The Emperor's New Clothes--Insight into the "New Economy"

The media says that there are many current signs of economic progress, low inflation, more jobs being created, people spending, the DOW Jones moving to over 11,000.  At the same time nation-wide unemployment remains at about 9.7%. (This is an artificial figure because it represents people actually claiming unemployment benefits.  When people exhaust their benefits or, after a year or more of not finding jobs, apply for Social Security or take a lower-paying job, they drop off the rolls of the unemployed.)

Recently I have encountered many people hired to work on the Census 2010.  Almost all of them are looking (and have been looking) for work and have been unable to find it.  It is good that the census gives them a temporary ("intermittent") job--similar to a substitute teacher, working when there is work to be done.

Hans Christian Andersen created a story about The Emperor's New Clothes.  A child looked at the emperor and said, ". . . but he isn't wearing anything."  The "new economy" (and economics in general and the current economic recovery in particular) is a lot like "the emperor's new clothes."  There is a lot of trust involved and everyone needs to see and believe in the same way for it to continue to operate.

There are a lot of reality checks that act like the child.  The FDIC is anticipating more bank failures this year.  Homes are still being foreclosed.  Many people are looking for work to replace incomes they used to have when, for whatever reason, they were laid off.  States are hurting for income because people haven't made enough money to pay what they used to pay in taxes.

Is this a pessimistic post?  I believe in seeing the glass "half full" rather than "half empty."  At the same time, if the glass is half full, it's important not to claim that the glass (or gas tank) entirely full and to expect to "go the distance" a full glass (or gas tank) would allow.

Innovation and Comfort Zones--Insight, Common Sense, Common Practice

Innovation is challenging for many reasons.  Amazingly enough, even though many people claim to want innovation, habits, comfort zones, and common practice all form an effective barrier to innovation.

Common practice is different from common sense (which may not be as common as the words indicate).  Common practice has people use elevators to get to the upper floors in high-rise buildings and to come back down.  In the event of an emergency (fire, explosion, etc.), the instructions are to use the stairs.  Common practice and habits often have the people waiting for the elevators as usual, even in emergencies.

Common sense may tell us not to use cell phones or text messaging while driving, especially in school zones and construction zones.  Common practice has us communicating all the time, often opposing common sense.

Innovation, at least in my experience, is frequently connected with insight.  As I approach a challenge--learning design, for example, insight lets me see into the process and to identify a different way of working that generates better results.  (See the Integrative Learning Design Jump-Start Workbook for an example.)  The Meta-Models I have created and posted on one of my websites all represent insight and innovation.

Getting others to accept these innovations and to work with them is a separate challenge.  When I began this blog, my intention was to begin to publish my work.  I felt that having the discipline to do a daily blog might give me a head start toward publishing.

I hope to publish this blog in book form soon.  If I wait for a year of entries, that might be too many pages in the book.  I'll have to think about that more to see what I have and what I need.

"Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow"

"Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow"  Following this link on http://www.amazon.com/ will lead to a list of books related to the idea of passion and Spirit as a focus of life.  When I am engaging in something I find to be worthwhile, I am aware of a sense of joy that I share with the people around me--family, clients, friends, coworkers.

This sense of joy is more important to me that the monetary reward I receive for my efforts--not that I have anything against money.  I have found joy in doing work that I was highly rewarded for and joy in work that had little or no money connected to it.

I'm looking for more joy in my life--and if there's good money involved as well . . ., so much the better. :-)