What's new

The Little Thread Which Grew - the Apollo '73 to Everything But

Status
Not open for further replies.

Ted

Gold Meritorious Patron
Time for Some Inspiration

BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

+++

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." 
– Dr. Howard Thurman

+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
:coolwink:
 
BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

+++

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." 
– Dr. Howard Thurman

+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
:coolwink:

That was a killer speech. I just e mailed the link to my daughter and several friends.

we just got an e mail from our daughter.

You, of course remember Charley Weaver and his letters from Momma in Mt. Idy?

Well this is a letter from our daughter at Stanford:

Hi Mom & Dad,

I went to Gordon Biersch in PA tonight to meet up with my friend *** from Loudcloud, who's now working for one of Marc & Ben's new portfolio companies.... and it ended up being this total Loudcloud reunion!! And as I was talking to one person who saw me as I walked in, ****, our UK sales guy, I saw **** ask ****** "Is that *** ****?" He remembered ME & my full name!!! How amazing is that?! This the guy who invented LDAP! And now is the co-founder of a start-up that's creating a new web browser. And he remembered me!!! And we talked for a while, and as he left, he said his email is ***@***.com, and I should email him to say hi!!! How awesome, right?!

And then I talked to ******* for a while. And everybody was just so wonderful & happy to see me!! It was so awesome.

I am so happy I'm staying here & connecting with all these wonderful people!!



Love you,


end of e mail


(Marc is Marc Andreesson, co founder of Netscape, he invented the browser.)

It really is about living your dreams.



"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."

                                            -  T.S. Eliot


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSXwqCXrco8
 
Last edited:

Ogsonofgroo

Crusader
Nice to have you reading this thread. We will have to get Sweetness and Light to assign you a proper nickname because I can't figure out any short way to abbreviate your name.

The only way misuse of that material would wipe out a civilization would be if members of the public read it and fell to the floor and went into uncontrollable laughter for such a long period that they weakened their hearts or caused themselves to have hernias.

I read a cute joke in Mad Magazine in prehistoric times when I was a teen ager. There was a headline - "Lineman shocked by open Wire!" The story which followed said that Matt Smith, lineman for the Green Bay Packers football team was shocked when he arrive home only to find a Western Union Telegram, lying open on his dining room table, stating that he had been fired from the team. (Aparently, Matt Jr. had opened the wire by mistake, thinking it was for him.)

We could do a similar joke for a non authorized person reading OT Materials, i.e. Electrifying Wire causes Line Charge and leads to shock. Matt Smith opened a wire containing Scientology OT Materials. Though electrying the news contained in this wire was found extremely humorous by Smith and he began line charging, eventually falling to the floor in uncontrollible laughter and glee which eventually lead to shock. If enough people read the materials in this manner, this could wipe out a civilization.
Lakey
Thanks Lakey, Ogs or Oggie seems ta work.
:) (oh, loved Mad back in the day when they still had Don Martin and Argones (creator of Groo the Wanderer, my dad :p)
 

lkwdblds

Crusader
Thanks for the thoughts and Steve Job's Interview

BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

+++

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." 
– Dr. Howard Thurman

+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
:coolwink:


Thanks so much for the wise words and the video. They are very inspirational and helpful. Following what makes you come alive!!! Excellent rule to help one lead their life. Unfortunately for me, I did not do enough of it in my life but its never too late. Currently, I am doing that to a large degree by writing on ESMB. The little story I wrote of the Origins of Celebrity Centre does not amount to much in the big picture of what is going on in the world but to me, it means a lot. It gives me a tiny legacy, so to speak. No one else ever took the time to put together that story. I did it, it is accurate and now the CC story exists and is accessible instantly via Google. In writing it I was able to meet CCLA's first celebrity auditor, have a corresponcence with Janis Grady, Yvonne's daughter, and reconnect with the CC Regitsrar, Hector. All those things made me come more alive.

I like the way Job's suffered set backs, such as dropping out of university, or being fired from a company which he started and turned these events to his advantage, especially the story of taking the Calligraphy Class. Something so seemingly unimportant turned in to lead to something major, used by millions.

