Rescue America: On Returning to An America We Can Be Proud Of...

An early copy of a thought provoking book on the decline of America’s value and strength (and why) arrived on my doorstep about a week ago and I couldn't put it down.  In an empowering call to action at a time when many feel powerless, Rescue America authors Chris M. Salamone and professor Gilbert inspire readers to take action to change the course of this country.

America’s founding values and the leadership and the leadership traits that embodied them gave rise to the greatest nation on earth.

Their attractive power enticed millions of immigrants to leave the comforts and security of their homelands for the promise of hope, opportunity, and a liberty the world had never known.

They also unleashed an entrepreneurial spirit that created unparalleled prosperity and spawned the greatest generosity ever exhibited by a nation or its citizens.

Upon this irrefutable premise,  and filled with plenty of historical and philosophical references and data to support its  arguments, Rescue America creates clear and specific connections between the loss of our founding values and the current challenges facing our nation.

What is necessary, the book asserts, is a fundamental shift back toward a national embodiment of the three primary leadership qualities that sustain all lasting human institutions: gratitude, personal responsibility, and sacrifice. It is through the resurrection of these essential qualities in every American —and a rejection of the pervasive attitude of entitlement and culture of complaint—that the spirit of America will once again empower its citizens and inspire the world. 

When I asked Salamone what inspired him most, he talked of his involvement in leadership development programs for teenagers for the past twenty years.  He says, "I believe so strongly that the greatest asset of any nation is its people (human capital), and particularly, its young people who represent the FUTURE of the United States."

 He had planned to write a book on leadership and when he sat down to write it in early 2010, at a time when the world and our country seemed to be falling apart, he started looking at broader issues, such as the foundation of leadership principles. Many of these principles which are so incredibly necessary for young people to achieve extraordinary results in their life, are the very same leadership principles upon which this great nation was founded and built -- the Principles of Gratitude - Personal Responsibility - and Sacrifice.

"So," adds Chris, "rather than just write a book on leadership, I decided to do something a little more meaningful and significant and Rescue America was born.  I also felt it was important to write a book that was 'above the fray' -- in other words, a book that in my opinion is non-partisan and does not engage in the typical political bickering and name calling-- a book that focused on the fundamental cause of our nations greatness, and thus the root cause of our decline." 

The book is broken down into three parts: THEN: The Dawn of a Dynasty, NOW: America in Decline and HOW: What Americans Can Do for America. The Dawn of a Dynasty covers the Inheritance We Died For, the Standard We Stood For and the Future We Fought For.

In this section, the duo makes countless references to American history, the Constitution, the principles behind freedom and what it means to be "free." They take a deeper look at the Declaration of Independence, why it was created and what our forefathers wanted for Americans as a result.

Equality and improving the human condition was a large part of what the "greats" who ran this country wanted; they also wanted a unified America.

In the section on equality, Adam Smith is quoted: "The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition...is so powerful a principle...(it is) capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity...(and) surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions."

He also refers to Thomas Jefferson, who they assert didn't propose an ideal on equality, but rather recognized and acknowledged an equality that already existed. In principle, Jeffersonian equality refers to a number of concepts that make up equality as an American ideal, they write.

We are brought on an in-depth journey through the nation's history, which is a great reminder of all the important values we studied so long ago and yet as a nation, never talk about anymore in what has become an entitled society.

For someone who has traveled to over 70 counties and lived in ten, it made me think about immigrants of this generation with new eyes...how lucky I was to be part of a previous generation whose core principles - personal responsibility and sacrifice -- were at the core of their existence and demonstrated in their daily behavior, all of which taught me how to live and more importantly, be.

  Entitled society = attitude of entitlement (aka doing whatever we please) and more and more, its being done without regard to consequences. What Jefferson meant by the Pursuit of Happiness and a "free" America was the inalienable right of the pursuit of happiness that one is free to become the best self that one is capable of becoming.

I love this as much as I love the benefits that Abraham Lincoln envisioned for Americans: the capacity and the freedom to choose, by the quality of one's decisions and by the inherent value and ownership of the fruit of one's labors. Said Lincoln: "The man who labored for another last year, this year labors for himself, and next year, he will hire others to work for him."

This my friends is the America I grew up in. Grandparents who wanted a better life for their children and their grandchildren and sacrificed significantly so they would achieve it. And, as a nation, we have achieved astonishing wealth.

