Speaking of travel, “As Freud saw it, we basically spend our lives unconsciously replaying a tired old script memorized in childhood through endless rehearsals with our parents and siblings. We leave home but we never really move on. We just take the show on the road, casting everyone we meet in supporting roles…” I ain’t no analyst, y’all, so I’ll stick to what I do know. I got stuck in my life. I have been down many a knowledge and skills cul-de-sac. I have rehashed my knowledge – and my issues and insecurities – in an endless series of screechy … Continue reading #Unsquirrel 7: We Leave Home But We Never Really Move On.

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#Unsquirrel 6: I Come Back Sounding Strange Even To Myself

February 21, 2014February 12, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

Travel remains a journey into whatever we can’t explain, or explain away…I know in my own case that a trip has really been successful if I come back sounding strange even to myself; if, in some sense, I never come back at all, but remain up at night unsettled by what I’ve seen. – Pico Iyer, “The Place Across The Mountains” in Sun After Dark. I am not sure of the ratio, but let’s say it is 1000:1. One thousand pieces of data and knowledge wash over me; but one of those pieces changes something. Maybe not everything – though … Continue reading #Unsquirrel 6: I Come Back Sounding Strange Even To Myself

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#Unsquirrel 5: Frivolity And Boredom

February 20, 2014February 12, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

The frivolity and boredom which unsettle the established order, the vague foreboding of something unknown, these are the heralds of approaching change – Hegel, preface to The Phenomenology of Mind. How many leaders have you met who laugh(ed) at the rise of social business over old-school-tie-who-you-know business, the power of networks over hierarchy? Do you, perchance, find them frivolous and bored, like the Court of Louis XVI? Off with their heads! ←This Much We Know.→ Continue reading #Unsquirrel 5: Frivolity And Boredom

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#Unsquirrel 4: You Say Benevolence, We Say Malevolence

February 19, 2014February 12, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

More on Canada’s psyche: Americans are benevolently ignorant about Canada, while Canadians are malevolently well-informed about the United States.” – John Bertlet Brebner Agree. People here in Canada know more about US politics / affairs than they do their own country’s. We pity them. Americans’ ignorance of Canadians means we get away with a lot… ←This Much We Know.→ Continue reading #Unsquirrel 4: You Say Benevolence, We Say Malevolence

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#Unsquirrel 3: Morphing Is The Canadian M.O.

February 18, 2014February 12, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

“Canada is a land of multiple borderlines, psychic, social, and geographic. Canadians live at the interface where opposites clash. We have, therefore, no recognizable identity, and are suspicious of those who think they have.” – Marshall McLuhan Morphing is [Canada’s] modus operandi…states the anonymous article. Hear, hear. In an age of constant change, such a situation – perhaps, once, a weakness – is a +1. Those with an identifiable identity will increasingly scurry to update their status and bemoan the[ir] stupidity of youth. Newer nations, unencumbered by layer after layer of history – like Canada – will be ahead of … Continue reading #Unsquirrel 3: Morphing Is The Canadian M.O.

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#Unsquirrel 2: The Fruits Of Idleness

February 17, 2014February 12, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

Dang! I should unsquirrel to myself a bit more often. Here I was, on the last day of 2013, writing about flanerie: How could it be that this word, this idea, this approach to life has passed me by all these years?!… it’s a flâneur’s life for me. And yet, all along, squirreled away, hidden, I had this nugget from printed publication unknown, from the German Marxist commentator Walter Benjamin (from The Arcades Project): Basic to flanerie, among other things, is the idea that the fruits of idleness are more precious than the fruits of labour. Amidst the existential angst of … Continue reading #Unsquirrel 2: The Fruits Of Idleness

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#Unsquirrel 1: Concerning Owls

February 14, 2014February 12, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

From The Natural History of Iceland (1758): The entirety of Chapter XLII, “Concerning Owls.” There are no owls of any kind in the whole island. Sometimes, we need to waste a little energy to move forward. Not everything we share MUST add value. This is a huge get over it! requirement for 80%(?) of us. The very act of sharing, of working out loud, of considering “Maybe, just maybe, someone out there in my community might find value from my knowledge, data, content” – this is the critical transition from ‘Who knows?” to “Who knew!” ←This Much We Know.→ Continue reading #Unsquirrel 1: Concerning Owls

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Explicit! I Have A Need To Share… #Unsquirrel

February 13, 2014February 12, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

It is maybe not as exciting as it sounds – apologies – but there is a de facto expectation in the new world order of networks and social business that we make explicit our knowledge, that we unsquirrel our thoughts and understanding, that we attempt to reach and join new communities of learning. So, I have been looking through old papers, at scraps of data I saved for some reason – unknown at the time, but meaningful enough to squirrel away – to physically tear out and put in a folder (very c.20, I know). Over the next few days … Continue reading Explicit! I Have A Need To Share… #Unsquirrel

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The #SocBiz Dogme Manifesto

February 10, 2014February 5, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

Researching this series of posts on modern art and social business, I revisited a post I wrote about the Dogme manifesto (and its relationship to other manifestos). One portion seemed particularly apropos to the journey of social / networked business many of us are on. Herein extracted: Festen, the original Dogme film, was an utter delight to me. I believed “I could do that!” and I could (at least from a technical perspective, notwithstanding my lack of creative genius.) Similar to the Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, Dogme says do not (over)embellish. Just do it. Like the Passionate Creative Worker, it says blaze new trails; never settle. The Cult of Done Manifesto says … Continue reading The #SocBiz Dogme Manifesto

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I Am An Artist, You Are An Artist, We Are All Of Us Artists

February 7, 2014February 7, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

Seth Godin has some great content, of course, about people picking themselves. I have written previously about the transformation I went through when I realized the means of creative production were within reach upon first using MiniDV video technology and editing on an early iMac. Embracing the technology, I was effectively picking myself: because Suddenly, I was in control, a one-man shop, a creative force! I was a child again, trying things out, self-congratulatory, experimental, churning, learning. By producing content – where before I was just full of ideas – I was making art. I was a self-proclaimed artist. Modern art … Continue reading I Am An Artist, You Are An Artist, We Are All Of Us Artists

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What Modern Art Teaches Us About Opinion + Opportunity

February 6, 2014February 4, 2014 ThisMuchWeKnow

Yesterday, I made the comparison between modern art and SocBiz. I shared a piece of (modern) art consisting of this definition: modern art = I could do that + yeah, but you didn’t. If that is true, and it is, then modern art is also about a) showing up; b) thinking and applying ideas; and c) sharing those thoughts and outputs. Ergo, it is the same for social business / networking. You see? Interesting things emerge when you have an opinion, a position, and you are willing to share it. Having the opinion is important, it stakes a claim, it … Continue reading What Modern Art Teaches Us About Opinion + Opportunity