Independent Day

Independent Day

Jul 7, 2014 | critical thinking, entreprenuers, leadership

I posted this on a previous July 4th and I’m happy to report that it remains relevant today. Sure, circumstances change and context shifts but the essence of the conversation — the central truths — still pertain. As far as the shifts go, I’m very encouraged that the cross-pollination I advocate at the end of the original post has started to happen, with established businesses — and even corporations — coming to value a more entrepreneurial, innovative and questioning mindset. Similarly, entrepreneurship is attracting many former corporate types who are tired of toiling in someone else’s mine but who can bring some structure and a bit of process to the often unruly state of early entrepreneurship. Our culture highly values independence and self-reliance and it’s taken the economic reverses to remind people that companies are no longer the secure, paternalistic guarantees of yesteryear. The caution now is that nothing is a magic bullet so it’s critical that those who abandon one for the other must understand the realities of both. Neither is a haven, both require hard work and in the end, it’s about the choices we make … and the freedom we have to make them. That’s independence! Independent Day Everywhere you turned this past week, there was some article or other discussing the significance of and reverence for July 4. And rightly so, as it’s been said that the collaborative work product of our Founding Fathers formed the basis of a most compelling political system. Plus, it’s an inclusive celebration – definitely not a contrived Hallmark event — shared by all Americans. So, we again celebrated our...

Name of the Game: Independent Day

Jun 3, 2013 | critical thinking, entreprenuers

Everywhere you turned this past week, there was some article or another discussing the significance of and reverence for July 4. And rightly so, as it’s been said that the collaborative work product of our Founding Fathers formed the basis of a most compelling political system. Plus, it’s an inclusive celebration — definitely not a contrived Hallmark event — shared by all Americans. So, we again celebrated our war for independence which largely was about our mission as a new country to differentiate ourselves from the thinking and systems of Britain. While technically “rebels,” the Founding Fathers were not impetuous, anarchic or undisciplined in arriving at a decision and then acting: they were thinkers, and deep thinkers at that, reading, writing, discussing and debating until they were ready to do the real work of nation building. They studied all forms of government, sourcing the Ancients as well as the Enlightenment philosophers, to get their best understanding of the tensions between individual freedoms and protection of the collective good. Those particular tensions still exist in the political conversation but interestingly, they’re now coming to bear in the world of business. Same tensions but much different context: again citing Daniel Pink, we’ve progressed from the Knowledge Age to the Conceptual Age. At one time, not long ago, knowledge was proclaimed king and was the difference between business (and individual career) success and, well, the opposite. So much of that capital has since been automated or outsourced and open-sourced that it is no longer a determining factor: having knowledge is a given, the price of admission. Now it’s more about how we...