategy. If you can say stuff which is worth saying, the money takes care of itself, and quite often the $499 special report is neither special or a report." Seth Godin.


Seth Godin recognises that he has this great influence, whether it has been attentively constructed and maintained - or that he simply fell upon a great blogging strategy... be interesting and write about it. Which is music to my ears - what could be simpler? Seth has an uncanny ability to spot social and world wide trends, and loves, LOVES passing on this new found knowledge - not necessarily in a impeccably planned ad campaign or a well organised chapter of lessons [first-lesson-is-free, subscribe-to-get-the-next-lesson-free-and-then-pay-a-monthly-fee-for-the-remaining-300! Bargain!]. No. No no no. Our Mr Godin has worked out that sharing is caring and caring is the fastest way into the hearts and the minds of his readers. Krishnamurti felt the same way. He was not interested by increasing his followers... and this single act secured his followers interest for a great many years. A parallel with Seth? Indeed. 


It is a rather ironic situation that in order to secure yourself a base of loyal followers, it is not just enough to have a great amount of knowledge to share, coupled with interesting ways to present it. You also need not care about whether you are followed or even listened to. Infact it appears that you have to not 'care'. 


Question. Do you think that either Seth or Krishnamurti would have continued transmitting to the world at large if there were no-one interested enough to listen?


"We have seduced ourselves into believing that we can hide away and not 'ship' a thing. A playwright is not a playwright if they only publish a play every 5 years or so." Seth Godin.


"Anonymity is almost gone. With anonymity there is a different kind of creativity, not based on success, money - twenty-eight million books sold in ten years! Anonymity has great importance; in it there is a different quality; the personal motive, the personal attitude and personal opinion do not exist; there is a feeling of freedom from which there is action." Jiddu Krishnamurti.


Something tells me that they may have been seen to be a shade less successful in the eyes of their piers, and the rest of the world... but I think that they would have continued broadcasting into the empty void regardless.




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