The hidden hands and invisible hands thing, well we have touched on those concepts recently here on this thread when discussing the concept of a spiritual team. It is amazing, a person feels strongly compelled to take a certain slightly out of the way detour or stop at a certain place they have not been to for years. They do it and something happens there to change their life. Perhaps they encounter a person they lost touch with or find a book or receive some kind of sign or omen but from that point forward, they strike out in a new direction. That type of living puts the excitement back in life and often leads to great deeds. Some people think of that as being childish or immature but a strong case can be made for that being the best way to live.
Lakey
 

Blue Spirit

Silver Meritorious Patron
Wisdom

BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

+++

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." 
– Dr. Howard Thurman

+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
:coolwink:

Thanks Ted. Some real wisdom there from Mr. Jobs. It helps.

I also saw that Moyers show, with more wisdom there.
 

FoTi

Crusader
BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

+++

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." 
– Dr. Howard Thurman

+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
:coolwink:

Awesome speech!
 
Hi guys! I spy Facey and Carmelo! :coolwink: But I'm not talkin'! :D

Lakey, I already named Ogsonofgroo as "Oggie", cause Grooey seemed rather...well...grueling! :blush:

Aw...it's graduation time again! Spring!:happydance:
 
Last edited:
The Roach Coach Evolution

Finding high-end eats at LA's mobile food courts

By John Rogers
Associated Press


LOS ANGELES — All those years he was a chef at some of Los Angeles' priciest restaurants, going head-to-head with rival cooks for that coveted Zagat rating, Dave Danhi was harboring another ambition on the side.
He would put his gourmet grilled cheese sandwich in a truck and go hood-to-hood with fusion taco vendors, crepe wagons, wienermobiles and all other kind of meals-on-wheels bistros. He'd park right next to them and do battle, not for Michelin stars, but for glowing Twitter tweets and Yelp reviews.
So there was the former chef of the Water Grill, a restaurant rated by the Zagat Guide as having the best seafood in Southern California, standing behind the counter of his bright yellow Grilled Cheese Truck on a recent sunny afternoon. To one side of him was The Greasy Wiener Truck offering hand-twisted, New Jersey-style fried hot dogs. Across the way was the Crepe 'N Around, its kitchen filled with delicacies like chicken pesto crepes prepared by French-trained chef Eileen DeLeoz.

Welcome to the newest trend in eating, where you have to be fast to get to your local food court before the restaurants drive away. But if you are quick enough, you can pick from a variety of increasingly exotic choices, including Danhi's masterpiece, the cheesy mac and rib, made up of macaroni, sharp cheddar, caramelized onions and a boneless pork rib slapped between two pieces of grilled bread.

Even better, a complete meal at most any such food truck court will set you back no more than $5 to $10.

"This is definitely not a fad, it is the evolving of the restaurant industry," says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research for the National Restaurant Association, which for the first time is featuring an exhibit on food trucks at its annual trade show in Chicago this month.

There is an increasing demand, particularly among people 18 to 44, for freshly prepared, restaurant-quality food that can be had quick and cheap, said Riehle.

That was in evidence on a recent sunny day at a makeshift food court that assembles every week near Los Angeles International Airport. There, a half-dozen trucks were clustered in a small parking lot sandwiched between a high-rise office building and a hotel. As a steel drummer played in the background, the two buildings spilled out hungry workers by the hundreds, each of them contemplating what to have for lunch.

"We could see what we wanted when we looked out the window of our office building," laughed Sandy Castro, who was lined up at the Eat Pharmish Vietnamese food truck.

Ruben Flores had decided to partake of some fusion-style Mexican-Chinese kung pao chicken tacos from the Don Chow taco truck.

"It's way more adventurous and more cultured than a corporation or a fast-food place like McDonald's," he said. "I feel like the people behind making the food really love to do what they're doing and it's really an art form what they're doing."

The food truck, of course, has had a long if not always proud history. It began life as a noontime fixture at construction sites, where it would herald its arrival by blasting out the melody to "La Cucaracha," a signal that the roach coach had arrived with its inventory of undrinkable coffee, stale pastries and mystery-meat sandwiches.

