If you're a geek you just have to try new toys.
This is also a way to foul up your computer in new ways too.
Yet in the best spirit, it's "the leader as empiricist" as Tom Peters says, in Thriving on Chaos [1987], chapter L-1, pp. 477-478.
That means leaders have to be experimenters. And why isn't your leader or manager an empiricist, an experimenter? It's because leaders who can't trust their people are afraid to look bad in front of them, to fail publicly in front of those whom they lead.
So managers like that stick to the tried & true--only doing the things that they know will work. They play to insecure followers, who expect leaders to be without faults and failings. In a similar thought, a teacher of mine once said students don't like their heros to have feet of clay.
Well, look down. We all have feet of clay. Heros and chumps alike.
Let's make a deal--let's just agree to wash each other's feet. Then we can get on with it, to lead at all levels. Bravery isn't absence of fear. Bravery is doing your job whether you're afraid or not. Give it a try. Give it your best shot. Get it done.
So, in the best spirit, I tried out the Mozilla Firefox Browser 1.0.
It was easy to install, and it imported most all the normal functionality of my Microsoft Explorer browser. So far it's been a good experience.
There's only been one exception. Firefox didn't give me the full editing menu of my Movable Type weblog interface! It gave me most of it, but wouldn't let me have the weblinking and formatting bar. So this posting is from my Explorer browser.
Yet generally, Mozilla Firefox is a cool new toy. And you'll love the Free the Geek technology politics of the Mozilla organization.
Information wants to be free. Enjoy.
In the dark North American winter season, some cheerful inspiration will do you good. One of the best sources I know for that kind of resource is the Daily Word, a print magazine of the Unity School of Christianity.
Unity, which is not part of the Unitarian/Universalist movement, is an educational movement that started in Kansas City USA about 100 years ago. It has a particularly sane approach to religion, and a real midwestern USA common-sense appeal. They say "Our philosophy offers a practical approach to Christianity." In fact they sometimes call themselves the "Unity School of Practical Christianity."
Daily Word also is available each day by this link. From the Daily Word site itself you can also click "Read today's Daily Word" :
http://www.unityworldhq.org/read_daily_dailyword.htm
Information from the useful and inspiring site (linked on this weblog), www.tompeters.com.
Boston, Massachusetts & Cincinnati, Ohio — November 15, 2004: Tom Peters, management's "guru of gurus" and best-selling author of In Search of Excellence and, most recently, Re-imagine! Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age, has announced the reorganization of The Tom Peters Company to more effectively serve the corporate market for enterprise transformation services and leadership development.
New York Times has several open pages of Internet resource links they use for their reporters.
Here is one of them--NY Times CyberTimes Navigator.
Succeed and prosper, JEG
Aloha! [essentially "Warm Greetings" or "Blessings" in Hawai'ian.]
Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) is a great professional organization for people working in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) industries and organizations. A nonprofit or nongovernmental organization (an "NGO"), its headquarters office is in Honolulu, Hawai'i, the Islands, "the crossroads of the Pacific."
PTC's focus is on the Pacific Hemisphere, broadly defined. That's half the world. Sometimes called the "Pacific rim," the region includes the Pacific sides of the Americas, and most of Asia, both Pacific coast sides and Indian Ocean. Plus, the area includes all of Oceania together with Australia, New Zealand, and the archipelago countries of southeast Asia.
For students, there is a special membership rate. I recommend PTC to you, whether an ICT student, a new professional, or an adventurous veteran. PTC is a superb organization for people on both sides of the Pacific who want to build professional contacts on both sides.
Here is a link to the organization's scholarly journal, Pacific Telecommunications Review [PTR]. The link brings you to a PDF file of the PTR issue that has an article I wrote on PTC:
It's called "New Letter from the Islands: Professional Development Accelerates at PTC." [Volume 23, Number 3, pp. 7-11]
Mahalo. [essentially, "Thank you" in Hawai'ian.]
William Charland is the best career authority I know on the information economy. His information is theoretically sound, and highly practical. He's counseled over a thousand people on their careers, including mine.
Here is a powerpoint presentation he did that gives a sense of his approach:
"Brother, Can You Spare a Geek?"
This will open your eyes if you're looking for work. If you're a manager working at your planning and staffing tasks, this will help you see clearly what to do.