We are reminded that if you combined the wealth of the Greek, Roman, Chinese and English empires, the wealth generated in America over the recent century would supersede them. And yet, on this journey, we've lost a lot of important things along the way, the concept of gratitude being a big one. Sure, we've been generous and given to many a' nation, a generosity that is a "direct result of our economic vigor -- aka a distinct parallel to the biblical story of the Good Samaritan.

Negative implications aside, look at America's most recent effort and contribution in Haiti for example. And, for example, America's efforts and action to end violence in the former Yugoslavia in the late nineties.

After they remind us of all the things we died for, stood for and fought for, we're taken on a journey into present day: America in Decline. They explore the implications of our "now" attitude of entitlement and the culture of complaint. (it's all around us).

Then, they discuss the redistribution and the political entitlement apparatus, as well as the nation's debt, deficits and global weakness as a result. And, of course, we can't dive into an in-depth discussion about the decline of America without taking a hard look at our education system and its ongoing decline decade after decade. As Plato said, "the direction in which education starts a man, will determine his future in life."

The word direction is an interesting word since it doesn't imply we necessary need advanced education in America to succeed (look at Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Tony Robbins and countless others). But what it doesn't imply is the guidance we get and the direction we go from that guidance matters.

That guidance is what makes up our core ethics, values, the way we treat others and the way we look at the world. As more gets outsourced to Asia and American education remains in crisis mode, we are withholding the current generation from their birthright.

Today's youth are not being prepared to join a competitive global workforce or to contribute to the growth of America's economy. They note that our declining education performances impact not only our nation's economic position, but also our national resources. It also contributes to the creation and reinforces a culture of entitlement...."

They start the third and final section of the book with a Benjamin Franklin quote: "Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security." Hear hear Benjamin. In the chapter entitled Personal Responsibility Can Combat Entitlement (great title), they ask the following question for us to ponder: "

What happens when the principles that gave you all you possess eventually lead to distracting and damaging habits and attitudes that take you away from those principles and lead to the wasting away of prosperity?

Do you abandon those principles, or do you recommit to them through discipline?" Ahhh yes, that word discipline. It was in fact one of my grandfather's top three values and while I fall into his workaholic footsteps, I find discipline harder than he did in my same position 80 years ago.

My generation has less of a community and family support network than the previous two and yet living costs are astronomical in comparison. We don't have the stresses of internal wars or World War I and II on the other side of the pond. Yet, stress is at an all time high and cancer and heart disease continuously go up and are affecting younger and younger people.

Salamone and Morris assert that in order to restore a sense of responsibility and obligation (fundamental American core values) to ourselves, our families, our communities, and to our country, "we must enter a process of reflection, restoration and recommitment."

Restore is the operative word here and restore we must before its too late.

 

                       

 

It's no surprise that the last chapter: The Power of One kicks off with John F. Kennedy's quote on gratitude: "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." Live by them. Strong words...certainly strong words for the land I moved to earlier this decade - California. 

Nowhere else have I lived where people have been so adverse to commitment. A yes RSVP means a maybe at best and there's no follow up to apologize for not showing up or standing by "your word," as my grandfather taught us. It may very well be just a party or dinner, but this complacency and failing to live by your words extends to all areas of your life. I've witnessed this time and time again.

Entitlement stands at polar odds with personal responsibility and gratitude. When we come from a place of gratitude, it's astonishing what's possible in our lives and how it trickles into others around us. Everyone benefits. I absolutely believe that gratitude is critical to restoring our spirit and our values, individually and collectively as a nation.

And this is essentially what they're trying to drive home in addition to the fact that we can all make a difference, yes individually. I agree with their belief that it seems as if we live in a world where individuals no longer believe they matter or can make a difference.

They write, "people feel helpless to influence the course of events that will shape their future and that of their children." It's actually a reason many career-driven friends I know have opted not to have children. The book is a must read. From history, economics and politics to education, family values and spirituality, we are brought on an intellectual and emotional roller coaster ride.

At the end, you can't help but feel you must commit to restoring the values that once made America great. We could be only one generation away from the best America and yet if we don't take action, we could very well be one generation away from the worst we've ever seen.

When I asked Salamone what frustrated him most, he said that people don't talk any more -- particularly families.

He says, "Families no longer sit down every night and across the dinner table share the ups and downs of the day... and pass along the stories of families heritages as they did when I was growing up.  For most of my life there were at least 3 generations sitting together at a table every night.  How could there not be a generational transfer of principles?" He's right.

This has transferred in to our business and social lives -- people no longer talk. They text, tweet or Facebook each other.  

