Let’s get this blog machine dusted off and humming again with a simple observation that I’ve found to be true:

It’s very easy to come up with reasons why something won’t work.  It’s much harder to figure out a way to make it work.

This is important to understand if you’re interested in new ideas and new ways of doing things. Think about the implications.

-Kevin
4.27.2012

I want you to be a goddam superstar. I want you to be so good at what you do, that you make my skills look like a joke. I want you to be the biggest thing since sliced bread.  That’s right. I do.

Why?

When you blow up and become a mega hit, you’ll take me with you, at least a little bit, whether you meant to or not.

When I see you doing so great, you’ll make me want to catchup with you.  Maybe I’m a little competitive.  Maybe it’s just that your success told me I could do it too.

When your resources have grown with your success, hopefully you’ll be willing to help me because at some point on the road to your spot in the sun, I helped you.

And when our paths cross again, when you’ve made it big, I hope I see you happy, full of purpose, and immersed in your life, work, love, and role. (Isn’t that the definition of success?) That stuff spreads too.

I’m rooting for you, and I’ve got your back.

-Kevin
9.19.2011

The Abyss

Many years ago, there was a man who lived in a village.

One evening, after a long day of work, he ventured out of the village into the forest, unsure of what he was looking for.

Every night, he continued this.  Each time going farther and farther.  Until one night, he came out of the forest and onto a stretch of rock.  He hurried forward stumbling across the uneven surface of the stone, until he came to a sharp ledge.

He stopped, stood up, and found himself overlooking an immense, vacuous space–miles and miles of unknown darkness.  He looked out into the vast Abyss and saw visions of what could be out there, what could be achieved, what could be discovered within its depths.

He ran back to the village, told everyone he knew, and begged his friends to come with him to see it.

They wouldn’t come.  They didn’t believe he had even found such a thing.  He asked others.  None would come.

He tried to forget the Abyss. He tried to go on with his simple life–work, food, friends–but it felt empty now too.  He had lost his simple life forever.

Then one evening approximately one year after his first discovery, he returned to the Abyss, and stared out into the vast darkness.  And as he stared out into it, the Abyss stared back at him.  The emptiness, the loneliness, filled his mind, “I will always be alone. They will never understand.”

He began to climb down into the Abyss, and the Abyss consumed him.  No one ever heard from him again.

Perhaps this Adventurer discovered wondrous treasures after journeying down into the Abyss.  Maybe one day we’ll re-discover what he found.  As much as I want to believe that this Adventurer learned and discovered much, in all likelihood, he probably took a fall in the darkness, fractured his leg and shattered his ribs, and was left stranded and awaiting death.  Either way, there are no stories to be told of him, so he is dead in our memories, other than as an example of someone that ventured off only to be consumed by nothingness.

Perhaps there is no meaning behind this story.  But, in recent years, I’ve found meaning in it.

I’ve tried a lot of things, some of which could certainly be viewed as stupid.  I’d ask myself, “What the hell am I doing this for?” But I had my reasons, and I knew the only way I’d learn was to carry on. Additionally, I often found it hard to understand why people were satisfied with just coasting through life.  I could see very clearly why it was a good route, but nonetheless, I couldn’t really understand.  And several times, because of these conditions (me trying unordinary things, and not “getting” the usual life), I found myself feeling very alone.

Some people are compelled to venture off into the strange wild lands through the dark forest.  To some, it’s a gift and a superior way to live one’s life.  To others, it’s a disease.  I think a more even view is that it’s a role.

Eventually, these people will encounter the Abyss.  The problem is, much like the story, they let the Abyss stare back into them and consume them.  No one around them understands. They cut themselves off.  They convince themselves that no one understands.  And they go on living lonely, miserable lives.  And the story of the Abyss plays out.

People need differentiation, particularly the ambitious and creative (the Creatives). Consequently the idea of playing a role can be very discomforting.  But, this must be reconciled for the Creatives, we all need integration and connections to others.  The Abyss is vast, and there is an infinite amount of unknown for everyone to look separately on, and therefore plenty of room for differentiation.

So I would propose a different ending to the story of the Abyss:

He returned to the Abyss, and stared out into the vast darkness.  The Abyss stared back at him.  The emptiness began to fill his mind, and just before the Abyss was about to consume him, in an instinctual flash, he looked to his left.  And in the distance, he could see the faint outline of someone else, gazing out into the immense unknown.