The trucks found in today's mobile food courts are a far cry from that.
Such gathering places are marked by anywhere from a half-dozen to as many as two dozen rolling food kitchens that congregate for lunch or dinner, then drive away once everyone is full. They first made their appearance in downtown Portland, Ore., several years ago, says Brett Burmeister, managing editor of foodcourtsportland.com.

"It began as basically an alternative to the delis in the basements of the corporate buildings downtown," which he said seemed to specialize in selling bad baloney sandwiches.

Instead, the food trucks offered everything from Thai to Chinese to African and Bosnian food.

"The stuff you'd find at the nice restaurants, that you would spend $25 for, you could get for $5," Burmeister said.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles high-end taco trucks were clustering up and down busy streets, forming impromptu food courts of their own and encouraging people to follow them on Twitter to learn where they would be.

After fighting parking tickets and going to court to overturn an ordinance that would have forced some of them to move every hour, scores of L.A. truckers joined forces earlier this year to form the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association. They began to approach managers of high-rise office buildings and sponsors of public events to ask that their trucks be allowed to gather in adjacent parking lots.

It's a trend, Riehle said, that he expects will keep spreading, particularly in cities like New York, Seattle and San Francisco, which already have many fine food trucks of their own.

Although clustering in food courts puts them in direct competition with one another, vendors say the increased foot traffic and the advantage of having customers know where they are on a particular day makes it worthwhile.
If the lines get too long at one truck, said Jamie Radzik, who operates Crepe 'N Around with his wife, DeLeoz, he'll see people wander over to a different one and try the food there. He figures that's helping build brand awareness for everybody.

Meanwhile, the truckers themselves aren't shy about sampling the competition.

"That's half the fun," said Danhi's partner, chef Michele Grant, as she carried a sack from The Greasy Wiener to The Grilled Cheese Truck.
 

afaceinthecrowd

Gold Meritorious Patron
You're Battin' 1,000

BILL MOYERS: Do you ever have the sense of... being helped by hidden hands?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: All the time. It is miraculous. I even have a superstition that has grown on me as a result of invisible hands coming all the time - namely, that if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be.

+++

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." 
– Dr. Howard Thurman

+++

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
:coolwink:

Another great post and find, Ted!:thumbsup:

Face:)
 

afaceinthecrowd

Gold Meritorious Patron
“Elmer Gantry”/“Lonesome Rhodes” cum El Ron Hisself

All Elmer Gantry needed was a tent stuffed with “New’s” wanting to hear something “New” and be “Renewed” again…oh, and the offering plate, of course. In this setting, Elmer would “whip them into a frenzy” with his own personal style of humor, feigned humility, entertaining yarns, “Shock and Awe” and downright naturally gifted showmanship and the scruples of a gambler.

All Lonesome Rhodes needed was a microphone and stage, an audience of honest, sincere hard-working Joes and a “miracle” product to hawk. In this setting Lonesome would charm and disarm them with his own personal style of down home humor, irreverence for authority and convention, feigned sincerity, self aggrandizing stories and downright naturally gifted salesmanship, with the scruples and contempt for others of a confidence man.

El Ron learned several valuable things from the first Foundation. El Ron learned that a number of folks would pay good money to see Hisself's act, "Buy into" and purchase doses of the “Miracle Cure”. El Ron also learned that if Hisself was going to pocket most of the take and smother any “in house” spawned “competition”, El Ron had to be the one “Running the Show”. But “Running the Show” was not a protection from El Ron’s two biggest nemeses—Product Promotion Legality and Liability and the Taxman. From this was born the Cof$, the lecture tours coupled with Org founding that was the “Golden Age of Discovery” in the 50’s.

El Ron also realized several other important things that were “Drivers” for the evolving Scn “Admin 'Tech' and Tech 'Tech'”. One was that folks would work for a pittance to be “close to” or “part of” the “Show”. Another was that folks would “give" El Ron whatever they were discovering and using that worked, and why they thought it worked. Also, some folks would ‘Buy” whatever Hisself was “Selling”. Finally, if some folks stopped “Buying In” El Ron had the money and power to muscle them in, or out, as Hisself saw fit.

