Sunday, 22 February 2009

Spot On

Ah Hah! I coincidentally and conveniently stumbled across the drawing on the back of a business card that Hugh did for me in June 2007, and which I mentioned back here.


Anyone who knows me can vouch for my endless opinions. I'm obsessed with economics at the moment and really hope I'm approaching the light at the end of the tunnel, because I've now reached the miserable point that I think Adam bookmarked, and which I've just dug out from the New Yorker which is diagnosed as 'pessimism porn'.

It's mainly about only finding the evidence which suports my analysis of the economic state of affairs. Taleb might diagnose this as narrative fallacy behaviour but I'd have to throw in that I'm interacting with what appears to me, to be my entire social group hooked on Platonic fallacy. They're printing money folks, and that means everyone will want a mini Heidleberg too.

I've also begun thinking about Johnnie Moore's 'notice more, change less' mantra. If only because it's a very good reason to be more polite and listen to people rather than the compelling interruptions I excel at. See, I've gone on again. I do like the way Hugh doesn't leave a question mark though. More generous I think.

Any of you freelancers out there recognise the business card? Oh and one last question. Does anyone know how to format draft blogger properly so the paragraph spacing doesn't disappear when I press Publish Post?

That would be a small mercy.

Just checking :)

Friday, 20 February 2009

Hokusai

Hokusai did this print of The Great Wave and captured the imagination of the Japanese people in much the same way that Shepherd Fairey's Obamicon hit an emotive nerve in the run up to the U.S. election. Both in their own way represent something that is outside the commitment to try one's best. To go a little further.

Sean Howard invited a bunch of us to write a piece that was inspired by Saul Kaplin about The Passion Economy.

One of the terrific things about Sean is that he has a hardcore intellectual streak that sometimes leaves me bewildered realising there's whole topics I've never heard of let alone grasped and which you can discover here on his blog.

However, Sean balances that deep thinking drive with what I see as a big ol' generous heart and very kind words of infectious happiness. When he asked me to contribute, I was really flattered and said yes.

I am in with some toptastic people on this one, including Scott Suthren, Ellen Di Resta, Gavin Heaton, Mike Wagner, Mack Collier, Mike Arauz, Katie Chatfield, Alan Wolk, Peter Flaschner and Matthew Milan all contributing to this piece which I hope will persuade some, that we are indeed living in profound times.

Something's happening indeed.


The Passion Economy eBook

Why not download the ebook from Sean's site if you're a little short on time?

Wednesday, 18 February 2009

Rule Breaking Sloppy Blogging

Tim has warned us all of the perils from lazy blogging but I watched this lastest TED video last night and thought it chimed nicely with the the sentiment around the thinking man's blogosphere where the top down hierarchical nature of 20th century business and it's marketing machine are responsible for the dehumanization of our species. I think once again this is about not just learning to talk human, but learning to act human. I urge you to watch this fine talk by Barry Schwartz because it's important and valuable to those who try to over plan, in the belief that it will produce better and more effective outputs. It's a new rules social contract we need and paradoxically its about less rules and more...well I'll leave that to you.