Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Leadership Requires Intensive Self-Knowledge As Well As Self-Control.

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We strive for self-improvement, but knowledge of the self is very elusive. It does not elude us - we seek to quell it and stifle it, as we were trained to do. Braintenance Mind-Builders, Business-Builders, captains of growing companies, and thought-leaders understand that leadership requires intensive self-knowledge as well as self-control. And procedurally, you must understand your psychological and spiritual landscape before you can control or cultivate it. The best interrogators know exactly who they are. The best leaders know exactly who they are. I hope that you enjoy this post which was surgically implanted from The Interrogation Room blog. 

You can get there by clicking on http://TheInterrogationRoom.wordpress.com . Don't mind the creaky doors and the frequent power outages. Dress warmly - the air is always somewhat dank and cold in various places.

Don't worry about the rats scurrying about. We bought the place very inexpensively, and we paid cash so that we could avoid unnecessary delays and unwelcome scrutiny. Oh yes...about the rats -- we hired an exterminator last month, and he seems to have just "vanished." I don't remember his leaving. No troubles - we'll look through the yellow pages (we have no cellular or internet reception in the area!) to find a new pied piper... :)


- Douglas E Castle


To be a leader, you must KNOW YOURSELF. From the core of your spirit on outward. In becoming a leader or in taking command, your first three assignments are as follows:

1) Find Yourself - This requires deep introspection, and is as frightening for most of us, as it is physically and psychically draining;

2) Claim Yourself - Own your identity, your beliefs, your real feelings...merge with them and stop fighting them. See, hear taste, touch, smell and feel things through your own unfiltered, unadulterated senses;

3) Be Yourself - If you are not yourself, you are either somebody else (a lie), or nobody at all (a void in search of something to fill it -- as an empty vessel).

The Bottom Line: You must be fully self-aware and self-secure if you are to command yourself. And you must achieve true command of yourself or you cannot ever even hope to command others. This is not just about discipline -- no, this is about integrity of purpose and presentation.



Leadership: Find Yourself, Claim Yourself and Be Yourself. I learned about this from a children's picture book. -DC

The Big Orange Splot is a children's picture book by Daniel Manus Pinkwater. It was published in 1977 by Scholastic Inc, New York. The age range is ages 4–8, and all 32 pages have a full color picture, which helps the child visualize when reading.
Despite this, the book uses many large words, and cliche'd phrases referring to the story's protagonist, Mr. Plumbean, making the book almost targeted at adults as well, and helping the children's vocabulary.

Plot

The main character, Mr. Plumbean, lives on a "neat street" where all the houses look the same. A seagull flies over his house and drops a can of bright orange paint on his roof, but instead of repainting his house to look like all the others on the street, Mr. Plumbean paints it to look like all his dreams. His neighbors send people to talk him into repainting his house to look like theirs, but everyone he talks to ends up painting their houses like their dreams also. In the end, all the neighbors say:
"Our street is us and we are it. Our street is where we like to be, and it looks like all our dreams."
The drawings were made with markers, and if one looks closely one can see the marker lines.

[][][][][][][]

When my ex-wife read this story to my daughter (she's quite grown-up, and recently became engaged) at bedtime, I had to leave the room and weep.

The message was so profound and so personal. It opening a portal to a part of myself that I had suppressed for many, many years. Once acknowledged and attended to, that part would never let me forget about it again. The genie was forever out of the bottle.

From the moment we are old enough to understand language, we are taught to lie to ourselves. We are taught to draw "within the lines." We are stunted with some sadistic version of realism -- and it is always "for our own good, child."

That last part is a lie. We are confined for the comfort of others, as they were confined for the comfort of those who parented them. And so the cycle repeats itself. You have to break it, and to break free of it in order to become the great individualist and leader that was and remains your very birthright. It's been stolen from you; you must sneak out of your cubicle, cell or row house and reclaim it. And now, as an adult you must become an uncorruptible sentinel of your true identity.

Stop flagellating yourself for being who you really are. Get out of your crypt, shake the scales from your eyes, and put your fingerprint on the face of the world, Leader.