El Ron also had Hisself’s new “twist” on the Gantry Model—El Ron was “Source” and Hisself wrote “The Scriptures”. And write “The Scriptures” El Ron did…and wrote, rewrote, wrote and rewrote. El Ron could sell the “Miracle Cure” (Clear) over and over again because Hisself could package it and repackage it and repackage it by Manifesto and Fiat of “The Scriptures” and Hisself’s “Rights of Ownership” and control of all the Words, Temples and of the “Majik Boots”.

All was well and good until the late 50’s when the Feds started threatening the “skim” and the “skimmer”. As was customary of Hisself in times like these, El Ron panicked and ran for it, and Abracadabra! Saint Hill was born. From there, El Ron would continue to repackage and ultimately reinvent (O.T.) the “Majik Cure”.

From an Organizational and Management Model standpoint the Saint Hill era was, in my opinion, the functional beginning of the “Apparatus” that the Cof$ is today. In this case, Gantry moved from the tents to his own auditorium and "studio" a la Lonesome Rhodes and El Ron’s Marcia Jeffries (Mary Sue) played a bigger and bigger role and, instead of “pulling the switch” on Hisself, she took up a "switch" to protect her Lonesome Rohdes from all the "evil" and "bad" people that were out to get him. I’ll explore all that in a day or so.

Face:)
 
Last edited:

lkwdblds

Crusader
It's about time, It's about Space!

I ventured over to the Idenics thread yesterday and today and Face followed me over and turned me on to this fine reference. I want it put up on this thread as well.

The topic has to do with a merging of science and metaphysics. So far I just gave it a cursory look. On the weekend, I am going to seriously study it. It has to do with one of my favorite topics, how the Universe is put together. The linked to site reminds me of stuff we were talking about on Vinnaire's Oh!God!! thread about a year ago. The relationships between matter, energy, space and time are examined.

Over on Vinny's thread, he was combining elements of the Hindu religion with Western Science and Scientology. One concept I took away from Vinny's thread was the idea that potential life exists and from it some sort of mitosis occurs, a seperating off of a piece of life potential from an infinite life potential. This action of separation is analgous to creatng space because if two entities are not contiguous, then by definitioin, there is "space" between them. Along with space comes a small bit of time by virtue of life potential sending out particles or some sort of "whizzies" to demark the boundary limits of the space. The potential life then assumes a viewpoint from which to view the newly created space and a universe is off and running very much in line with Hubbard's "The Factors" Just skimming the thread which Face linked to, they are saying that it is space which creates matter and time. Space is sort of the senior element amongst matter, energy, space and time. This latter assertion about space being senior is something I have never seen before. My initial gut reaction is, oh sure, space is the senior element and begets matter and time with matter and energy being the same thing in two different forms. I agreed intuitively with the sites first building block.

I realize this does not have much to do with what took place on the Apollo in 1973 and not everyone who reads this thread will be interested but models of the Universe and how the Universe got started is one of my major "Hobby Horses". There will be a few guys and girls, probably Leon is one and maybe to some degree Rog may have an interest in this and others who I don't know about. Anyway, I am going to invest some serious time studying this linked site over the weekend and I think I owe it to y'all to repost Face's link here for anyone who may share an interest in this Hobby Horse of mine.

Have you ever visited www.spaceandmotion.com/ ?

Thanks, Face......Lakey
 

lkwdblds

Crusader
Faceology at its best!

All Elmer Gantry needed was a tent stuffed with “New’s” wanting to hear something “New” and be “Renewed” again…oh, and the offering plate, of course. In this setting, Elmer would “whip them into a frenzy” with his own personal style of humor, feigned humility, entertaining yarns, “Shock and Awe” and downright naturally gifted showmanship with, the scruples of a gambler.

All Lonesome Rohdes needed was a microphone and stage, an audience of honest, sincere hard-working Joes and a “miracle” product to hawk. In this setting Lonesome would charm and disarm them with his own personal style of humor, irreverence for authority and convention, feigned sincerity, self aggrandizing stories and downright naturally gifted salesmanship, with the scruples and contempt for others of a confidence man.

