tonygoodson

George Best dying

It's very difficult to describe to the many what the few of us feel.
You had to be around at the time.
I was a child of the 60s.  George Best was there almost from the day I was born (1961).
The hero of the 60s, so as a kid growing up south of Manchester, it courses through my veins.
He was a part of growing up. 
George Best football boots. 
E for B and Georgie Best.
That's where George Best has his hair cut.
That's Georgie Best's house.
That's Georgie Best's bar.
That was Georgie Best's car.
My Mum's met George Best.

As a kid you take his football skills a bit for granted, but you know to give the ball to Georgie.
You watch Benfica players scythe him down in the '68 Cup Final.
You cycle past his house to see if he's there.
Years later you're meeting a girl at the Midland Hotel, and who's in the bar, but Georgie Best (a good luck charm).  And it was!!

George Best is dying today.  That's kind of bizarre.  Even to the end he's going out in style.
Strange that when Bobby Moore died, we just tutted, "Oh Bobby Moore has died".
Bobby Charlton was probably the greater player.
But the emotion which George Best evokes for this child of the 60s, is immense.
I hated all the fuss and false projection when Princess Di died, and I'd like to think this is different.

There are other sporting heroes, and we sometimes over-worship them, but this guy and what he evoked in the 60s was something different.  Think Elvis in the 50s and when Elvis died. 
George Best in Manchester was bigger than the Beatles in that there was only one of him, they were diluted.

A nice guy, a shy guy, a good looking guy, a charming guy, a two-footed guy!!
Let's quote what he says about David Beckham,

He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right.

A great great footballer, but so are many more, but you had to be around in Manchester or Belfast in the 60s to really understand the sad loss.

Scott Adams (Dilbert) weblog

It doesn't get better than this for me.  Scott Adams (Dilbert) has a weblog.

Find What You Love

I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. (Steve Jobs via Kathy Sierra)

Here's what my gut feel is telling me.  RSS, Weblogs, WiKi, Chat, Podcasts (but less so).
The Big Corp needs all this stuff but doesn't realise it yet, so anyone hawking it to them is fighting an uphill battle right now.  But it will happen eventually, and just like being in the right place at the right time with say mobile phones, someone is going to do very well out of it.

I just want to be with people who talk and use the technology, not just for the sake of it, but because it works.  It helps people communicate better.  I'm sick of the Dilbert world.  You don't get too much Dilbert in the world of RSS, Weblogs, WiKis, Chat, and Podcasts, mainly because there are no cubicles!

I'm not a corporate person.  I don't take readily to the politics.  The pretending.  The Emperor having no clothes.  And if I see something as wrong I won't let it go, or bury my head in the sand and take the money.

I've never been a great Steve Jobs fan, from what I've read about him, too much ego, but I love that for once, someone famous has said....

Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
  Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

I recently looked through all the business cards, and contacts I have in Outlook, and it was immediately clear to me who to call.  Just a gut feel.  Including some people I haven't had contact with in over a year.

And more time with Georgie and Jay.
Go read the whole Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford.

Lawrence Lessig - Listen to him

One of the best podcasts I've heard.  Lawrence Lessig talking at OSBC 2005.
There are a few by him, but make sure you listen to this one.
Wit and Intelligence and Humility.
Lessig talks about monopolies doing what it takes to defend their position.
The USA will need to do something soon about restrictive IP which is strangling innovation.
Other nations are catching them up and may overtake them.

I'm not sure that podcasts will grow so much because it's difficult to recommend one and then have people bother to download and listen to it.  And listen to it for any length of time.
With the written word you can scan and read and search, but with audio, it's the most difficult to suss out.

All I can do is listen and recommend. 
This is one of the best and one of those watershed ones, like Doc Searls's.

Master of Curiosity

Daryl Cook has written about MBAs, Masters of Bugger All?

I think what's lacking is being a Master of Curiosity.
Where has the curiosity gone?  In science, in medicine (especially GPs), in business.
No one is curious as to how something works, how it can be improved, is there a better way.
We put up with the mediocre and accept it.