Living in Silicon Valley, I'm a victim of this lifestyle more than most. Sometimes I'll be online for 15 hours with only a short break to make food, which ends up by my side (and my computer's side) while I sift through more mail, more social networking messages, more blog post comments. It doesn't end.

Not that there's not some benefit to the new technologies, but I agree with Chris, "we have lost an important human interaction."

He refers to an old author named Leo Buscaglia who wrote a book called Living, Loving and Learning -- and he remembers him saying that he loves to "hug" people -- even people he just met. He said something like " I have to hug you to know you".  

Of course he was Italian, but does it matter? Do I need to say more? You can pre-order a copy here or go to Amazon.com or your favorite book store when the book is released on October 17, 2011. Proceeds from the book are being donated to the Wounded Warrior project.

Note: It's only fitting that I publish this book review on my great grandmother's birthday, who was instrumental in raising me together with my grandparents - may all three rest in peace. Thank you for all the sacrifices you made to pave the way for my freedom, the prosperous and joyful life I have and for a better America.

Image Credits: Photo 1: From Rescue America book cover. Photo 2: Abe Lincoln Art from Art.com. Photo 3: From Rescue America book back. Photo 4: EducationFuture.Info site. Photo 5: New Ten Commandments Website.

The Pope & the CEO: Lessons in Business Leadership Shared

Out now is a new book with a quirky and enticing name: The Pope & The CEO, written by someone I used to work with at an East Coast software company: Andreas Widmer.

It's one of the few books written by collaborators and close, personal witnesses of Blessed Pope John Paul II’s life, as Widmer draws on his experiences as a Swiss Guard for Pope John Paul II. Through this experience and years in the technology industry, he shares his lessons in business leadership.  

The Pope & The CEO outlines nine principles for business leadership including: Know who you are, Know what’s right, Know how to choose what’s right, Know where you are, Know your team, and Practice detachment as a handful. Each lesson includes a how to guide and exercise.  

Widmer highlights some of his personal interactions with John Paul II, providing insight into the little known culture of the Swiss Guards, and draws on his experience as an entrepreneur and advocate of the free markets within the international development community.

On a parallel front, the current economic and ethical crisis evokes an openness to fresh models of leadership and trust.

Left disillusioned by long-respected institutions and supposed business-hero icons, many people and organizations look for leaders and frameworks in which to place their trust. The Pope & The CEO translates some of Pope John Paul II’s legacy into business leadership lessons that respond to this gap.

Banning Social Media in Schools = Modern Book Burning?

What is the impact of having schools ban students from using social media during school time as if it doesn't exist or doesn't add value to learning? Is this the modern version of burning books?

Blurb Releases BookSmart 3.0

There are some great new changes from Blurb with BookSmart 3.0 released today. BookSmart 3.0 now includes:

• Automatic two-page spreads - Drop your photo in our new two-page template and BookSmart automatically spans your photo across two pages with full bleed.
• Automatic book size change functionality - Now you can take an existing book project, click "Change Size" and create a smaller or larger version of your book. BookSmart automatically copies the entire contents of your book into the new book size and saves your original version so you can always order more.

They are also upgrading Blurb's standard end sheets. Currently, Blurb's end sheets are white. As of Wednesday, April 13, 2011, their standard end sheets across all hardcover books will be mid-grey and 30% thicker. There will be no extra charge for this end sheet upgrade.

Download BookSmart 3.0 and give it a try: http://www.blurb.com/create/book/download.

 

Getting Pulled Into Vampire Legends

A girlfriend from grade school, who I'm still in touch with, was "into vampires," and read every vampire book she could get her hands on while I read mystery novels and any book which had a complicated plot needing "solving." Vampires never interested me and I never even watched a vampire movie or knew one piece of vampire trivia, until recently that is.

If you love writing and grew up in a family where writing wasn't savored or done, you can't help but be thrilled when you learn that a relative later in life published a book. When my cousin told me his book was on its way, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it, promising to devour every word of his newly published pup. Then the box arrived. Was I reading this correctly? Vampires? What on earth? 

Dead or a Lie is not just a vampire novel -- it's a mystery, full of intrigue, passion, love and a bunch of misfits who eventually find not just their freedom but peace and serenity at the end of a long tunnel. The main character Lee is a mere mortal, but one with "special blood," which leads her to a mission of 'freeing' unbound vampires, those caught between a mortal living world and the vampire unliving one.

She is known as the Sacrosanct, the "one" whose blood can bring the Unbound back to the world of the living. The power of the Sacrosanct's blood can bring the Unbound back from centuries living in a world of darkness, and into the light and human life.

