Experience or education? Both!

When I was younger,  I used to hang my hat on the fact that I could learn anything and if I really pushed myself in the books, then I would be better than the next guy who did not.  This worked for a while and would probably still play in to the perception of me as an individual.  However, through a lot of introspection, I have also learned that experience is an amazing asset.

For me, education is paramount.  There is no substitute for learning every day and I hope that my thirst for knowledge will never wane.  I love to learn.  Learning also means that you have to keep an open mind.  You have to be concious that your knowledge of a subject is limited and you do not know everything.  Socrates used to go around proving this.  You need to start every day with the idea that you can learn from every experience and make it a concious decision to do it.

Next, experience is complementary to education.  Education is worthless if you do not use what you have learned in some way.  You make know the atomic weight of oxygen, but what good is it if you never use it for something.  See, I know that it is 16g and I am USING it here as an example of knowledge.  See how that works?     Some of you will think that I found it on Wikipedia before posting here, but I actually learned it as a junior in high school chemistry and have a weirdly accurate memory for numbers.

All that being said, take heart that what you do not know, you can learn.  And education coupled with experience will give you the best base to start with and with which you can make the best decisions at work and in life.  Be open to new edutation and experience, it will get you farther than you ever though imaginable and probably down a different, more interesting path than you would have ever anticipated.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Build your brand! Learn!

With all the economic uncertainty and the snowy weather in Ottawa, it is time to build your brand, stay inside and learn all you can.  There is still a looming human resource shortage on the horizon.  The baby boomers are still going to retire.  Some have lost parts of their pensions, but my prediction is that they will retire from their full time job, take the pension and find some part time work that they truly enjoy, but are not slaves to the system.

You are in control of your own destiny and there has never been a better time to build your knowledge and market yourself.  Smart employers are locking their best employees in through incentives that are more important than money.  Think pride, belonging, adventure, influence and, of course, learning opportunities!

Keep in touch with the labour market.  You have to know what the opportunities are out there for you and don’t be afraid to apply for jobs you think you would like.  Yes!  Even if you already have a job.  That may seem selfish, but you have to remember that your current employer will probably replace you and if they don’t, then maybe you made the move at the right time.

It is your career.  It is your life.  Take control.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Revision3 layoffs

If you watch Internet TV, you probably know about a little outfit called revision3.  There worked, up until today, Martin Sargent and Sarah Lane who, among others, were laid off.  Of course, the spineless CEO claims that the uncertain economic times precipitated his decision.  In the words of Neal Stephenson, this is bullshytt.  Anyone with a little common sense can see that this yet another in a series of layoffs being blamed on the credit crunch.  It is very convenient for the CEO’s of this world to have a scapegoat handy.  Unfortunately, the Internet is an amazing communication vehicle that executives seem to ignore, even when their company is based on it!

There is obviously more to the story than we are led to believe from both sides.  The layoffees are smart enough to not burn any bridges.  They are worked together before and probably will again.  They are taking their time with their blog posts and not pushing back.  The layoffers are trying to quell the storm by posting standard corporate rhetoric.  It may even be the truth, but jaded fans, who almost feel like they have friends in these two online celebrities, take offense to any perceived mistreatment of their icons.  Martin and Sarah have been smart about bringing fans in to the fold and will hold on to them through this.

It is no longer the employee that belongs to the corporation, but the corporation who has the priviledge of being the employer.  The people see the looming battle for human capital and are positioning themselves to be the winners.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Football

There is something about Sunday afternoon, a cold beer and football that just makes me happy. I love to sit and watch great athletes battle on the gridiron. Simply amazing. Love it!

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Debates – Mine, not those…

I love sparking debates and seeing who answers the call.  My last post was a picture of PC vs. MAC.  It would seem that few subjects can plant the seed of passionate debate as well as this can.  Only politics, religion and money, with the possible exception of cars, can incite flame wars and derogatory comments more.

The people who respond usually fall in to two categories, the informed and the uniformed.  Funny thing with the Facebook era though is that many people fall back on to their public personas and behaviors, choosing to stay silent lest they appear foolish.  It is really too bad that they do not venture to explore the subject and express an opinion, whichever side it may reside on.  I feel that too many people slide by in the manner at work and in life.  Stand up for your beliefs!  They are your truth after all. 

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Found online…

This is soooooo  true!  I am a PC!

So true! I am a PC!

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Big company mentality getting to me…

I think the big company politics and irrational behavior (irrational when viewed on the macro level anyway…) that has been going on of late. Perhaps I am not getting all the information and need to talk to more people. However, our leadership should be good enough at communications (not bloody likely!) to talk about some of these issues. I would love to hear the explanation on a few of these decisions (Really!! No sarcasm. I want to understand).

If you know of anything interesting available or different paths to follow, drop me a line. I would love to hear about it. I am not going to drop my current job for just anything though. I still love the people I work with and think there are big opportunities, but am open.

Thanks for listening.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Why minority governments suck

On the morrow of the Canadian election, I have to say that I am very dissapointed.  There are really two reasons why.  First, the Conservatives are back in power, sort of, which really irks me because they really have not accomplished very much so far except to continue some Liberal successes such as paying down more of the debt.  I do have to give them kudos for lowering the GST by 2%.  It is not very much, but is a step in the right direction without killing their tax base.

The second reason, much more important than the first, is that we have ourselves another minority government.  While this may be a desirable situation for the other parties, it certainly is not for Canadians.  We will spend the next two years in political debates about leadership instead of actually getting something done.  Then, in two years, we will go through the whole EXPENSIVE process again.  I could think of a few better uses for the hundreds of millions of dollars that are being flushed down the crapper than an election that brings a flacid government in to play.  I would rather we actually take a step in the right direction and start REALLY evolving our country.  We are falling behind in the world in many areas because of political half-measures meant only to placate lobbyists.  Maybe I didn’t always like the Mulroney or Chrétien governments, but they got business done.  You have to concede that!

Now the big question:  What can I do about it?  Well, about the same as all of you, I can write my MP (Liberal Marcel Massé), I can write to the ministers that Mr. Harper will appoint and I can rally the people I know to do the same.  I encourage you to participate in the democratic process even when there is no election on.  It is the most important time to do so as you actually have a chance of getting a non-political response from our “leaders”.  I use quotation marks as I believe that, like in the corporate world, there is a dearth of real leadership.  We have many good, nice people in parliament, but few true leaders.

Here to hoping that Harper can rally with another party and get some work done before he has to disolve parliament again.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Election news – Canada

Real News Network – Campaign to stop Harper (Thanks to Joel Heard for the link!)

Have a look folks!  This one is good.

Stay interested and interesting!

John

Elections – Canada

We really need to get people excited about our election.  Our leaders have about 6 weeks to push their position and get the vote done.  None of the US style 2 year election campaigns.  The advantage is that our leaders have time to govern instead of campaign.  The disadvantage is that we do not spend the time getting to know what the parties stand for or for the leaders to get their message out.

I certainly prefer our system, but think our leaders could do better at communicating with the Canadian public.

Get out to vote!  October 14th is coming fast!!   Remember, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain later!!! 

Stay interested and interesting!

John