Oh sure, there's 1000 interconnected bloggers out there who have a high degree of curiosity, but that's about it.
If I run some training, I'd be surprised if 1 in 100 people come up to me afterwards to ask about or flick through a book I recommend or point to.
At "networking" meetings less than 1 in a 100 people will actually call or email the business card they've collected.

No doubt MBAs have some forced curiosity for a while because they have to get their assignments in!!  But afterwards?  Do they put their certificate up on the wall and leave it at that?

And if you are curious, you're treated like some pariah (Don't rock the boat Tony).
We worship our Einsteins and Bills and Bransons but what do you think these guys have in common other than luck and persistence?
Yes, the thing that killed the cat!

Intuition and Einstein's Brain

Disdaining caution, Einstein adopted the intuitive leap as a basic tool. "I believe in intuition and inspiration," he wrote in 1931. "At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason."

Just reading the Applied Improv Blog, and I noticed the link to the NASA Einstein article, Was Einstein a Space Alien?.
I know the feeling, being an intuitive myself.  It doesn't mean I'm always right, just that at times I strongly know something to be true and right, without knowing the reason.
The harmful effects of electro-magnetic radiation, especially X-Rays.
The causes of Mad Cows disease.
The food we eat as a cause of disease.
What some people are doing or saying behind my back.

We live in a western world educated and appearingly built on what our 5 senses tell us, and not what our intuition tells us.  This can be really frustrating at times, when I can see that things need changing or a new approach is needed.  I can't always prove it at first.
Neither could Einstein, and it didn't stop him!

And the irony is that these non-Intuitive dickheads thought they'd find the secret by analysing Einstein's brain.  Any Intuitive could tell them that it was his approach and philosophy to things and not his computing power that brought about his "discoveries".
But clearly they just had to know.

Not knowing. It makes some researchers feel uncomfortable. It exhilarated Einstein: "The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious," he said. "It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."
It's the fundamental emotion that Einstein felt, walking to work, awake with the baby, sitting at the dinner table. Wonder beat exhaustion, every day.

G('D)ay World with Doc Searls

Just listened to Cameron and Mick's discussion with Doc Searls.
Fantastic, Fun, and Profound.  Don't let this "Podcasting" thing put you off, just click on the link and download the MP3 and play it on your PC.  It's excellent.

I might even change my Weblog description from "All people are idiots" to "We overestimate in the short term, and underestimate in the long term" (Doc Searls quoting Paul Saffo).
That's how optimistic the guys talking have made me feel.

Oh and just one more point, the shorter and more precise the "G'Day" is being pronounced, the more it's beginning to sound like "Gay World"!!

Jon Snow kills Idi Amin!

Jon Snow has written his autobiography, which is being serialised in The Guardian. I was at a function a few years ago, at which Jon Snow was the guest speaker. Absolutely captivating. And he told his Idi Amin story, which I've been looking out for in the serialisation. And today it appears.

Imagine that you could change the course of history and save tens of thousands of lives. Jon Snow had that opportunity on the plane with Idi Amin asleep. Who of us would seize that opportunity? We must all at some point in our lives realise we can change the course of history. Terminator II.

And it also set me thinking about some of the captivating speakers I've seen over the years. Jon Snow, Paul Foot, Tony Benn. Even Roy Hattersley was good in his time!

Tom Has Spoken (again)!

Tom Peters has spoken again. I love the guy. He so resonates with what I believe.
This I Believe! - Tom's 60 TIBS (click on the FREE DOWNLOAD)

More SuperHeroes

I've just finished reading Michael Moore's Dude, Where's My Country.
I'll add him to my SuperHero list, and he suggests Oprah Winfrey for President.
Wow! I'd had the same idea 2 years ago.
More our consumer leader than USA president.
I'd thought of an alliance of 100 million consumers, led by Oprah, saying to BigCorp,
"Enough is Enough, this is how it's going to be, if you want to do business with us."

President of the USA will do though!!