-Kevin
9.18.2011

I recently watched Michael Jordan’s Hall of Fame induction speech.  Very real, and absolutely enthralling.

In the speech, Michael gave thanks to his parents and others.  But he spent a lot of time going through various situations he encountered.

He talked about how angry it made him when Leroy Smith made the high school varsity basketball team and how he wanted to show Leroy and the coach how big of a mistake it was.

He talked about how Buzz Peterson was a target of his while he was at UNC because Buzz was named player of the year in North Carolina.  And Buzz had never played him before, so he wanted to prove to himself and others that Buzz couldn’t beat him.

He talked about how Coach Dean Smith named 4 starters in Sports Illustrated and didn’t name him, and how that pissed him off.

Much of the media lambasted Jordan for being petty and taking shots at people during what was a celebration of the greatest player of all time, which should’ve been his greatest moment.  That he didn’t thank the right people.  That he was still settling scores and grudges.

They don’t get it.  And it burns me.

These types of opinions and crying out about Michael being bitter and begrudging burn me because it reflects a lack of understanding of what it means to live with sincere commitment to a purpose.  These people can’t understand that these aren’t “petty” quibbles, but that these situations and actions that played out were deeply meaningful.

Getting cut, the all-star game freeze-out, somebody else being player of the year, each of these meant something to him because they were connected to his goal of being the greatest player on the court and, eventually, in history.

People will say “it’s just a game”.  But the placing of meaning on all these things has added up to a very meaningful career for Michael and him becoming an icon for hard work, persistence, and achievement.  Rightfully so.

 
-Kevin V.
8.7.2011

For some reason, we tend to feel we’re not supposed to do something unless we’re good at it.  It seems to me this sentiment gets worse as we get older.

Perhaps we’re embarassed by our first shaky steps.  Perhaps we’re scared we can’t really do it.

Whatever the reasons are, I don’t like this! We should reserve the right to try things when we’re 80, and have just as much right to do it as we would when we’re 8.

Here’s my advice: declare yourself to be a researcher.   And like a  researcher, you’re required to delve into new areas.  It’s your job to experiment and uncover things.

Personally, I’m always experimenting with something.  This blog is an example of a continuous set of experiments.  The original incarnation of this blog was a goddam’ joke, but now, it has turned into something that has done me (and maybe a few people out there) a lot of good.  I’m quite proud of it.  And I suppose I’ve been blogging long enough and learned enough that I’m now a blogger in addition to being a researcher.

There are many things I have yet to experiment with on this blog.  One of them is the visual arts.

So, let it forever be known, at some time in the near future, I’m going to post some of my art on this blog.  It’ll be an interesting experiment to run.

Exercise your right to run your own experiments.  And tell me about them.  I’m interested to see what you’re up to.

-Kevin
5.24.2011

*Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for any outcomes that may happen due to your following of this advice.  So if you get arrested, smacked, or injured, it’s your fault!  But, by god, I’m sure it’ll due you some good in the long term.

-Kevin
4.23.2011

The world has changed drastically in the last hundred years, but has education?  This is important to note.

When something seems inefficient, wastes time, or lacks purpose, my heart takes a dive… This is certainly how I felt in high school.  And I see a huge loss in potential happening.

Here are some of the problems I see.  For the sake of honing our thinking on the topic, think of high school:

1. The disconnect from the rest of the world. School is meant to be a safe place where students can focus on learning.  This is necessary, but it must be remembered that this can create problems and leave gaps in our education.  So the question becomes, how can we fill these gaps created by the isolation of the academic environment?  Many problems with school are rooted in this Disconnect.
2. Lack of skill in dealing with uncertainty. Most of education tends to be about studying a book and being able to take a test and get the right answer.  Being able to read a book and learn is a vital skill to have.  But, I think we can do better than that.  I think an individual needs to start using their judgment, gauging risk, making decisions, dealing with uncertainty, defending their analysis as soon as possible (but also at a level that is appropriate for their experience). I don’t see any reason why this can’t be done sooner.
3. Inability to help students find something they love. Much of school work takes the form of read the book, follow the instructions, study for the test, etc., etc.  While there is some variety in this (the type of subject and so on), this is really the same context: “school work”.  Consequently, most students, myself included, try to find something they love, if they try at all, by trying different subjects and fretting about majors.  At some point, everyone has to start making decisions about how they spend their time and what they spend their time learning. I don’t see why there can’t be some headway made throughout education on helping people find a context of work or an area of knowledge that they enjoy.**  Counseling plays a role in this, but I’ve learned that you can’t think or talk your way into a passion. You have to just start doing real things.
4. Over-valuing learning by reading. Let’s take the example of computer programming.  Programmers tend to be intelligent, analytical, and focused people.  I have never met a single developer that has said, “you should read lots of books in order to learn how to program.”  They say the exact opposite, “you’ll learn by doing a project that you want to do.”  I know from my own experience and others close to me that this isn’t just some made up meme that gets tossed around.  Give yourself somewhere to run and sprint there!
5. Metrics. Are grades the right metric of success?  People outside of education view grades differently.  I think they certainly have some value.  But, let’s focus on how metrics effect the students.  For example, I took ‘introduction to Art’ freshman year of high school.  It was an “elective” course (I didn’t have to take it).  I realized it was going to take a lot of time and work if I was going to get a 99 in art class.  (At my high school, things were essentially on a percentage scale.  If you wanted to be in the top 10, you needed to essentially shoot for getting a 99% average in the class.)  This is hard in a course like art where their goal was to make you become a better artist and help you develop your portfolio of work.  I was an athlete, so I didn’t have a lot of time, and I needed classes where I could just take tests and get good grades.  So what did I do? I stopped taking art classes.  Why? According to the numbers–grades, class rank–that’s what I should’ve done.  You manage what you measure.
6. Teachers staying in education all their lives. A lot of teachers go straight from school back into teaching.  Some even have to get education degrees to do this.  If teachers have spent their entire lives in the education system, this furthers the disconnect between the education system and the rest of the world.
7. Lack of Confidence Building/Lack of Challenge. I’ll leave this one to you.  Does education build confidence?  And is education able to challenge students and drive continuous improvement?

Some of this may seem to come down to a resourcing issue.  I don’t think this is necessarily the case.  Not anymore.  It comes down to a new way of thinking about the structure and function of schools, and finding ways to support what they’re already doing.

Whenever someone presents a problem, they should also offer a potential solution.  We’re working on it.

The goal of education should be to develop productive, responsible, and happy people.  Is the system achieving this? is it able to?

-Kevin
4.2.2011

*The fact that many people often view school as a mandatory “paying of your dues” is particularly alarming to me.  Education is an investment of time and money.

**I’ve read a number of biographies.  People seem to show signs early on of what context will work for them.  It just takes time for them to fully realize this and get the opportunity to spend all their time working in that context.  For the really successful people, they seem to hone in on this context very early, keep doing it, and become great at it.

Image via Wikipedia

I was at a talk by an entrepreneur a few years ago, and he made an interesting statement:  ”Some of the most talented people I’ve met are sales people.   We tend to think sales people just ‘wine and dine.’ But really they have to have an incredible breadth of skills and knowledge, both technical and not.”

As he alluded to, this is a very uncommon statement that, particularly in the world of technology-driven businesses, many people would argue.

This got the crowd going a bit.  I could feel a ripple go through the audience as if they all wanted to say something.

Once questions were taken, one attendee asked, “I agree completely with your points about sales people, and that it’s an undervalued discipline. I mean, why aren’t there any PhD programs in sales?….”  He went on to ask another question, but the recording of my brain turned off at that point, and I had to bow my head and rub my brow in dismay.  He was exemplifying a common mindset that I consider to be very corruptive: you need to get a degree in order to gain competence or to learn, and that you need a degree in order to be qualified.

Degrees are over-valued in general**.  And this is an astonishing display of it.  If you want a PhD is sales, go start selling something.

Getting a degree can provide access to resources, which is valuable.  For instance, it’s quite hard for me to get access to a mass spectrometer right now.  But, in time, we’ll see the lack of access to resources continue to fall.  We’ll also see that the way we invest in our “human capital” is inefficient and that the education and credential’ing system has broken.

-Kevin
3.12.2011

**This is a loaded statement with a lot of parts I can’t clarify here.  If you have any questions or disagreements, you should leave a comment.

**I should also state that I think education is very important. We just don’t have it right.