El Ron learned several valuable things from the first Foundation. El Ron learned that a number of folks would pay good money to see Hisself act, "Buy into" and purchase doses of the “Miracle Cure”. El Ron also learned that if Hisself was going to pocket most of the take and smother any “in house” spawned “competition”, El Ron had to be the one “Running the Show”. But “Running the Show” was not a protection from El Ron’s two biggest nemeses—Product Promotion Legality and Liability, and the Taxman. From this was born the Cof$, the lecture tours coupled with Org founding that was the “Golden Age of Discovery” in the 50’s.

El Ron also realized several other important things that were “Drivers” for the evolving Scn “Admin Tech and Tech Tech”. One was that folks would work for a pittance to be “close to” or “part of” the “Show”. Another was that folks would “give El Ron” whatever they were discovering and using that worked, and why they thought it worked. Also, some folks would ‘Buy” whatever Hisself was “selling”. Finally, if some folks sopped “Buying” El Ron had the money and power to muscle them in, or out, as Hisself saw fit.

El Ron also had Hisself’s new “twist” on the Gantry Model—El Ron was “Source” and Hisself wrote “The Scriptures”. And write “The Scriptures” El Ron did…and wrote, rewrote, wrote and rewrote. El Ron could sell the “Miracle Cure” (Clear) over and over again because Hisself could package it and repackage it and repackage it by Manifesto and Fiat of “The Scriptures” and Hisself’s “Rights of Ownership” and control of all the Words, Temples and the “Majik Boots”.

All was well and good until the late 50’s when the Feds started threatening the “skim” and the “skimmer”. As was customary of Hisself in times like these, El Ron panicked and ran away, and Abracadabra! Saint Hill was born. From there, El Ron would continue to repackage and ultimately reinvent (O.T.) the “Majik Cure”.

From an Organizational and Management Model standpoint the Saint Hill era was, in my opinion, the functional beginning of the “apparatus” that the Cof$ is today. In this case Gantry moved from the tents to his own auditorium and El Ron’s Marcia Jeffries (Mary Sue) played a bigger and bigger roll and, instead of “pulling the switch” on Hisself, took up the switch to protect her Rohdes from all the evil and bad people that were out to get him. I’ll explore all that in a day or so.

Face:)

Face, you are no slouch at repackaging yourself. You take a serious story of a narcissist who took advantage of a lot of good, able and well meaning people and got them to devote their lives to him only to end up getting hurt financially and emotionally and you dress it up in a folksy, Southern style and pattern it after a similar Elmer Gantry tale of woe. It all amounts to a good down home Southern style yarn to be told on a cold night around a fireplace with a couple of dogs curled up next to the people and warm libation being served whilst the yarn is told. Repackaging at its best!
Lakey
 
Last edited:

Leon

Gold Meritorious Patron
I'll do some study on it too Lakey - it certanly is a subject that interests me. Though after a first reading through the page I find myself wondering what on earth is he going on about. Clearly he has "cognited" on something or other. I will try and figure ouit what it is.
 
from Business Week

What Chief Executives Really Want
by Frank Kern
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A survey from IBM's Institute for Business Value shows that CEOs value one leadership competency above all others. Can you guess what it is?

What do chief executive officers really want? The answer bears important consequences for management as well as companies' customers and shareholders. The qualities that a CEO values most in the company team set a standard that affects everything from product development and sales to the long-term success of an enterprise.

There is compelling new evidence that CEOs' priorities in this area are changing in important ways. According to a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM's Institute for Business Value (NYSE: IBM - News), CEOs identify "creativity" as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.

That's creativity—not operational effectiveness, influence, or even dedication. Coming out of the worst economic downturn in their professional lifetimes, when managerial discipline and rigor ruled the day, this indicates a remarkable shift in attitude. It is consistent with the study's other major finding: Global complexity is the foremost issue confronting these CEOs and their enterprises. The chief executives see a large gap between the level of complexity coming at them and their confidence that their enterprises are equipped to deal with it.

Until now creativity has generally been viewed as fuel for the engines of research or product development, not the essential leadership asset that must permeate an enterprise.

