Look and Listen

Biography

If one word describes my background, it would have to be “varied.” I have worked as a dog trainer; Russian translator; charter boat skipper, South China Sea; SCUBA instructor, Subic Naval Base (Philippines); martial arts writer, Asia Magazine (Hong Kong); associate editor, Guns & Ammo books; managing editor, Personal Computer Age magazine; director of corporate marketing, Novell Inc.; marketing researcher; columnist, Network World; and writer of articles and books on many different topics. When I returned from the Far East, I got my bachelor’s degree in business and technical communications then my master’s degree in communications from California State University, Fullerton. With my master’s I received an award as Outstanding Advertising Student. While running a SCUBA business in the Philippines, I had learned just how little I knew about business. That experience had two effects. First, it made me really appreciate the quality and value of my subsequent education at CalState. Second, it taught me to stay close to what was happening in academia, even after I graduated and entered business. My recent book on thinking (My Brain, My Future) is the latest example of my commitment to connect academic knowledge with business practicality. Businesspeople have a tendency to narrow their options as experiences pile up. They prefer choices that have worked in the past, making their choices predictable. A good education, on the other hand, shows us emerging possibilities and forces us to consider them. In a world where change and innovation are continuous, I’ve learned that static thinking makes you vulnerable – only the adaptable survive.

Inspiration

I don’t know the source, but I once read this quote: non-fiction gives you facts; good fiction gives you the truth. My favorite poem is Ulysses by Tennyson. For me there is no finer expression of what it means to be a human being (ignoring the chauvinistic aspects). With all the power of a writer at his peak of understanding, Tennyson shows us a striving, restless intellect that chooses “To follow knowledge, like a sinking star, beyond the utmost bound of human thought.” Reading that poem at 18, I was fascinated by the concept of learning as an adventure. I’m still fascinated. Much as I love their work, however, I am not ready to cede ownership of the truth solely to writers of fiction. And I’ll offer Edward O. Wilson as my non-fiction writer of choice to carry the point. Wilson’s book, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, challenges the notion that various domains of knowledge are separated by nature. Wilson believes that eventually we’ll find that a very few fundamental laws underlie the entirety of nature. I believe, in every way, that Wilson’s concepts can be said to transcend mere facts and present an important truth about our world and our existence. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Wilson’s writing is as fluid and elegant as his concepts. For my new book, My Brain, My Future, these writers, Tennyson and Wilson, presented me with unique perspectives in looking at thinking. Today, thinking is perceived by both business and academia as domain-specific. Although that is the dominant view, my two friends and I disagree. Thinking is the Rosetta Stone of humanity. I see how you think and we both see how others think and from that we learn a great deal about our shared humanity. Do we agree? Perhaps not, but we are enriched beyond measure by seeing other points of view. And what about Ulysses’ learning as adventure? Learning to think is the ultimate high. Our brains can take us anywhere we can conceive. It simply remains for us to learn how to direct the process.