A Midsummer Night's Dream

I'm sure I've mentioned previously that Neil Gaiman's the Sandman is one of my favourite piece of literary artwork ever. I've been reading 'The Sandman Papers: An exploration of the Sandman Mythology edited by Joe Sanders Published by Fantagraphics Books' over the past few days. The Papers ran almost the entire gamut of academic discourse on the series of work: from the study of female power to the depiction of the trinity of the Crone, the Mother and the Maiden to Asian influence on Sandman's clothing and the associated cultural associations of change and supreme powers, to (perhaps the most powerful idea explored in the Papers) the concept of change. I can't do the arguments justice by paraphrasing the points here, so I will leave in their place a poignant moment that the Papers evoked in this reader.

There's a line that Morpheus spoke to Queen Titania in the Midsummer Night's Dream regarding the granting of the 'talent' boon to William Shakespeare.

But the price of getting what you want, is getting what you once wanted

This is a true statement.

The price, the sacrifice, the 'that which is left behind'. because needs and wants change, and change is the only constant in the universe.

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Indulge me, gentle reader, for a short moment (and moments are all we have, in this great river of time, each moment as precious as sunlight through stained glass murals), as Delight presents Badly Written Jingle #1

Ahem. *cues cheapo jinglistic music*

They say money can't buy you love, and
Money can't buy you joy.
But Money can buy you a glimmer of hope
bright against the dreary sky.
SSSSOOOOO........
embrace debt!
If you're confident of your ROI
embrace debt!
If your future CF brings smiles
embrace debt!
If you know money is the key part of the capitalist system
embrace debt!

Thank you. This has been a Delight Productions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your wake-up call

Am three-quarters of my way through the book The World is Flat (Thomas L. Friedman, 2006 ed) and is already utterly, utterly convinced that the world, and more specifically, the employment market is utterly different from even five years ago. The fundamental question, it seems, is "How do you continuously re-innovate and re-invent yourself" to stay relevant in a world where your competitor, sorry, partner, can be anyone around the globe? How can you not afford to continously update your skill set to remain relevant in the global job market?

Mindshift 1: You want to run like a top dog? Then treat everyone like a top dog. And keep running. Don't stop.

Mindshift 2: It's no longer nation-state vs nation-state. It's no longer company vs company. It's individual vs individual. And they are all your potential partners.

A few 'sticky' ideas for the generalist who should really be a 'versatilist'

0. Education, education, education.

1. 'Sticky', portable skill sets:

subject content matter communication skills up and down the knowledge chain: from experts to novices. Learn on the fly. With Google, there's no reason why information scarcity is 100% roadblock.

generally communication skills (aka influence)

project management skills

SMILE!

Most importantly, HOW TO SYNTHESISE YOUR KNOWLEDGE into NEW STUFF in the integrative, cross-functional, cross-industry manner.

2. Flexible, hungry, can-do, want-to-do mindset

3. Always on 24/7/365, jacked into the twin real worlds of physicality and wired (i.e. virtual, Internet-based). Leverage on Globalisation 3.0 and Web 3.0. Skype (or your favourite VoiP provider). No more problems with presentism or absentism! Go have a life! Proviso: mesh work into your life.

4. Network indiscriminately. Know the center of the network and the tipping point.

5. Always remember the triple bottom line/corporate social responsibility (or whatever the newest buzz word is right now).

6. Energy sufficiency and bio-technoloy are going to be HUGE.

I am enthused/terrified already.