Needed: Creative Disruption

Much has happened in the past two years to shake the historical assumptions held by the women and men who are in charge. In addition to global recession, the century's first decade heightened awareness of the issues surrounding global climate change and the interplay between natural events and our supply chains for materials, food, and even talent. In short, CEOs have experienced the realities of global integration. The world is massively interconnected—economically, socially, and politically—and operating as a system of systems. So what does this look like at the level of customer relationships? For too many enterprises, the answer is that their customers are increasingly connected, but not to them.

Against that backdrop of interconnection, interdependency, and complexity, business leaders around the world are declaring that success requires fresh thinking and continuous innovation at all levels of the organization. As they step back and reassess, CEOs have seized upon creativity as the necessary element for enterprises that must reinvent their customer relationships and achieve greater operational dexterity. In face-to-face interviews with our consultants, they said creative leaders do the following:

Disrupt the Status Quo. Every company has legacy products that are both cash—and sacred—cows. Often the need to perpetuate the success of these products restricts innovation within the enterprise, creating a window for competitors to advance competing innovations. As CEOs tell us that fully one-fifth of revenues will have to come from new sources, they are recognizing the requirement to break with existing assumptions, methods, and best practices.

Disrupt Existing Business Models. CEOs who select creativity as a leading competency are far more likely to pursue innovation through business model change. In keeping with their view of accelerating complexity, they are breaking with traditional strategy-planning cycles in favor of continuous, rapid-fire shifts and adjustments to their business models.

Disrupt Organizational Paralysis. Creative leaders fight the institutional urge to wait for completeness, clarity, and stability before making decisions. To do this takes a combination of deeply held values, vision, and conviction—combined with the application of such tools as analytics to the historic explosion of information. These drive decisionmaking that is faster, more precise, and even more predictable.

Taken together, these recommendations describe a shift toward corporate cultures that are far more transparent and entrepreneurial. They are cultures imbued with the belief that complexity poses an opportunity, rather than a threat. They hold that risk is to be managed, not avoided, and that leaders will be rewarded for their ability to build creative enterprises with fluid business models, not absolute ones.

Something significant is afoot in the corporate world. In response to powerful external pressures and the opportunities that accompany them, CEOs are signaling a new direction. They are telling us that a world of increasing complexity will give rise to a new generation of leaders that make creativity the path forward for successful enterprises.

Frank Kern is senior vice-president of IBM Global Business Services.
 
Rodent scurries by as Obama lauds Wall Street vote

AP – A small rodent runs in front of President Barack Obama as he delivers remarks on Wall Street and Financial …

picture.php


By MARK S. SMITH, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 20, 8:29 pm ET
WASHINGTON – In the midst of his battle with the titans of Wall Street, President Barack Obama was nearly upstaged by a rodent. Obama had just begun a Rose Garden statement lauding the end of a Senate filibuster on his financial overhaul when some kind of rodent dashed out of the bushes to his right, just outside the Oval Office.
As photographers snapped away in the sun-drenched garden, the critter scurried straight past the gray podium with the presidential seal and made a bee-line for another set of bushes to Obama's left.
It's not clear if the president could even see the streaker, but he didn't show any reaction. And he concluded his statement minutes later, returning to his office without answering a few shouted questions on other topics.
Once he was safely inside the Oval Office, a fierce debate erupted among the photographers and reporters who'd witnessed the dash. Was it a rat or a mouse? Or maybe a mole, or some other kind of related creature.
Before long, experts had joined the fray.
"I would partially rule out rat," said Russell Link, a wildlife biologist who works for the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. "That's due to the lack of a tail that is typically equal to body length."
After viewing a photograph of the surprising scurry, Link said, "My suspicion is it's a vole, commonly called a 'meadow mouse' out our way."
In fact, this wasn't the first time a rodent's been spied in the White House, or even the Rose Garden.
Just last week, as camera crews set up for an Obama statement on the Gulf oil spill, what's believed to have been the same rodent made a dash across the famous garden.
The press work areas behind the White House briefing room have had at least one rat sighting, though that was before a multimillion-dollar rehab project finished by the Bush administration.
Moreover, rodents of all kinds are pretty common in Washington. From time to time, city officials issue alarms about surges in the rat population when residents put out extra-big summer piles of garbage.
Washington is, after all built, along a river, on what used to be a malarial swamp.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top