Sacrosanctity was originally a right of tribunes in Ancient Rome to not be harmed physically. Lee's protector in the novel is none other than the dashing Luke Regens, who by day is a doctor at the hospital where she works the night shift, and by night, is an Unbound vampire whose mission is to ensure the safety of Lee, the Sacrosanct, so she an free them all.

If this weren't a complicated enough mission on its own, it becomes even more complex when he falls in love with her and she with him. This is where the novel moves from vampire-esque intrique and mystery to romance and passion, questioning our instincts, our choices and the lines between black and white.

If you don't have a history with vampires, you don't know of their hunger for human blood and emotion-less soul despite their often suave appearance. I loved the fact that a vampire, albeit an Unbound one, was given a conscious, not unlike the one Brad Pitt's Louis in Interview with a Vampire had throughout his 250+ years.

In the midst of and after finishing the book, I couldn't help but dive into four movies and a little background. Rules and legends differed depending on where I looked and there were countless variations of the implications of garlic, sunlight, silver swords, holy water, crosses and fire.

The vampire legend dates back to the earliest times of human civilization to the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and other peoples of the ancient Orient. The original vampire was not like the sophisticated, suave European aristocrat that Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise play in the latest modern movie nor the sexy doctor Luke that stole Lee's heart in Dead or a Lie. The vampire, at its origins, was a monster, not an Oscar Wilde look alike on a good day. The bloodsucking Akhkharu is mentioned in the Sumerian mythology and later vampire-like spirits called the Lilu in Babylonian demonology.  In northern India, there was BrahmarākŞhasa, a vampire-like creature with a head encircled by intestines and a skull from which it drank blood. The other thing that I discovered was that Transylvania was only one place of many where the legends, myths and stories reigned. Vampires are global, with myths coming out of cultures all around the world. From Africa to Korea to Russia and France, humans have paid tribute to vampires for centuries. The Slavic people have contributed more to vampire culture however, and stories can be found in and around Slovakia such as Silesia, Pomerania, Bavaria, Bohemia, Serbia, Roma, Albania, Macadonia and Poland. Yet vampire folklore also existed in China, India, Greece, Russia, France and England. Others argue that these beliefs have been introduced by the many gypsies who migrated from northern India where certain bloodthirsty deities (such as Kali) are worshipped.

Over the years, it seems as if vampires have gotten less "scary" as Hollywood producers and authors began to create human-conscious vampires who didn't get fully "taken" by the bite and as such, are living in no-man's land as misfits not truly belonging to either world. I wonder if this has something to do with the onslought of American independent culture and as more of it pervails, more misfits emerge and overcome unbearable odds, i.e., Oprah's life is a great example. People want to inherently see the good in things and so why not in a vampire? If we are the ones creating the new stories, why not add some romance and soul to vampire characters....? Just as Ann Rice did with her Interview with a Vampire script, Jason Barret with Dead or a Lie, Bram Stoker with Dracula and Charlaine Harris with Dead Until Dark. I also learn in my vampire research and discovery that in Homer's Odyssey, the shades that Odysseus meets on his journey to the underworld are lured to the blood of freshly sacrificed rams, a fact that Odysseus uses to his advantage to summon the shade of Tiresias. The strix, a nocturnal bird that fed on human flesh and blood is also referenced in ancient Roman tales. It's remarkable how many cultures have adopted various versions of vampire legends. Who knows how many people actually believe in them? Who knows how many have had encounters with vampires in graveyards or in their dreams? Even if you have never had a fantasy of being swept off your feet by a Tom Cruise-like vampire or kissed passionately by the mysterious Doctor Luke Regens, aren't you a tad big curious? If you haven't gotten on the vampire bandwagon yet, dive in and get reading and of course, watching. What are you waiting for?

Other Resources:  Vampire Romance Novels Best Vampire Books History, Myths and Legends (Monstrous Vampires) Slavic Beliefs

2010: The Year of Multiple Digital Personas

This past year was one of my busiest years, largely because of 4 factors: I re-launched two sites, started shooting more (note: Canon 7D purchase), I seemed to be on the road non-stop and clients expected more than ever and yet they want to pay less for results.

Let's start by looking at some of the technology trends and mindshifts in 2010 which led to such a chaotic schedule.

Social media tools exploded. Living in Silicon Valley, you get hit with more beta trials than anywhere else in the world and testing new shit out is what I do among other things, so it's no surprise that I was hit with more than one person could possibly digest. Yet, some of those tools started to go mainstream, so suddenly things that were on my back burner couldn't go unnoticed anymore. For one, location-based services started to get a lot of attention. 