Click on this link (below) to enjoy a wonderful brief video [please turn up your volume and listen very carefully]:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93m5ro3ACpY

Faithfully,

Douglas E Castle: Negotiator, Leader, Human Being and Chairman of TNNWC Group, LLC

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Leadership Requires Intensive Self-Knowledge As Well As Self-Control.

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NOTICE: This article is Copyright © 2011 by author Douglas E Castle with all rights reserved. It may be republished without permission provided that it is published in full, with all hyperlinks and exhibits left intact, and with full attribution given the author. This article does not contain or constitute medical, health, psychological, legal, regulatory, investment, securities, financial, tax, or any other form of professional advice -- the reader acknowledges and accepts this disclaimer. Further, the reader indemnifies and holds harmless both the author and all publications in which this article appears of any damages, claims, loss, responsibility or liability emerging from the reader’s utilization of any information contained herein.


About This Author: Further information regarding this author’s professional experience, expertise and service offerings can be found at ABOUT DOUGLAS E CASTLE

Other Blogs And RSS Feeds By This Author: A comprehensive list of blogs and RSS feeds on various subjects written or moderated by Douglas E Castle may be found by clicking on the orange icon below.

This Blog Is Powered By TNNWC Group, LLC ™

Contact This Author Directly: Click HERE for an instant pop-up form.

You may follow Douglas E Castle on TWITTER 

The author highly recommends that each of his respected readers becomes Pinglerized (a Lingovation™) in order to maximize SEO, search engine ranking, and to exponentially increase both unique visitors and recurring traffic to your website or blog. Leverage this wonderful technology.



The author wishes to thank the following resource providers:

Feedburner, CoolText Graphics, JavaScript Free Code, Zemanta, Google, WordPress, Widgetbox, and Wikipedia
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Entrepreneurs: Few Pyramid Schemes Truly Last - The Sustainability Issue.

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It is conventional wisdom (a Braintenance oxymoron) that ill-conceived Ponzi schemes, chain letter get-rich-quick schemes, and pyramid schemes, in general, eventually fall apart, leaving many disillusioned (and awfully angry) investors in their woeful wakes [alliteration, anyone?].

This is because these schemes do not create added value -- instead they are parasitic and unsustainable; they do not involve investing for growth and gain, except for the shorter-term selfish benefit of their devious promoters. They cannot last because they do not plant anything for regrowth or return.

Many seemingly-profitable businesses are actually generating unsustainable short-term profits by discarding Human Assets (they consider the salaries paid to these now unemployed individuals to be mere expenses) or economizing on investments that actually foster growth (they consider these investments to be costs). These businesses are depleters and they are ultimately destined to collapse. All of the bailouts and monetary printing presses in the world cannot and will not save them.

Nothing can save that which is either already extinct, or that which fails to contribute value and re-plant and replenish for the next season. You cannot kill your host or uyour home and get very far.

Very few pyramid schemes work, except for the one depicted above. That one has lasted for quite some time...perhaps that why we Americans call it "The Geezer." (Hold your applause, as well as your noses).

Even Accenture-bred pundit Eric Lowitt, Sustainability Architect, speaker and author of the breakthrough new book,"The Future Of Value" would undoubtedly be inclined to agree. He probably would not agree with the bad pun - I'll assume complete responsibility for that.

Faithfully,

Douglas Castle
Braintenance Maintainer, and
Chairman and CEO
TNNWC Group, LLC

p.s. Sustainability, while not the theme of this post (I wanted to focus on the Giza - Geezer humor), is an interesting notion. It is at the core of every living organism, tribe, group, culture, nation and civilization. It is inherently efficient, scalable and architectuarally elegant. It is necessary aspect of every system's design, and of every organization's survival.

Some Tags, Keywords, Labels, Categories And Terms For This Post: Human capital, Douglas E Castle, sustainability, pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, re-planting, re-plenishing, business strategies, survival planning, TNNWC Consulting, Eric Lowitt, value-added, scalability, efficiency, lasting systems, corporate responsibility, Human Assets, costs versus investments, thought-leaders, parasitism, depletion of resources, the Global Futurist Blog, Braintenance Blog, TNNWC Group, extinction, suicidality, business planning, systems design, long-term planning, environment, ecology, corporate responsibility, The Future Of Value.

