Thursday, August 17, 2006
A man a blog and more
When I first published this blog the blogsphere was new. I had 2 blogs and wrote something everyday and for a while it was fun.
Now I rely on LinkedIn and Skype. I have a Facebook page but can't recall the last time I looked at it.
So, what's new in the world?
I've just read a book that deals with how the world's population can be arrested. It is growing real fast and some say it endangers life on our planet. Who knows and that prediction will not be within my lifetime but I am intrigued anyway.
I was intrigued by the thoughts of Bill Clinton who spoke at Microsoft's conference in Washington D.C in 2010. He chose three words to describe the world today: Unstable, Unsustainable and Inequality.
He is a consummate storyteller and provided a lesson to the audience of how to deliver a message that sticks in the mind. The thing that stuck with me is that I could relate my own stories to the three words that he used even though my own experience in no way compares with his own. It also made me realise just how fortunate I am when I heard his story about his work to support the rebuilding of Haiti after catastrophic earthquakes.
Sometimes you need these stories to put things in perspective.
So what's new in the world?
Dubai. Returned in October 2010 almost ten years after my first visit. Wow, has this place changed. I had the opportunity to close a 2 day conference on Cloud Computing. I spoke with a good friend of mine before I went to talk about how to close out my presentation and decided to write the word RICE in big bold letters across a bowl of rice. There was nothing else on the slide. It worked and this unusual association of RICE with Cloud Computing struck a chord with the audience and I believe that in part that is all do with the fact that we crave simplicity. RICE was a compaction of the first letter of four words, being Rational, Inspire, Confidence and Economy. Everyday words that everyone understood.
So, what's new in my world? I'm striving for simplicity. If I don't understand then I won't share it and so I can not be a messenger. Then you need to be a capable storyteller. So, I'm listening to develop my storyteller skills and only being the messenger for good storytellers.
How am I doing?
Now I rely on LinkedIn and Skype. I have a Facebook page but can't recall the last time I looked at it.
So, what's new in the world?
I've just read a book that deals with how the world's population can be arrested. It is growing real fast and some say it endangers life on our planet. Who knows and that prediction will not be within my lifetime but I am intrigued anyway.
I was intrigued by the thoughts of Bill Clinton who spoke at Microsoft's conference in Washington D.C in 2010. He chose three words to describe the world today: Unstable, Unsustainable and Inequality.
He is a consummate storyteller and provided a lesson to the audience of how to deliver a message that sticks in the mind. The thing that stuck with me is that I could relate my own stories to the three words that he used even though my own experience in no way compares with his own. It also made me realise just how fortunate I am when I heard his story about his work to support the rebuilding of Haiti after catastrophic earthquakes.
Sometimes you need these stories to put things in perspective.
So what's new in the world?
Dubai. Returned in October 2010 almost ten years after my first visit. Wow, has this place changed. I had the opportunity to close a 2 day conference on Cloud Computing. I spoke with a good friend of mine before I went to talk about how to close out my presentation and decided to write the word RICE in big bold letters across a bowl of rice. There was nothing else on the slide. It worked and this unusual association of RICE with Cloud Computing struck a chord with the audience and I believe that in part that is all do with the fact that we crave simplicity. RICE was a compaction of the first letter of four words, being Rational, Inspire, Confidence and Economy. Everyday words that everyone understood.
So, what's new in my world? I'm striving for simplicity. If I don't understand then I won't share it and so I can not be a messenger. Then you need to be a capable storyteller. So, I'm listening to develop my storyteller skills and only being the messenger for good storytellers.
How am I doing?