Last January, I found myself in a hotel room in Munich desperate to connect and "check in" before heading out for a stroll in the fresh fallen snow.

How F-Ked up is that? Foursquare doesn't seem to want to acknowledge that I'm in another country when I am, regardless of how decent "connectivity" is, yet I can't seem to give in to technology controlling my environment even when it doesn't work. What's wrong with acknowledging that I'm not an engineer, don't try to fix this.....just let things/it be?"

Sadly, it's as if I try to will technology to conform to my environment and it almost never does.

Later in the year, I went through something similar in Paris. Refer to my blog post: When in Paris, BE in Paris, Disconnect.

That brings me to Part B of this story. Technology DID in fact control my environment more than any year in my life.

I relaunched We Blog the World this year because of its organic growth and growing interest from bloggers around the globe who wanted to contribute. 

Launching a site isn't what it used to be because of the fact that a site isn't just a site anymore - it's connected to multiple digital personas on the web.

With the site had to be a Facebook "fan" page or whatever they now call it, a Twitter update to match the look-and-feel of the revamped site, as well as photo and video online personas to go with the rest of it. 

Then there's maps, mobile optimization, geo-location, custom RSS feeds, online newsletters and editing to ensure the world sees what you want them to see rather than poorly curated clutter on the web. (see Linda Stone/continuous partial attention -- not new to 2010 but still highly relevant). 

Enter the growing focus on curation. We're long overdue for attention on intellectual and relevant curation of content that matters to us most. 

Since tools can't curate content automatically in a way that is useful to us yet, human curation needs to be part of the process and for anyone who has spent time curating and tagging content on the web knows, it's bloody time consuming. Pearltrees, a curation tool, was a big part of my life this year and I spent time alerting content creators in various vertical markets about the aspect and value of human curation as an integral part of their workflow.

I switched to Chrome this year as my main browser, suddenly I ended up with three phones, one of which was a Google phone that simplified my local calls and texting when in Europe, and I was nearly tempted to buy an iPad so I could carry around yet another device with me to ensure I was connected 24/7 just in case the three phones and two laptops were not enough. 

What's important to note is how the 'always on' part of my life which used to largely happen in my office and to and from meetings during my work day migrated into every aspect of my life.

Not only were my digital personas growing in numbers, but so was my attention to them. Suddenly I had a flash page (see about.me, currently still in beta), 3 new sites, 3 new Facebook pages, 4 new Twitter personas, Foursquare and a growing number of international connections to "manage."

By summer, I was seriously feeling the effect of The Shallows (see Nicholas Carr's book: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains). In synthesizing recent cognitive research, he shares his own experiences, something that I could personally relate to. Carr writes "I've had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something has been tinkering iwth my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory. My mind isn't going -- so far as I can tell -- but it's changing."

By late July, I found that I couldn't sit still when I was out without a device and moreso, my attention span had shortened dramatically. The same thing was happening to others around me. We couldn't concentrate for long without new digital stimuli, even if that be a simple text message. My reading moved from reading whole books to skimming them, the rest left for online editorial only.

Reading and re-reading books have always brought a sense of calm to my otherwise chaotic world and yet, I had stopped reading novels for awhile. Instead, my reading time was filled with learning how social media was changing our lives and the impact it was having and will continue to have on business and the world. I read about new tools, solutions and trends. Of course, none of it had heart and soul but it was great insight for what to adopt early on.

Carr asserts that "every technology is an expression of human will. Through our tools, we seek to expand our power and control over our circumstances -- over nature, over time and distance, over one another."

And so, with this growing tension between feeling and fearing that my brain was actually changing chemically and the need to be "always" be connected to some device at any given time, I decided to leave the country in August without a device.

Off to South America I went with a friend who brought a Blackberry with her and I, a netbook, largely to be used for checking email once every couple of days, but moreso to offload photos from camera to hard drive. So, while technology wasn't off limits for me, having a device in my hands so I could be reachable and in turn reach out whenever and wherever, was not an option.

When you have close to ten online digital personas you are 'managing' at any given time, not being connected for a few weeks is highly uncomfortable. As I was boarding a plane from Miami to Guyaquil, I noticed how many people fidgeted when the pilot told them to turn their electronic devices off.

Some people stared down at their devices as if they would give them something stimulating even though the screen was blank. A few picked up magazines but flipped through as if bored without the energy of their device, their "adult" pacifier.