Article Title: "Entrepreneurs: Few Pyramid Schemes Truly Last - The Sustainability Issue"

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NOTICE: This article is Copyright © 2011 by author Douglas E Castle with all rights reserved. It may be republished without permission provided that it is published in full, with all hyperlinks and exhibits left intact, and with full attribution given the author. This article does not contain or constitute medical, health, psychological, legal, regulatory, investment, securities, financial, tax, or any other form of professional advice -- the reader acknowledges and accepts this disclaimer. Further, the reader indemnifies and holds harmless both the author and all publications in which this article appears of any damages, claims, loss, responsibility or liability emerging from the reader’s utilization of any information contained herein.


About This Author: Further information regarding this author’s professional experience, expertise and service offerings can be found at ABOUT DOUGLAS E CASTLE

Other Blogs And RSS Feeds By This Author: A comprehensive list of blogs and RSS feeds on various subjects written or moderated by Douglas E Castle may be found by clicking on the orange icon below.

This Blog Is Powered By TNNWC Group, LLC ™

Contact This Author Directly: Click HERE for an instant pop-up form.

You may follow Douglas E Castle on TWITTER

The author highly recommends that each of his respected readers becomes Pinglerized (a Lingovation™) in order to maximize SEO, search engine ranking, and to exponentially increase both unique visitors and recurring traffic to your website or blog. Leverage this wonderful technology.



The author wishes to thank the following resource providers:

Feedburner, CoolText Graphics, JavaScript Free Code, Zemanta, Google, WordPress, Widgetbox, and Wikipedia
---------------

Monday, June 20, 2011

IQ: What Is Your "Practical Intelligence Quotient"?

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This delightful Braintenance offering is brought to you through the good offices (I haven't actually visited them, so I'm merely being polite) of Dr. Daniel Benor. Every project manager, management consultant, engineer, CEO, COO, attorney, physician, leader and entrepreneur should take this test. The paradox here is that very intelligent individuals have a natural tendency to be impatient, and to "jump the gun" to arrive at answers. In this particular test, the performance advantage is on the side of the more studious and methodical among us.

Fact: The most obvious things tend to elude even the most clever minds.

The best aspect of this test is not what it measures -- it is that in taking the test, itself, you will receive a valuable lesson in how your mind works. Think of the educational efficiency of this device: You actually learn by the act of taking a test. Elegant, eh?

It presents a wonderful opportunity to test your Practical Intelligence Quotient in the form of several quick questions. Read the instructions carefully before you begin.


Hint: Do not assume anything. Utilize all of the facts presented to answer the questions, one after the next. Your growing (cumulative) knowledge base will help you to answer each question in the sequence correctly. When you've finished, you will likely want to forward this article to several friends and colleagues, as well as some of your family members, if you are actually on speaking terms with them.

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There are 4 simple questions. Don't miss one.

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

Stop and think about it and decide on your answer before you scroll down.



The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.



2 How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?



Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator?

Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions..



3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals
attend .... Except one. Which animal does not attend?
Correct Answer : The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. You just put him in there. This tests your memory. Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.


4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and
you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer:? You jump into the river and swim across. Have you not been listening? All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.


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According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, approximately 90% of the Professionals whom they tested got all of the questions wrong, but many of the preschoolers who were given the same test arrived at several correct answers.

Anderson Consulting Worldwide says this conclusively proves the theory that "most professionals do not have the brains of a four-year-old."

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TNNWC believes that the above conclusion is a bit ridiculous, overly generalized and poorly-worded (I personally detest the part about the "brains of a four-year-old": because A) someone is apparently confusing the plural with the singular and the notion of intelligence with brains; and B) depending upon your interpretation of the Anderson conclusion, this does not preclude the lugubrious possibility that these tested professionals do not have, either in their offices or their homes, the actual brains of four-year-olds preserved in mason jars [ecch!].

