Dave's Evolution

I have been writing on the Internet since 1997.  I was fueled early on by the desire to detonate corporate hierarchy; to lay out linear lanes of knowledge sharing and to cross pollinate folks from different backgrounds.  The problem was that I lived in two worlds.  By day:  Sterile-edited-good-boy-corporate-Dave.  By night:  Wizaard / Warrior, slayer of corporate status-quo and pilot of the Starship Cruiser, an inter-galactic spaceship bent on vaporizing the boundaries of business-as-usual.  Both worlds faded into punch the timeclock at work and write about stuff helter-skelter, sort of the de-evolution of Dave...

Sort of, but not really.  For it has been a journey of learning.  My present quest is a mission to crystalize just why Dave is here on this planet.  I am not happy writing helter-skelter.  I yearn for a Dave-brand focus, a what value does Dave bring to others direction.  I contemplated taking down this blog until I figured it out.  Then I thought, why not travel this part of my journey on the blog? 

I would be remiss to not say one other reason why I began to pay my monthly dues to Typepad again.  Chris Brown .  Chris sent me an e-mail and said "its time to get blogging again, I miss your book reviews."  I cannot tell you what a powerful effect that Chris's words had on me!  They were a lifeline out of the quicksand.  As a side note, you just never know how much impact thoughtful encouragement has on folks.

The Plan - I am a revolutionary at heart.  So I have decided to concentrate on writing about some of the books in my collection that move the progressive-thinking-business mindset forward.  In reality these are my favorite books and I find it most odd that I haven't written about them much here.

9/24/06 Update to Plan - I've discovered that I need to talk about more than books. In order to move forward, I find it necessary to be mindful of the past, to understand the connected generation , to talk about others who share the same business-forward mindset and to cross pollinate my soul with diversity by traveling six degrees away from the known.  Occasionally I will need to reflect upon the art of writing too.

Up first is the cluetrain manifesto .  Based on the premise that markets are conversations , this book provides insight on the end of business as usual.  Like indulging in a glass of fine wine, I will sip the contents of this declaritive work over a few posts.

The Art of Learning

It is September once again and that means back to school and back to Talking Story for a month long conversation on Learning.  Business coach and my friend  Rosa Say , collects 27 different perspectives  on Learning from 27 different authors promising a veritable feast of stimulation and thought!

Comments

[Rosa Say]

Good man Chris! Hmmm Dave... perhaps we who love you are too nice to you... (not that Chris isn't a great guy too.)

Dave I know how you feel about the integrity of good writing, and how you hate to just post for posting's sake, however I've yet to read anything from you which isn't thoughtful and worth my attention.

Your value-add has always been the aloha spirit which bubbles like a well-spring of great intentions inside you: It has always been a bright light since I've known you, and I am CERTAIN it always will be.

I also subscribe to the Julia Cameron/ Anne Lamott/ Carolyn See theory that writing chops are about writing practice, and blogging is good for that when you are in a community of "excellent folks" who support you as we do. So bring it on!

Thank you too for the promo of our forum, Joyful Jubilant Learning 2006! Our kick-off is already stellar, and I am thrilled beyond words that you'll be one of our Guest Authors participating. [Dave's article posts at my place on September 14th folks.]
Aloha malama e, ku pono Dave,
Rosa

[Dave]

Thanks Rosa! I guess you could say that I just want to draw a tighter focus on that aloha spirit.

I have done a fair job of practicing the chops via journaling.

btw, Chris is of the same gender as you ;-)

[Rosa Say]

oops, sorry Chris...

[Verna Wilder]

Wow! I love this! Dave, we're circling around some of the same topics. I almost took my blog down, too, because I didn't know what it was all about. I'm so glad you kept writing. And I do so much appreciate Rosa for introducing us.

One of the things I get out of blogging is these connections with other people who all fuel my desire to write more and who all contribute their thoughts to my thoughts and my thoughts are no longer mine alone but are part of a community--a discourse.

I love Rosa's comments, too. Looks like we're all fans of Julia Cameron. She changed my life.

Thanks so much!
Verna

[Dave]

No, thank you Verna! :-)

Thoughts, connections, community and discourse...simply superb!

[Joy]

I guess we owe a debt of gratitude to Chris. She helped make you rethink, regroup, and return...and I for one am grateful for that. We did miss you Dave, and kept checking back here for updates. We all go through evolutional times for many different reasons...they're good, they're healthy, and they're healing. Welcome back dear friend. -Joy

[Dave]

Thanks so much for the kind words Joy!

[Anita Campbell]

Dave,

What a heartfelt story -- glad you shared it.

Nice job, Chris!

Anita

[Debra Estep]

Please do not think I am just late in posting
a comment under this
message.

I have thought about it
and pondered what I
wanted to say...

I thought of sending you a private
email response to this post,
and then I thought better and
decided to use the comment area.

You might be 'yearning' for
some focus, but I think you
fail to understand that
WHATEVER you write about
has your DAVE-BRAND focus.

If you were to post a photograph
on your blog, all of us who view it
might see some details, but
if we were to read your
description of the photograph
you would have your unique way
of leading us to see something
that we missed.

The picture within the picture. !!!

That is exactly what every single
thing you write about does.
Your writing brings a depth to
the photos of our lives.

THAT is the beauty of your writing.

AND I'm not just saying that because
I'm your sister. !!!
I know your readers will be in
agreement. ;)

[Dave]

Thanks Deb!! I think it takes a perceptive person to appreciate that. A lot of people look at me as if I were a Martian.