I found myself going through the same awkwardness, yet because the device was "home" and not an option when we landed, I was forced to find both my energy and my calm from a static page of a book or an old fashioned notebook which I brought to record thoughts using an actual physical pen. 

Since I was with someone who had not made the same choice, I was somewhat forced into the digital world by watching her fiddle with her Blackberry, nose down into its addictive energy while we were driving past the Amazon jungle. It was astonishing that she could get a connection up there and because she 'could,' she did. 

There was a moment where I felt like asking her for "it" to check into the Amazon on Foursquare for the world to see, as somewhat of a novelty. There was a moment where I felt like asking her for "it" to tweet out to the world that the Amazon was in trouble and attach a photo of chain saws on the side of the road with piles of timber lined up in rows a couple hundred miles away from the nearest big town.

I had to refocus my energy away from the device and her fingers upon it and onto the lush green wildness out my right window and as soon as I did, slowly but surely, my center found calm. It found presence. It found wonder. It found marvel. It found gratitude. It found wow. It found real physical life that was breathing its beauty into me as I decided to participate IN IT rather than watch or engage with it on a screen.

I didn't blog about my experience that week since we were camping in the middle of the jungle, but I also decided not to blog about it as soon as we were connected in another town. I waited until I returned to the states, and for multiple reasons, it was the right thing to do. Reflections followed - here, here and here. I also wrote about my detaching experience called Hey Digital Maven, How Okay Are You With Silence?

Being present and recalling that presence later on because I had time to reflect on gratitude was key. Being constantly connected doesn't give us the time or more importantly, the 'space' to reflect and go deeper. Our ability to go deeper is limited because of what this constant digital stimuli is doing to our brains, and in turn, our behavior.

As Carr reflects from the discovery he made through his research, "while we know that our brain is an exquisitely sensitive monitor of experience, we want to believe that it lies beyond the influence of experience.

We want to believe that the impressions our brain records as sensations and stores as memories leave no physical imprint on its own structure. To believe otherwise would, we feel, call into question the integrity of the self."

Having a break from managing digital personas for a few weeks reminded me of the essential need for balance -- not just life/play and work balance but digital balance.

While I found that others were going through the same thing, the addictive quality of the lifestyle shift is gradual, and people often find it hard to talk about or perhaps explain.

When I first picked up the iPad and browsed through my blog using Flipboard, a wave of excitement flew through me as the pictures I created in the real world came to life on the screen. A beautiful screen.

The display was magical and an actual device was re-sorting or curating if you like, the content....my content. It was telling my story in its own way and the stories of other bloggers I knew and respected. I thought about how "cool" it would be to have this experience with me at all times, so wherever I was, I could have that dynamic engaging experience rather than a much blander web page.

Yet, when all I sometimes need is the information on the web, having that extra visual pleasure brings me into the web experience more than it does my physical surroundings. When I choose "it" more often than the people around me in the physical world, I'm losing something valuable as well am I not?

Digital addicts will argue not of course since for them, the additional dimension of what these devices bring to their online life (where they spend 90% of their time) is so much greater that they would argue making another choice is 'halting a change' that is not only inevitable but critical.

Inevitable as it is, it doesn't mean we can't be more aware on the impact it is having on our daily lives and decide with our human brains during this explosive evolution and revolution, that human interaction without a digital pacifier at our side, does still hold tremendous value.

Being present without anything in our hands or a list of "online to dos" on our mind makes us so much more aware of a friend's breath across the table as they listen to our words and the intensity in their eyes as they dance with a story they're sharing.

As more and more moves online and away from physical paper and objects, we're reminded of privacy concerns and location-based services knowing our every move and offering products to us as soon as we walk into a store or cafe.

We're reminded that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was a runner-up for Time’s most important Person of the Year regardless of whether you see him as a hero or a villain.

We're reminded that the world has changed as we know it and there's no moving back in time.

While I'm certainly not proposing that we fight the inevitable, or stop technological progress and advancement, I'd like to offer some suggestions as a way to have more physical experiences in our lives amidst the growth of all things digital:

1. Pick a Day a Week to Disconnect from the Digital World: Remember we're talking about only one day a week. Use that day to engage with the physical world - trust me, it still exists. Choose something you're passionate about that is physical and doesn't have a digital extension to it, i.e., skiing down a mountain, cycling through a forest without your cell in your pocket, playing with a child on the beach, or discussing philosophy over dinner at the table with a friend without your iPad or iPhone in a bag by your feet.

