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You get your intuition back when you make space for it, when you stop the chattering of the rational mind. The rational mind doesn't nourish you. You assume that it gives you the truth, because the rational mind is the golden calf that this culture worships, but this is not true. -- Anne Lamott
Tamara and I wanted to see a movie, so we started out considering Lakeview Terrace. But after a visit to Rotten Tomatoes, we saw that it only got a 41%. Ghosttown, on the other hand, got 80%. Hmmm... we'll do that, we decided.
Loved it. Flat out loved it. Laughed, great message, solid acting and directing. Big time recommendation, especially for a date.
Today, I'm pretty burned out on America. That's uncommon, if you know me or read me. What's crazy to me is that the media has no interest in relating the truth to the public. They make their money by ruining the lives of people and recording it as it happens.
Today, a candidate for vice-president of the United States said that it's patriotic to pay higher taxes. His cohort's financial advisors are, in at least some part, responsible for the financial mess our country is in - as they were in leadership positions at the financial institutions that failed us and will cost taxpayers billions of dollars. But the media won't tell you that. These politicians are in the wrong party for that depth of scrutiny.
Today, another candidate's email was hacked, and the media is not outraged by this. Instead, she's derided for using personal email. That, while her partner for the White House is mocked for not using personal email - not by personal choice but because his war injuries prevent his ability to do so.
I'm not living in America. I'm not sure what I'd label it, but it's not a country serious about remaining solvent or successful.
Register.com Customer Opinion Poll of small business customers has revealed that more than half (54%) of small businesses believe that Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is better prepared to manage the overall economy vs. only 36% of respondents that believe the same about Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). Additionally, while the majority of respondents believe Senator Obama has demonstrated a better understanding of how to successfully use the Internet, the majority also believes Senator McCain will do more to help small businesses and protect them online.
Business is the heart and start of everything in this country. Those business leaders out in the trenches know what will help them grow and create jobs. And the majority believe it's McCain, not Obama, who will help them do that.
Water, I think, is the most amazing substance we know. Bar none. It has properties no other substance has and it is arguably the very stuff of life.
Water flows in channels. We call these channels rivers, streams, creeks, and so on. Water responds to gravity and drifts downward, slowly, in the controlled grooves of habit and centuries. That's what water does.
But when there is too much water, say, after an abundance of rain, the water swells in its familiar - even controlled - channels and while it threatens to spill over the banks of the channel that contains it, it's somewhat rare for a flood to occur in any given area. Floods are not habitual. Repetitive in great infrequency, perhaps, but the flood is an uncommon act.
Flood is a loss of control. Sometimes, people know from history how the water re-channels when a flood occurs. And so they seek to steer it. They create spillways and emergency canals. When chaos erupts, it quickly subsides due to careful planning. The flood and its violent threat become... a harmless runoff. Tragedy averted.
Entrepreneurs and economists and politicians should study flood management. All of these folks are in the business of flow dynamics. The only difference is that water can't buck gravity. But if a crowd or money can begin in one well-defined and frictionless groove, then they'll likely continue - like water flowing downriver.
What happens though when there is a swell? Where does the runoff go?
We think about this in terms of phone systems and lobby design and change / release management, but we don't think about it in terms of competitor collapse. We're not prepared for sudden chaotic victory. (Iraq is a great example of this - we won and then what was the plan? It took a few years before we recognized Petraeus' genius with this.) We're not prepared to notice or care about that slow trickle toward a disruptive innovation.
And I'm not sure that we're able to really track flow. Outside of our own org and - to a lesser degree - our industry, where does it all go?
In this surprising time, isn't an awareness of the flow around us critically important? Because crowds and rivers of money often choose paths we didn't intend, like water. We don't expect water to buck gravity, but somehow we expect anti-gravity when it comes to people. We forget that we aren't the only attractive body in the system.
And I think this is the reason that people who focus on what ought to be and fight for that meet only marginal success. They should instead recognize what they can't control and simply, "Go with the flow."