But the one useful conclusion derived from this exercise upon which our TNNWC Experts and Advisors would agree would be that presumptions can be hazardous in effective decision making.

Did I hear someone say "Amen?"

Faithfully,
Douglas E Castle

Title Of Above Article: IQ: What Is Your "Practical Intelligence Quotient"?

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TNNWC Group, Douglas E Castle, increased IQ, Practical Intelligence Quotient, decision making skills, tests and testing, Braintenance, messaging and communicating, presumptions, perspective, TNNWC Management Consulting Services, logic, intelligence, creativity, imagination, buzz, branding, wordsmithing, logos, implications, knowledge versus intelligence, brain versus intelligence, brain versus mind, business planning, business strategies, problem-solving, Technorati, conventional wisdom, Artificial Intelligence, sustainable brain training, cognitive enhancement, Internal Energy Plus, Sending Signals! blog, Braintenance blog, blogs by Douglas E Castle, leadership training, following instructions, giving instructions, precision language, Lingovations, Technullities, applied reasoning skills, TNNWC Publications, order out of chaos, Reason Out Of Randomness blog, social sciences, pretzel logic... 


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NOTICE: This article is Copyright © 2011 by author Douglas E Castle with all rights reserved. It may be republished without permission provided that it is published in full, with all hyperlinks and exhibits left intact, and with full attribution given the author. This article does not contain or constitute medical, health, psychological, legal, regulatory, investment, securities, financial, tax, or any other form of professional advice -- the reader acknowledges and accepts this disclaimer. Further, the reader indemnifies and holds harmless both the author and all publications in which this article appears of any damages, claims, loss, responsibility or liability emerging from the reader’s utilization of any information contained herein.


About This Author: Further information regarding this author’s professional experience, expertise and service offerings can be found at ABOUT DOUGLAS E CASTLE

Other Blogs And RSS Feeds By This Author: A comprehensive list of blogs and RSS feeds on various subjects written or moderated by Douglas E Castle may be found by clicking on the orange icon below.

This Blog Is Powered By TNNWC Group, LLC ™

Contact This Author Directly: Click HERE for an instant pop-up form.

You may follow Douglas E Castle on TWITTER 

The author highly recommends that each of his respected readers becomes Pinglerized (a Lingovation™) in order to maximize SEO, search engine ranking, and to exponentially increase both unique visitors and recurring traffic to your website or blog. Leverage this wonderful technology.



The author wishes to thank the following resource providers:

Feedburner, CoolText Graphics, JavaScript Free Code, Zemanta, Google, WordPress, Widgetbox, and Wikipedia
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Monday, June 13, 2011

Think Outside Of Your Own Head - Command And Control Your Mind.

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Thinking is a wonderful exercise, if you are the master of your mind, and you are willing to proactively focus it in a productive direction...If you think in obsessive and expanding cycles, or dwell on things, what you are doing instead is allowing your mind to run you -- and it will indeed run you into self-doubt, anxiety, depression and a loss of perspective.

Be the Commander of your Mind.

Here are some seemingly irrelevant things to ponder in order to give your mind a good workout...if these distract you from your customary self-pity and introspection, if these derail the train of your soul's own undoing, then I've done you a favor. Actually, since you've made the choice to go forward and ponder these ponderables, you've done yourself a favor.

Always be aware of your thinking -- try, although it might seem difficult, to detach yourself from your thinking process, and become an observer...sort of "walking around and watching" yourself. Try it. Think constructively. "Think outside of your own head,"as a brilliant friend of mine once said many years ago. Control and own your thoughts from the outside in. Sounds confusing? Good.

Ponderables:

1) When you say that you don't "smell," good, which side of the nose are you on? It could be either. In one case you are malodorous; in the other, you may be suffering from sinus congestion, allergies, or a breakdown of the olfactory apparatus, rendering you unable to appreciate the redulance of a rose [ahem].

2) Can a person consistently be inconsistent?

3) Can a pathological liar actually be telling you the truth when he "confesses" to you that he always lies?

Fun with etymology (a bonus):

What are the origins of the expression "Shut your pie hole?"