2. Practice Using Your Brain Not Just Your Digital Pacifier: When you're tempted to rely on something digital to get you through an experience, choose a time when you don't need to rely on it and use your brain instead. A great example is your car navigation system.

The time to do this is obviously when you're not in a hurry to get from A to B. It's an interesting exercise for those who have relied on a nav system for awhile now. Male friends have commented that they have lost their acute directional sense since they put that part of their brain to rest for awhile. It's not unlike what happened with the introduction of calculators and over time, discovering how hard it was to do math on the fly.

3. Automate some of your Digital Life: While it's important to have a presence on the web if you run a company or work for one, and as part of it, engage, engage, engage, some of it can be automated. Focus on the voices and conversations that matter to you most and automate the rest.

The more scattered your presence, the less you can truly engage and prioritize on the people and passions you most identify with. It's not just about numbers. Quality matters and quality takes time, concerted time and effort.

4. Become the Artist you're Designed to be and Backburner the Rest: Create don't react. Remember that you don't have to respond to everything and everyone all the time. When we're constantly responding to things on our screen, the "lizard brain" is taking over, not the genius inside us. When we're reacting to online chatter, there's less time to "create our true art," which is our gift to the planet while we're alive to share it. In other words, our purpose.

As Seth Godin writes in Linchpins, one of my favorite books this year, "the Lizard Brain often sabotages the progress we have made and stops us from creating our best work." Refer to a great post Seth wrote on 'quieting the lizard brain.'

In my opinion, albeit one of the most useful things to hit this decade, social media has given us so many distractions, that it's difficult to take a step back and realize that we don't have to choose and use it all.

Make the time to create the art you're designed to create and the life you want to have.

Once we realize that we have a choice to pick and choose what's most useful for us and leave the rest, we'll create an opening to create our best art. Let's remember that our digital personas are not the whole picture of our lives, just a piece of it.

As a wise Nepalese elderly man once said to me on my way up a long Annapurna trail many years ago, Patience on your journey grasshopper, patience. 

Management by Design Released

Daniel Rasmus is releasing a new book called Management by Design, available starting the week of November 22, 2010.

In this age of consumer-obsessed business, the experience of the worker is too often neglected. With our new knowledge economy, people have increasing freedom to choose where and when they work. The best and brightest are fighting for entry to those organizations with workplace experiences that are engaging, inviting, and motivating.

Timely and comprehensive, the book explores the premise that one of the best ways to attract and retain the most talented people—and their knowledge—is through designing environments that turn today's increasingly virtual workplace into an attractive place for people to do their work, regardless of their employment relationship, or where and when they work.

By applying balance, proportion, and simplicity, you can create a workplace that is efficient and effective, as well as intriguing and intellectually challenging. With sound advice for maintaining this crucial component of business, this seminal book explores:

• How focusing on employees' work experience brings unimaginable benefits
• Why great experiences can turn into long-term relationships, positive brand expression, and lasting stories that reflect back on the organization
• Tips for starting the design process, finessing it to fit specific needs, and putting plans into action

The American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin & Power Bind Jihadists and Radical Right

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga addressed a San Francisco audience at the Commonwealth Club this week. Founder of the Daily Kos and Author of American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right, he presented his charges against the U.S. conservative movement, and compared it to what he believes is the U.S.’s top international enemy: radical Islamists.

Markos discussed the controversial parallels that he has found through his close examination of prominent figures and events within the far right in America and Afghanistan.

In his book, he explores America’s primary international enemy—Islamic radicalism—which he outlines in detail. He talks about its survival depends on government by theocracy, through curtailing civil liberties, embracing torture, repressing women, eradicating homosexuals from society, and insisting on the use of force over diplomacy.

Markos pulls no punches as he compares how the Republican Party and Islamic radicals maintain similar worldviews and tactics. He also challenges the media, fellow progressives, and American elected officials to call the radical right on their jihadist tactics more forcefully for the good of our nation and safety of all citizens.

 

Othmer's The Futurist: A Lonely But Humorous Journey

I just finished reading The Futurist by James Othmer. Not a new novel, but like piles of others in my pending pile by the bed, it's been sitting there waiting to be devoured. Three flights and an hour in a hammock later, I'm through it - seems like it takes longer to conquer novels than it used to 5 years ago, due to the fact that my attention span seems to be shrinking thanks to the web and social media.

What an ironic book to read in the midst of this online evolution, especially given the fact that while its fiction, the character reminds me of several Web 2.0 illuminaries who do the speaking circuit and talk about the future, the exploding path of possibilities.

