Just a random snapshot .. via CNN.com.
You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 15, 2006.
If only …all the rich guys on the planet would open up and stop trying to control all the cash, oil, etc., and let all inhabitants of the planet work more at building lives for their families, meeting more of each other and enjoying the fabulousness of the miracle that is nature, life, food we grow, the air that we breathe … in other words, recognize the miracle is not theirs but all of ours …
I am convinced that most (maybe not all) of the root causes of terror are attempts to make change to the oppression stemming from the control of resources and the systems of governance constructed to maximize that control.
Invading, killing and subjugating are emphatically NOT the best ways to engender freedom and democracy.
This makes the statements such as "You get the government you deserve", or "the best government money can buy" take on real new meaning.
It will be fascinating to watch how Muslim terrorists
- swim through the Strait of Hormuz,
- around the bottom end of Saudi Arabia,
- up the Suez Canal, through the Mediterranean past Gibraltar,
- across the Atlantic Ocean,
and then (using the miniature plastic earth drills they strapped on) rather than carrying out a risky nighttime landing somewhere in Chesapeake Bay, bore all the way through to the outskirts of Gary, Indiana, popping out of the ground after midnight to join their air-borne colleagues who have flown gliders camouflaged with reflective invisibility paint to parachute down into the popcorn field to meet up with them.
Remember, this is 4th -generation warfare .. no big honking battleships or B-52’s to detect .. these guys have to avoid all the incredible arrays of electronic technology that watches our backs, bristling with anticipation of something important happening.
What a bunch of fucking idiots we humans are, collectively.
.. and I can honestly say I know him (something I have to be careful about these days, having recently been anointed E-hole of the blogosphere by Brian Moffatt of BMO fame.)
May I introduce Phil Wolff, editor of the Skype Journal.
As a sometimes (and more often than not wannabe) strategist, I recognized that I immediately fell in love with this comment of Phil’s, repatriated from his past to illustrate on a point on his recent blog post.
Strategy is about gameplay, viewing the world as scenarios to win, then picking your best moves. If I understand you, you’re suggesting not only that everyone is playing chess, but that everyone is reaching grand master status. Of course mastery begins to look like art.
100 years’ ago, the ability to use a phone was rare, and conferred comparative advantage in business. Now that everyone has it, everyone has those same advantages and you must do more than be able to dial and answer the phone.
50 years’ ago, typing was a rare skill. As it’s become comoditized, you’d think those who’d type fastest would be better with computers.
25 years’ ago, the tools of strategic analysis were restricted to military officers and a few MBA professors. Today millions of people consider their goals in the context of what other players will do. SWOT analysis is taught in high schools. Risk analysis is an everyday mindset in the online poker culture. And business is a spectator sport.
I’m not sure strategy is completely fungible; not all experts play from the same handbook, carry them with the same personality and soft skills, or share the same insights that frame strategic thought. Perhaps minor league strategy is a commodity, covering the 20% of strategic tools that yield 80% of the value. Mastery could mean applying the other tools well or being able to make new tools when none of the existing ones fit your situation.
It comes down to what you mean by creativity. Strategy driving innovation? Innovation driving strategy? Or sparking the one in a billion shot that creates entirely new ways of seeing the world and kicking over the table?
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