I have heard of the book What Color Is Your Parachute? for as long as I can remember, but only recently do I know what the book is for. I've never been in terribly adventurous circles, thus I found it odd that the concept of jumping from an airplane could somehow lay in my cognitive proximity. Today I realize that it is part of a movement started in the 70's by a Mr. Richard Bolles that has now lasted for over 30 years. Frankly I have no immediate intention to leave my current job. However, the whole industry of job searching does fascinate me. For instance, through the power of an expensive advertising campaign, I know of this site monster.com that I just visited in order to see if there is a job posting out there for a "humanist technologist." Hmmm, the links that come up are not to my liking. They include "ultrasound technologist" or "nuclear medicine technologist." I'm pretty sure I lack the training for any of these jobs so I guess I will stick with my current one.
I receive many inquiries as to my rationale for pursuing an MBA. I'm 63% of the way there (of course I'm not desperately counting down to July 2006 or anything silly like that), and I have to admit that I do ask the same question of myself from time to time. The answer does exist -- it's because in my early 30's I felt that I lacked the knowledge necessary to do understand things that dealt with the "non-creative" side of things. There was a time that was very brief when I first realized that there truly is the "no win situation." This is of course before I discovered the world of the win win, but everything does have its rightful order in life. When you are trained to overachieve all your life, you are taught to overcome at all costs. "Overcome" usually implies going through or around the obstacle kind of like in the take-no-prisoners manner that Donald Trump's Apprentice seems to suggest as the secret to success. Contrary to this dominant doctrine, I learned through personal experience that in some rare occasions, the only way to overcome, paradoxically, is to simply withdraw. Give up? Nope. It's all about being prepared ... for ... the ... right ... moment.
I think that the famed General Patton said it well, "Never fight a battle unless you will gain by winning." I heard it said differently by my former colleague Bruce Blumberg as, "If you die in battle (short-term), you cannot win the war (long-term)." And so I patiently wait.
James Shewmaker writes, "I was reminded of Joseph Ellis' biography of George Washington entitled, 'His Excellency.' Twelve times, Mr. Ellis, uses the term Fabian to describe Washington's reluctant Revolutionary War strategy. Washington discovered early in the War that he would not be able to fight the war the way that he desired to fight the war but rather would be forced to constantly withdraw his troops anytime the odds were against victory. Washington's own personality was geared towards charging headlong into battle, but he came to realize quickly that he would lose the war if he let his natural inclination 'inform' his decision making."
Posted by maeda at October 1, 2005 07:20 PM