That should hold you for a bit.

Thoughtfully,

Douglas Castle
Braintenance Advocate







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NOTICE: This article is Copyright © 2011 by author Douglas E Castle with all rights reserved. It may be republished without permission provided that it is published in full, with all hyperlinks and exhibits left intact, and with full attribution given the author. This article does not contain or constitute medical, health, psychological, legal, regulatory, investment, securities, financial, tax, or any other form of professional advice -- the reader acknowledges and accepts this disclaimer. Further, the reader indemnifies and holds harmless both the author and all publications in which this article appears of any damages, claims, loss, responsibility or liability emerging from the reader’s utilization of any information contained herein.


About This Author: Further information regarding this author’s professional experience, expertise and service offerings can be found at ABOUT DOUGLAS E CASTLE

Other Blogs And RSS Feeds By This Author: A comprehensive list of blogs and RSS feeds on various subjects written or moderated by Douglas E Castle may be found by clicking on the orange icon below.

This Blog Is Powered By TNNWC Group, LLC ™

Contact This Author Directly: Click HERE for an instant pop-up form.

You may follow Douglas E Castle on TWITTER 

The author highly recommends that each of his respected readers becomes Pinglerized (a Lingovation™) in order to maximize SEO, search engine ranking, and to exponentially increase both unique visitors and recurring traffic to your website or blog. Leverage this wonderful technology.



The author wishes to thank the following resource providers:

Feedburner, CoolText Graphics, JavaScript Free Code, Zemanta, Google, WordPress, Widgetbox, and Wikipedia
---------------

Saturday, June 4, 2011

AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Entrepreneurship - The Riddle Of "Thinking Machines"

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The term "intelligence" is used in many contexts and defined in many ways; yet, no Human (scientists, entrepreneurs, psychologists and academicians of all types) has been able to come up with either a clear definition of the term, nor has there been a means of measurement created to measure it objectively for the purposes of evaluation.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Entrepreneurship - The Riddle Of "Thinking Machines"

At the outset, Humankind was trying to build a "smart machine" -- a robot to emulate himself (as creator and master) and to serve him. Now, you will notice that in movies, games and life, Humankind is trying to emulate the machine. We have put uniformity and conformity on a pedestal -- is if we have come to worship machines, with their predictability, conformity and strength in performing a multitude of tasks. As a society, we have changed or ideals from those of individuality, competitiveness and privacy to uniformity, subservience and the elimination of even a fair semblance of privacy. This societal paradigm shift may be encouraging and rewarding a dangerous trajectory.

If we idolize and become thoroughly immersed in creating machines (gizmos and gadgets ranging from programmed securities trading to mobile phone applications) to become more invested in improving machinery than in perfecting and evolving ourselves as Human Beings. I find this notion frightening.

We are investing more resources and hopes in devices than in Humanity - there is a trend here, and it points to the dominion of mechanics over complex, idiosyncratic Humanity. We are working on machines, and for machines. Who is to be the slave and who is to be the master?

The Braintenance question for your consideration: Are Human Beings surrendering the essence of their Humanity, their decision making capabilities, their unique and differentiating characteristics and their very essence in a bloodless coup of machines as masters, and Human Beings (for the time-being) as their babysitters, their maintainers and their slaves?

Faithfully,

Douglas E. Castle (http://aboutdouglascastle.blogspot.com/)
Chairman and CEO
TNNWC Group, LLC (http://www.tnnwc.com/)

p.s. Please look over the new "Related Articles" section at the very bottom of this article.


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We are a collaborative entrepreneurial, creative organization offering you hands-on, personalized assistance in every aspect of achieving your monetization, profitability and financial sustainability objectives, domestically and globally.

We don’t just coach you or offer you pre-packaged, push-button solutions – we listen to you, analyze your exact needs, and work within your budget to: 1) create your tool kit and 2) work as your partner to implement your plan by supporting you in the most efficient and productive use of every tool.

Visit our website, which is located at http://www.TNNWC.com .

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Just go to our home page, and click on the “JOIN US” button.


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