Most of all, the novel is humorous. The main character, Yates, spends his life making money and taking in praise and media horrahs addressing audiences around the world about future trends. He weaves in references to high profile technology, business and innovation events we are all aware of including TED, Davos and others. Tony Robbins also gets a plug during a stint he does in Fiji, where he watches a sacrificial dance a corporate executive organizes.

Yates once did a trust fall at an anarchists' convention and once, addressed the sales force of a failing dot.com and a rollicking Luddite symposium in the same week and received standing ovations at both.  He once consulted for a firm that designed edgy logos and teen-centric merchandise for ficticious companies and once was paid five figures by an undisclosed government agency to go to Hawaii to play golf and brainstorm random acts of terrorism.

His rich, intellectual, successful and nymphomaniacal artist buddy Campbell loses the ability to cope in the real world so takes off for Greenland where he has sex with large busted blondes, combs the Internet and drinks a helluva lot of Vodka. He says in a weak moment to Yates, "What's weird is that our parents, my parents, sacrificed so much and worked so hard doing what they love so we could get an education and do what we love. Now that I think of it, it was almost evil, giving us that kind of freedom, mandating that we try to identify something that we love."

Yates loses himself as well, as he can no longer play the superficial game and spit out words that corporations and governments want to hear speech after speech. After a series of violent acts in Italy and South Africa, he turns to booze and speech language that he thinks is sure to end his career, yet it seems to have the opposite effect. 

Soon, he is in more demand and yet, as the American Empire begins to fray around the edges, Yates existence does too. He goes around the world trying to identify why everyone hates "us." On his journey, he encounters a gay male model spy, a British corporate magnate with a taste for South Pacific sacrifice rituals and solitude from a hooker from Johannesburg who he sends money to so that she can join him on his daunting and fear-ridden escapades. He feels somehow that she provides perhaps the only truth and authenticity in his life.

Yates once stood in the White House Rose Garden flanked by Siegfried and Roy, Stephen Hawking, and the NCAA women's volleyball champs from USC.

By living a life of so many inconsistencies and so many lies, he no longer can believe in the present or future world or 'his existence', one that he has created. In the middle of all of it, his father dies, a man whose memory gives Yates a childhood view of the innocent and natural starlit sky. And so, he dares looks at it, even on other continents.

People die around him. His girlfriend leaves him. And, he gets threats from a fake Nostradamus character who turns out to be a fellow futurist colleague. Physical threats come from a secretive duo known as Johnson and Johnson, who have hired him to spit out even more lies in front of a camera crew and the media, only to be followed by locals in a Middle East country who are hired to kill him.

Throughout it all, he drinks vodka and whatever other strong poison is available to keep him going and believe in the lies for just a little while longer.

There was a time when Yates believed that science had a heart, that progress had a conscious, and that true art happened in the last synapse before epiphany....in the unstoppable momentum of an original idea. And for awhile, he could get others to believe this also -- because of him.

He once helped a record label create a lifelike digital synthespian version of an immensely talented female R&B singer who was deemed too fat for mass market consumption and whose subsequent debut DC went platinum. Once a very rich man paid him to moderate a focus group in which twelve people handled and discussed at length the very rich person's personal belongings while the man sat alone on the other side of a two-way mirror. 

Yates makes it through the living lies to a point where he thinks, just maybe he can look at himself in the mirror and do something positive in the world again. As for giving back, his ego and narcissism took over too long ago for him to remember how to give back, however through a combination of humility, death, violence, near jail time in an Italian cell, his encounter with a hooker, a few thugs, government officials and his own internal crumbling, Othmer's Yates gives us humorous and yet thought provoking insights into life in the fast lane, a lane that is more often than not, a sad, lonely and spiritually empty one.

Ellroy's Hilliker Curse

The year was 1958. Jean Hilliker had divorced her fast-buck hustler husband and resurrected her maiden name. Her son, James, was ten years old. He hated and lusted after his mother and “summoned her dead.” She was murdered three months later.

An 'out-there' memoire, The Hilliker Curse is a predator’s confession, a treatise on guilt and on the power of malediction, and above all, a cri de cœur. James Ellroy unsparingly describes his shattered childhood, his delinquent teens, his writing life, his love affairs and marriages, his nervous breakdown, and the beginning of a relationship with an extraordinary woman who may just be the long-sought Her.

A layered narrative of time and place, emotion and insight, sexuality and spiritual quest, The Hilliker Curse is a soul-baring revelation of self.  Elroy in action on YouTube, in a discussion with his publisher about the book and in The Guardian.